Ginny had no clue why that would be surprising. “Yes. Huge, huge fan.”
“Well, it’s mutual.” Karina smiled brightly. “I hope you don’t mind that I crashed your session, it’s just when Chase sent me your song, I fell in love with it and I wanted to tell you in person how amazing it is and that it’s yours.”
“Really?” Now it was Ginny’s turn to be surprised.
“Yep. Sometimes things can get lost in translation and I wanted you to hear it straight from me.”
“Thank you so much!” Ginny couldn’t believe that this was actually happening. Karina Black had flown to Illinois just to tell her in person that she could have her song, and that she loved it…now she was sure her day really couldn’t get any better.
“And I also wanted to ask, in person, if you might want to collab with me sometime.”
No. She’d been wrong. Her day apparently could get better.
“Not on this song,” Karina rushed to clarify. “That one is all you, girl. But maybe we could work on something together for your album or if you don’t want to do it now, I’m not planning on releasing till next year, we could do it then.”
“You want to work with me?” Ginny couldn’t help the tremor in her voice, but she honestly couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“Yeah.” Karina’s brow furrowed. “I’ve wanted to work with you for years, ever since I heard ‘Crossing Hearts.’”
“That was on my second album!” Ginny blurted out. She hadn’t meant to say that out loud, but her inner thoughts tended to become outer ones when she was overwhelmed.
“I know.” Karina nodded slowly. “I’ve had Bernie contact Shane several times and we always got the same answer. ‘No.’”
Ginny had known in her heart she was making the right decision firing Shane, but this cemented that fact. She was so angry with herself for ever letting him have any control of her life. Who knew what else he’d done behind her back. Anger and frustration were coming to the surface, but she couldn’t go there right now.
Right now she needed to make sure, that Karina knew Shane’s response was not coming from her. “I never knew that you contacted me. In fact, I asked Shane to reach out to you, I’ve wanted to collaborate with you…since forever…but he said…” Her voice trailed off when she realized that she couldn’t exactly repeat what Shane had said.
“Let me guess.” Karina grinned as she held up her hand and started listing things on her fingers. “He said I was a diva. That I was impossible to work with. That I chewed people up and spit them out. That he’d never worked with someone as impossible and difficult as me?”
Wow. She nailed it. “Yes. That’s…almost verbatim.”
“He’s been saying all that to anyone who would listen since I broke up with him.”
“You broke up with him?” She had no idea that Shane and Karina had ever been an item. Before Karina and Ryan had gotten together, Ginny remembered that she’d dated the actor Kyle Austen Reed, but she’d never heard anything about her and Shane dating.
“Yep. About a hundred years ago. I was young and just starting out. He was my touring manager. When I realized I was really just with him for convenience I broke things off. I’d had every intention of keeping our professional relationship intact, but he made it impossible. He thinks I don’t know how he talks about me because I’ve never made it an issue, but this is a small community and I hear everything.”
Ginny wondered what he was saying about her.
“But enough about him. Let’s talk about you and your project. Chase was just showing us clips of him and Krista and he said that you are interviewing other couples as well to weave into your visual album. That is brilliant.”
“Thank you so much!” Ginny was so happy that Karina thought it was a good idea.
“It’s reminds me of the end of When Harry Met Sally.”
Ginny shook her head. “I’ve never seen it.”
“You haven’t?” Karina really looked surprised now. “Billy Crystal? Meg Ryan? Ringing any bells?”
“No. I don’t think I have.”
“Wow. That makes me feel old.” Karina laughed and glanced up at Ryan who was looking at her like the sun rose and set on her. When she looked back at Ginny she gestured with her hands up. “But in my defense, my friend Amanda always made us watch cheesy eighties movies whenever we spent the night at her house. Anyway, at the end there are all these clips of people telling how they met and got married. It reminds me of when you ask everyone what love is.”
Ginny had been asking all the couples how they met. When the moment was that they knew their person was the one. And what love meant to them.
“You have to watch it,” Karina insisted.
“I will,” Ginny nodded enthusiastically.