Page 24 of Rise

“I can’t be in your world,” she said.

“Yes. I forgot that for a second. I wish—”

“Better you don’t.” She leaned against the desk in the corner of her room. He wished.He wished. And maybe she did, too. But if wishes were horses, or whatever the phrase was.

“I have to ask you one more favor,” he said. “Will you still help the Studio?”

“Of course I’ll still help them.”

“That’s good. But you may want to stay away from the Studio itself.” He paused. “And from me.”

Oh. “I guess that would be… a good idea.”

“You spent an hour with me last night and this happened. If they see us together again, they will assume we are… together. This way, they will move on in a couple days.”

“Right. Right.” She hoped she sounded as though she was all for this. That she hadn’t, for a moment, wished as hard as he had.

“I will be at the Studio today, filming the kids for promos. If you want to meet with Etta and Susie again, I will make sure I leave before six o’clock.”

“Don’t worry about that,” she said. “I was going to email them everything I’ve been working on anyway. It’s all online. If you send me the videos you take, I can edit and post them. I don’t really have to see them again.”Or you.

So. Aside from never seeing Alessandro again, she didn’t have to show up at the Studio. She didn’t have to develop her relationship with the wonderful ladies she’d met last night. This was a world of Zoom and emails and WhatsApp groups. She didn’t even really have to show up next week to the fundraiser if she sent a donation instead.

She rubbed at a sore spot on her chest. How had she hurt that? Crouching over the laptop last night? She’d been having so much fun, taking the Studio’s words and making their story shine. Now she could finish the job and go back to her normal life. And never see Alessandro again.

The sore spot got worse.

“Well,” she said. “I’d better call Kane.”

“Yes. Thank you again for helping me, Megan,” he said. “And I am sorry it has led to this. Tell your brother, too, that I apologize.”

“I will. Bye, Alessandro.”

“Goodbye, Megan.”

She shivered and hung up. Her face reflected back to her in the windows, whose curtains she hadn’t even closed last night. There was a hint of light over the harbor, which was probably what made her look so pale and sad.

She opened the picture of her and Alessandro one more time. He had been so pretty to look at.

Then she closed the app and dialed Kane’s number.

“Hey, Meg,” he said. “Everything okay?”

“Kind of.” The scratch in his voice, a holdover from the fire that had nearly taken his life years ago, hit her even harder today. “Did I wake you?”

“No. I was up. Say hi to Rosie.”

Kane’s youngest child was two and a half and perfect. Megan loved when she got to play with all her nephews and nieces. It was easy to smile with the children all day.

Megan heard a toddler’s babble through the phone and cooed at her in turn. But the sweet moment was interrupted by another call coming in.

“You have to go already?” Kane said.

“No. It’s Cat.” They must have released her name. “She’s calling for the same reason I’m calling you.”

“You sound serious. Hold on, let me put Rosie in her high chair.” There was a pause, and then he came back to the phone. “Okay. What’s so terrible that both you and Cat are up at this hour without a baby as an excuse?”

“I had to tell you that you’re probably going to be—”

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