“Sure.”
Ugh. I force myself to head the otherway.
I get that he has a reputation to uphold. What he did in rehearsal was enough of a risk without blowing off his entire crowd for me overnight, which would not only fuck the rest of my year but histoo.
Rehearsal is canceled on account of senior prom, so I run through options for dealing withCarly.
I want the letter back, but unless I can get the help of Jenna or one of the minions, that probably won’thappen.
I can call her bluff, deny everything in the letter if it gets out. My dad’s lawyers can deal with thefallout.
I don’t like the idea of that. No matter how much is true, Carly’s right—family issues should be private, and I don’t want to learn what’s accurate and not in sometabloid.
The last option is that I can step back from the musical. My stomach flips just thinking aboutit.
It’s the most feasible but in some ways, the most gutwrenching.
It finally feels as if I have something of my own, somewhere I can belong. I’ve earned it, and I’m not ready to give itup.
I’m still grappling with it after school, pretending to study at the kitchen island when Haley breezes in wearing a black dress and boots, her dark hair pulled into a ponytail. “I’m off for thenight.”
“Whereto?”
“Work meeting.” She kneels down to nuzzle noses with Sophie, who’s in her bouncychair.
Dad clears his throat, and Haley lifts a brow. “You want your nose rubbedtoo?”
“Notexactly.”
She plants a kiss on my dad that no child should ever see but pulls away a moment later and strides for the front door as if he might go after her if she waits toolong.
Smart woman, mystepmom.
“I thought we could have a movie night,” Dad says when she’sgone.
I straighten. “Really?”
“Really. I’ll even get takeout. What do youwant?”
“Ziti. We should ask Tyler if he wantssomething.”
The sound of the sliding door at my back has me smiling. “Hey, we were just goingto...”
My jaw goesslack.
Tyler’s wearing atux.
A fuckingtux.
He looks handsome enough it steals mybreath.
My first thought is that he wants to take me to prom, that he wants to tell my dad and say fuck it to the rest of theworld.
Then I take in hisexpression.
The firm line of his mouth, the lack of sparkle behind his beautiful eyes, sends off alarmbells.
“I’m going to prom,” he answers, and my heart lifts for the first time allday.