Ginny’s eyes widened at the room full of people, but she recovered quickly. Abby was impressed; the woman was a real pro.
Mila rushed to the front of the group. “Hi! Come on in! So, this is Troy, and this is Gavin and his girlfriend Gen. This is Donovan and his fiancée Ella. And this is Jet—you met him—and this is Abby.”
An unexpected little stab pierced Abby’s heart. There was nothing wrong with Mila’s introduction. It was totally accurate. But on the heels of “girlfriend” and “fiancée,” hearing her own name with nothing attached served as a reminder to keep her head on her shoulders. She and Jet were nothing official to each other, and it was probably wise to keep her heart from racing ahead of itself.
Ginny greeted each person in turn with a quick, friendly hug, and Dax gave everyone a nod.
When it was Abby’s turn, she surprised herself by becoming completely flustered and babbling through the entire exchange. “Oh my God, it’s so great to meet you. I’ve followed your career for years. I love all of your songs. This is so incredible. I can’t believe it’s really happening, honestly. This feels like a dream. Oh, God, someone please shut me up! I can’t believe it, I can’t stop talking! I’m so sorry, I think I’m just nervous because I’ve never met anyone famous before.”
All of this was said in one giant rush of breath, no breaks, and she found herself completely lightheaded afterward.
“Hey, what am I?” Jet teased. “Chopped liver?”
Abby glanced over at him, surprised. It was hard to think of him as famous. “Oh, God, Jet. You don’t count!”
He rolled his eyes, but his twitching lips told her he thought the whole thing was funny. “Story of my life.”
“Honey, don’t worry about it,” Ginny said. “Your run-on sentence is nothing compared to some of the things I’ve seen. I’ll tell you about some of them over dinner.”
“Yes!” Mila piped up, appearing at their side without warning. “Let’s eat! Come on, Abby and Ginny. You guys sit by me!”
Ginny smiled. “Now there’s an offer I could never say no to.”
Abby thought that, in a different life, she could’ve been good friends with the warm and gracious country singer. She was excited to be sitting near her during dinner, where they’d have more of a chance to chat.
Hey, she thought, I can even let her get a word in edgewise this time!
Still, though. Even the prospect of spending an entire meal sitting next to her favorite country star, a woman who she now knew was not only talented but also sweet and amazingly cool, couldn’t entirely take the sting out of the idea that she’d had to turn down Jet’s proposal to blow off the gathering in favor of some naked time. Because, dayum. Naked time with Jet was a mind-blowing experience.
Well, she reasoned, maybe delayed gratification will make the whole thing even better.