“I wanted to ask her to marry me. I have a ring. Should I do it on the show or wait for later?”
“Hmm . . .” he said thoughtfully. “I think that depends on how Ivy reacts to all this. Play it by ear, have it on you. If you go out there and tell her you love her and she gets all teary and says she loves you too, go for it.”
“Okay.” It seemed like showboating, but if the only way to pin Ivy down was to confront her in front of a television audience of millions, so be it.
“Now get in that cab and get to Warner Brothers, quickly. The taping starts at five thirty and you’ve got the infamous Los Angeles traffic to fight.”
Ivy was nervous about tonight’s performance. Maybe even more so than the first time in Rosewood. At least there, she felt like she was among family. Tonight, she was singing into a cold, lifeless camera lens and praying that the emotions would connect with Blake two thousand miles away.
But even worse was having to sit down with the host for a chat. This was her first interview since the release of her song. She had no doubt he would ask who it was about and pry into her sex life. She had made her sex life her business, so everyone felt free to make it their business as well. What was she going to say? That the relationship was already over? That the man she wrote the song about never even heard it?
Malcolm had told her to just smile and be coy about her new love. Her usual tactic was to neither confirm nor deny, and she should stick with that. “America doesn’t need to know a damn thing about your relationship with Blake,” he’d said. And he was right. She knew those pictures of her kissing Blake were likely to come up, but if she acted like things were fine, there wouldn’t be any reason for the host to pry into the dirty details of her breakup.
She had hoped Malcolm would be her support for the evening, but he’d run off while she was doing a sound check.
Ivy paced around the green room, ignoring the child star and his mother waiting their turn to go plug his new movie. They were watching the live feed of the show.
She glanced over at the craft services table, and the mere sight of the food made her stomach start to turn.
A stage assistant in a headset came in the door. “Miss Hudson? I’ll need you in staging in five minutes. Is there anything we can get you?”
“No, thank you,” she said with a curt shake of her head. She doubted there was anything the tiny girl with the clipboard could do to help her. Instead, she sat down and closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths.
When the time came, she went out to staging. A few hair and makeup people encircled her and touched up the work they’d done earlier. The sound crew brought out her lapel microphone, getting her wired up with a battery pack. Last came the assistant with her guitar. She slipped it over her head and tried to shake out the tension in her shoulders.
“Stand by,” she was told.
“Please welcome Ivy Hudson!” she heard the host say. A roar of applause came from the crowd.
Ivy was ushered out onto the stage. She gave a wave to the crowd and the host as she took her mark in front of the band. The lead guitarist started the song and when her cue came, she sta
rted singing. This time, she focused on the camera. She tried to imagine Blake’s face instead of the lens and she sang as though he were standing right there.
When she was done, she winked into the camera and smiled as brightly as she could. The crowd cheered enthusiastically, although she wasn’t sure if it was because of her performance or the big light-up signs that said APPLAUSE overhead.
The host was seated on the far side of the stage behind his trademark desk. Ivy slipped out of her guitar and handed it off before taking a seat in the first red leather guest chair.
“Welcome, Ivy. We’re glad to have you come see us tonight and sing your new song.”
“Thanks for having me.”
“Now, let’s talk about this song. It’s a big departure from your usual sound. It’s a great tune, but it’s quite a bit more romantic than songs you’ve done in the past. What’s going on there?”
“It is a new sound, and I’m really excited to share my new album with my listeners. Relationships have their ups and downs. It’s true that most of my songs have focused on the downs, but I wanted to capture some of the good times, too. ‘I’ve Never Stopped Loving You’ is just the first of many great new songs inspired by my time back in my hometown.”
The host leaned in and cocked a curious eyebrow at her. “Time spent with a certain ex–football player, I hear. Blake Chamberlain, perhaps?”
Ivy tried not to flinch at the sound of his name. Instead, she smiled and nodded. “Have you been reading the gossip blogs, Jimmy?”
The talk show host hid behind his note cards with embarrassment. “Yes. It’s my dirty little secret. I can’t get enough of all the nasty details of people’s lives. So tell me, is this song about Blake Chamberlain?”
“Now, you know I never answer those questions,” she said in a chiding tone.
“Well, you know I’ve got to ask. I have to say, though, that if this new song is about Blake Chamberlain, it’s certainly a far cry from the last song he inspired.”
The crowd laughed. “I mean,” he continued, “every man in America felt bad for that guy when ‘Size Matters’ came out.”
“That is true,” she said, artfully dodging the question. “They’re very different songs that came from very different places in my life.”