Pierre flushed and pressed a hand against her back to urge her back to the dining area. “Perhaps I’ll explain another time.”
She beamed at him. “Thank you for thinking of me for this opportunity, Pierre. Your faith in my ability took me much farther than you can imagine.”
“This is what I mean about her teaching me to be a teacher,” he said to Wes, who was following close behind them. “She says what’s on her mind. In her heart.”
“It’s called being a blabber mouth,” Dawn said, sliding into her seat. She’d missed dessert and coffee, but everyone just seemed happy to see her. I can do this, she told herself. I can make this work. I can work beside these masters and learn and grow, and it doesn’t matter if I have to share the credit for the work we create. The journey is more important.
She couldn’t wait to tell Kellen.
“We’ll need your answer by Friday,” Dr. Everlong said. “That’s when we go to Venice and get to work.”
Hold up. “Venice?”
“Wait until you hear the scope of this project, cherie. We’ll be busy for years.”
Years? “But what about Kellen?” she blurted.
“Who?”
“My boyfriend.” The man her heart told her to follow while at the same time telling her to follow Pierre to Venice. Maybe her heart wasn’t so wise after all.
Chapter Fifteen
Kellen held his phone in his hand, staring at the screen, waiting for Dawn’s call. It was after midnight in Mississippi, but just after ten on the West Coast. He wasn’t sure how long meetings with Hollywood producers took, but he’d promised himself he wouldn’t interrupt Dawn’s important dinner, no matter how much his life had turned upside down in the hours since they’d parted.
When his phone dinged with a text message, his breath caught. It was her.
When is rockstar bedtime? Are you still up?
He didn’t bother texting her back, just called. He needed to hear her reassuring voice, because no matter how cool he was playing to the guys, on the inside he was freaking out and he couldn’t even share that with Owen, because Owen had locked himself in the bathroom of their hotel room and was in there talking to Caitlyn or jacking off or slitting his wrists. Who knew?
“You will not believe the night I had,” Dawn said, her excitement and glee tangible even over the phone.
“I had quite the night myself.”
“They want me to co-write the scores for an upcoming fantasy trilogy with Dr. Andrew Everlong.”
Andrew Everlong? Even Kellen knew who he was. Dr. Everlong had come up with the mood-evoking theme music from the Space Trek movies—all nine of them. “Wow,” he said. “That’s huge! Congratulations.”
“I’m not sure I should take the job, though. I won’t be able to see you much if I do.”
There was no way in hell he was standing in the way of that kind of opportunity. “Don’t worry about that. We’ll figure out a way to make us work.”
Especially now that he was probably out of a job.
“And I’m worried that I’ll end up as a ghostwriter of sorts. I do all the work, Everlong takes all the credit.”
“So you didn’t jump on it?”
“No. I want to at least sleep on it. If I take the job, I’ll have to go to Venice next week.”
“Prague, Venice. What’s next, Rome?” He chuckled, his chest swelling with pride. She was so accomplished, yet so down to earth about it. A rare woman. He’d be an idiot to let her go, but an even bigger idiot to stand in her way.
“Maybe. Everlong wants to draw inspiration from centers of renaissance art and culture. I’d rather be inspired by you.”
Yep, a rare woman. She filled him with such hope and longing.
“So how was your show?” she asked.
“We’ll get to that in a minute,” he said. “I want you tell me everything great about this contract they’re offering you. Just the great stuff.”
She shared her list—a long list—of how working with Everlong would be a learning experience. How she’d see a side of composing she wouldn’t get to see any other way. The money was good apparently. Their writing team was all but guaranteed to win awards. She’d meet great, talented stars and see amazing sights and . . . Kellen knew he couldn’t compete with that. And he didn’t want to. He wanted her to reach for her stars.
“Oh,” she said after several minutes of fanning her own flames of excitement. “Pierre will be there too.”
“Pierre?” Why did that name sound familiar? And then he remembered making fun of the name when Dawn had told him about her unhealthy obsession with her music teacher and how he’d rejected her attempts to seduce him. “The Pierre you were in love with as a teenager?”
“Yeah. He’s actually the one who encouraged them to contact me.”
“So you saw him?” Kellen’s hands were sweating. Between this new job opportunity and the potential for her to rekindle an old flame, he was starting to feel that he should discourage her. For his sake. But even the thought was disgustingly selfish of him.
“He was at the dinner, and he encouraged me to sign the contract. He’s started composing too. Actually, he said I was the one who gave him that dream. I didn’t even know he was considering it. And he’s been working with Everlong for a few months now. I think they’re lovers.”
Kellen choked. “What?”
“Yeah, apparently my gaydar is broken. I had no idea Pierre was into men.” She laughed. “Maybe that’s why I never felt threatened by him.”
So Kellen didn’t have to worry about Pierre stealing his girl. At least not romantically.
“And now that you’ve weighed all the positives, what are the negatives?”
He could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “This is why I didn’t want to sign that contract until I spoke to you. I knew you’d help me approach it logically.”
“You should probably just follow your heart,” he said, suddenly feeling like an ass for forcing her to see the opportunity as anything less than perfect.
“That’s what Pierre told me, but if I followed my heart, I’d turn this down. My heart wants to follow you.”
A mix of joy and terror swirled through Kellen’s chest. “Would you be okay with me following you instead?”
“I’m not sure if I can wait until your tour is over, Kellen. I miss you so much already.”
“The tour is already over,” he said. “My band broke up.”
Saying the words made it more real, and that panicky feeling he’d been trying to quash before he heard Dawn’s voice began rising again, making it difficult to draw air.
“Wait. I think I heard you wrong,” Dawn said. “Did you just say your band broke up?”
“Yeah. We can’t find Adam. He took off right before we were set to go onstage and didn’t let anyone know where he was going. It was the final straw for Jacob. The rest of us were pretty much in shock when he made us choose between kicking Adam out of the band or him leaving. So he left.”
“I— I don’t know what to say. I’m sorry. Do you think you guys can work things out?”