Page 27 of The Music of Love

19

Reese

“Oh, shit!”The driver cries out as Cal practically divebombs into the backseat, taking up the last bit of room there was beside me. I also let out a yelp as he slams the door.

“Cal! What are you doing!?”

He doesn’t even speak to me. He just reaches into his pocket and pulls out a hundred dollar bill and hands it to the driver. He then leans up over the center console and whispers something to him. The driver glances back at Cal like Cal might be a little bit crazy, but then slowly nods.

“Yeah,” he replies. “All right, I got you.”

Cal leans back in his seat next to me and smiles as the car begins to slowly back out into the narrow, winding road.

“What are you doing, Cal?” I ask. “This car is taking me to the airport.”

My body is hot. I’m absolutely fuming, confused, whirling, and wishing I was just back home with Sarah by my side to bitch and moan to. She always knows how to comfort me at times like this, and even if she didn’t know theexactright thing to say, she would know how to make me feel better.

“Not right now it isn’t,” he replies. “Right now we’re taking a slight detour.”

“What are you talking about?” I am nearly screaming. After everything I just saw on the news, the last thing I want right now is to be around Cal or listen to anymore of his bullshit. “Just get away from me, Cal. I don’t want to hear it, okay?”

“Okay, you don’t have to hear anything from me,” he replies, putting his hands up. “I just want to show you something. Something that will fix all of this.”

“Fix all of this?” I scoff as we drive. “If you have a time machine to where you and I could just never meet maybe…”

Surprisingly, Cal doesn’t respond to that, and we end up sitting in silence for just shy of ten minutes before pulling up to an enormous mansion at the top of a hill. Like at Cal’s house, a gate opens for us, and we pull down a long driveway to the enormous front door.

Without hesitation, Cal steps out of the car as though I’m meant to follow after him. Not wanting to be left sitting in the back seat, I push open the door and call after him. “Whose house is this, Cal?” He just glances back over his shoulder at me and grins. “Cal? Whose house is this?”

He reaches the door and motions for me to come join him as he thumbs the doorbell. I’m getting nervous for some reason. I don’t like being left in the dark, and this is the definition of that. The huge house, the strange new town, no clues from Cal about what is even going on…

“You should go up there and join him,” the driver says out of nowhere, causing me to jump. I glance down and see him smiling at me via the rearview mirror.

“I…should?” I ask.

He nods, still smiling. “Go on.”

It’s a strange interaction. Everything about this is strange, but the driver seems honest, so I nod back to him and start walking toward the house. I’m only about halfway there when the front door opens, and I realize why we’re here.

Jenni Hinderman steps out with her hair up, wearing sweatpants and a T-shirt.

“Oh my God…” I was not expecting this.

“Holy shit, Cal, I’m glad you’re here.” She’s not talking that loudly, but I can hear her from where I’m standing. “Have you seen? Okay, you must have seen.”

“Yup, I’ve seen all right,” he replies.

“So it clearly wasn’t you who planted the story?” she asks.

I’m stuck in place. Frozen right where I’m standing, watching their conversation play out. This isnotwhere I saw my day going when I woke up this morning, and here I am, caught up in the middle of publicity drama with two of the biggest stars in the world.

And who am I? A few days ago, I was just a waitress at a run of the mill restaurant. How is this happening to me?

“Reese, would you come here, babe?” Cal asks. Without thinking, I obey him. It’s like his wish is my command, and my feet are moving one after the other, and the next thing I know, I’m standing right beside him and Jenni. “Jenni, this is Reese,” Cal says politely. “Reese, this is Jenni.”

“Hi,” I say softly. “Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you.” She smiles. “Cal just asked me if I could reassure you about this whole mess.”

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