Serena moans.“This is delicious. You didn’t need to go to this trouble forme.”
“It’s no trouble,” Haley says over the table at the fancy restaurant where we have a private room. “Your visit’s a nice excuse to have everyonetogether.”
And we are together. My dad’s at the head of the table and wearing a nice dress shirt, Haley’s at the other end looking more relaxed than I’ve seen her since Sophie started teething, and Sophie’s tucked in next to her. Haley’s best friend, Serena, a sleek marketing executive from New York with a fabulous ponytail and a killer smile, sits next to Sophie, and Tyler’s across fromme.
“Sophie’s going to be gorgeous like her parents,” Serena goeson.
I sip my soda. “She’s already got every guy in miles wrapped around herfinger.”
Serena shoots me a teasing look. “Something you have in common,then.”
I glance at Tyler sitting across from me as I dig into mysalad.
Since our call, he’s barely spoken to me. It’s as if he’s punishing me for the tension in ourconversation.
But when I walked in the door, I swear his attention locked on my legs. Any time his gaze meets mine, it lingers for half a beat before slidingaway.
“Can you pass thepepper?”
I look up to find Tyler’s attention on me. I reach for the grinder next to my plate and hold itout.
He takes it, and our fingersbrush.
He holds on, and so do I, a beat too long before lettinggo.
I go back to my food, and the conversation turns to plans after school. I tell Serena aboutColumbia.
“What about you?” she prompts Tyler. “Graduation’s a monthaway.”
“I’m not going to college. I’m gonna finish with Jax, use that to get steady work as a sessionmusician.”
“No, Tyler’s going all the way,” I interject. He lifts a brow, and I continue. “Platinum albums, stadium tours, girls who tattoo his face on theirass.”
Serena laughs, but Tyler’s gaze intensifies on mine, and I keep going. “Imagine it.Ty-ler. Ty-ler. Ty-ler.They'll fall at yourfeet.”
“I don’t need them falling at myfeet.”
“That’s why they’ll doit.”
My dad told me once that fame can smell desperation but it chases talent. The moment it senses you need it more than it needs you, it evaporates like morningmist.
Tyler doesn’t care who looks at him. That’s why it’s impossible to lookaway.
“I can understand the desire to get working,” Haley says, her voice bringing me back. “But if you ever wanted college, there are some fantastic performing arts schools. What’s the one in New York, Serena? The one your brother was acceptedto?”
“Vanier. I’ve never seen Beck as pumped as when he got the letter,” she says, shaking her head with asmile.
Dad frowns at Tyler. “Have you called Zeke yet about hisoffer?”
My head snaps to him. “Whatoffer?”
“A contact who can employ Tyler after graduation,” Dad says. “Play his cards right, he’ll have more than studiosessions.”
But Tyler acts as if he hasn’t even heard, moving food around hisplate.
I’m stunned he hasn’t mentioned this, which goes to show I’ve been wrong about how much closer we’ve gotten these lastweeks.
Tyler’s the only person who cares what I want, cares enough to help me getit.