19. Luna

19

"Should I get the squeaky caterpillar or the squeaky bone?" I held both up as I turned to face the five reporters who'd followed me into the store. "Do any of you jerks have dogs?"

"Danny has a dog," a skinny blond guy said, pointing at Danny Mills, roving reporter for celebgossip.com and bane of my life.

"Nah, my wife took him in the divorce."

"Oh gee, I can't imagine why she dumped you. Anyone else?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ryder's lips twitch.

"I got a cat," another offered. A Latino, and he must have been new because I didn't recognise him.

"That's a whole other species. Didn't you go to school? You know what? I'll just buy both. Do these cooling mats work?"

"Why don't you try one and find out?" Danny suggested.

"So you can take a picture of me lying on the floor in the pet store and tell everyone I'm having a breakdown? Do you think I was born yesterday?"

"Can you tell us about the dog you're getting?" the new guy asked.

That, I could do.

"Sure. His name is Rocky, and I'll be looking after him for Helping Paws. It's a small shelter based near Summerlin, and I'm sure they'd be thrilled if you swung by to snap some photos."

"What breed is Rocky?"

"Who knows? He's black and very cute."

"How old is?—"

"Dogs need walking, right?" Danny asked.

"Usually they do, but Rocky's on a restricted exercise regimen while he recovers from a medical condition." I smiled, and a camera clicked. "Luckily, Romeo Serafini has offered to help out, seeing as I'm so busy with the show right now."

"That's Frank Serafini's son?"

"What colour leash should I get? The pink or the green?"

Ryder didn't look too pleased when we climbed into the car. Two store employees had loaded Rocky's stuff into the trunk, plus a load of branded merchandise that they'd given me for free and hoped I'd use but which I'd actually donate to the shelter.

"Why did you mention Serafini?" he grumbled. "They're gonna start speculating."

"Exactly. And if they're speculating about me and Romeo, they won't be paying attention to me and you."

"Hmm," was all he said.

"Plus the men on his personal security team strike me as the type who would shoot first and ask questions later, so I'm thinking this is a win-win."

And it wasn't as if Romeo would mind his name being associated with mine. He'd asked me to have dinner with him, hadn't he?

"That isn't the worst idea you've had," Ryder admitted.

"I'll never get rid of the press entirely, but I can steer them in a different direction. Yes, those morons are a pain in the butt, but they also think I'm a dumb blonde, so it's easy to manipulate them."

"You're definitely not dumb, moon."

"And I'm not blonde either."

"I don't think I've ever seen a picture of your natural colour."

"I've been dying my hair since I was five. From what I remember, it's more of a medium brown."

"You think you'll ever go brunette again?"

"Maybe? In less than four months, I'll be free to do whatever I want."

"Unless Julius comes up with another offer," Ryder ground out.

"I only need enough work to fund my living expenses until our contract runs out, and Caro says I already have enough for this year. After I ditch Julius, I'll be free to look for another agent, and honestly, I don't care if I sing in a bar for the rest of my life. Do people really not wait tables at McDonald's?"

"You've never been to a McDonald's?"

"Mom said fries were bad for me, remember?"

"You buy your food at the counter and then sit wherever you want. One day, I'll take you to a McDonald's."

"Me and the dirty dozen."

I glanced out the rear window, and yup, they were still following. The skinny blond guy was riding with Danny Mills, so at least they were carpooling to help the environment.

"Virginia will be quieter. Moon, if you need support next year, I earn good money. Not your kind of money, but enough that you won't have to worry."

"You'd do that? You'd look after me that way?"

"Don't sign that fuckin' deal."

"I won't sign that fuckin' deal," I said and then giggled. Giggled with joy and utter relief because if Ryder meant what he said, then Julius could stuff his damn chequebook up his perverted ass.

I'd be free.

Free.

The next stop wasn't so fun. In line with Ryder's "keep your enemies closer" suggestion, I'd agreed to get coffee with Jubilee. He'd arranged a private room at the Black Diamond where we wouldn't be overheard. Plus he said the security was excellent there, so he planned to use the gym while I caught up with my cousin.

I wasn't looking forward to it.

Before San Gallicano, the quiet time I spent with Jubilee had been the thing I most enjoyed, just the two of us, no Mom, no paparazzi. We'd book a room in one of the big hotels to have lunch out of the public eye. Now not only was I too poor to spend money like that, but I also wouldn't be able to relax in her presence. Not when she'd betrayed me the way she did.

Two weeks after I got back to Vegas, she'd written a long email trying to justify her actions. She'd sided with Cordelia because she was worried I'd ruin my reputation, she claimed, and what harm had it done? Besides, that was the reason Mom had hired bodyguards, so it was a good thing really. Blah, blah, blah. Words couldn't make me trust her again. Okay, yes, I'd forgiven Ryder, but that was different. He'd told one lie at a time when we barely knew each other, and although it hurt, he'd been helping me ever since. Jubilee, my lifelong bestie, had conspired with my third-worst enemy and then gone running back to Mom when she got found out.

Jubilee was already waiting when the host showed me through to the dining room. She must have started a new yoga class because she was dressed in sportswear and there was a rolled-up mat on the floor beside her.

"I wasn't sure you'd come," she said.

"I said I would, and I don't let people down, unlike some people."

"Luna, I'm so sorry. I only did it because?—"

"Stop. Just stop. You already wrote everything in that letter, and I'm never going to agree with your reasoning, so don't even try to justify it. What do you want?"

A waiter glided up. "Ladies, can I get you something to drink?"

Jubilee scanned the menu. "A chamomile tea, please."

"I'll have a watermelon and mint smoothie. Actually, no…" Mom wasn't here to lecture me anymore. "…make it chocolate and banana."

I didn't miss Jubilee's sharp intake of breath, but I ignored it.

"Anything to eat?" the waiter asked.

"Ask us in ten minutes."

Because if Jubilee got on my nerves, I'd be gone by then. Ryder had arranged a safe place for me to wait if I left before he finished in the gym.

"Well?" I asked once the waiter had departed. "What do you want?"

"I guess I just wanted to check you were okay."

"As you can see, I'm absolutely fine."

"Are you really, though? Amethyst says you're having a breakdown."

That didn't surprise me even a little bit. "Mom can't handle the fact that I'm doing better without her."

"Julius said you hired some psycho of a bodyguard, and he's a real thug with a short fuse."

I choked out a laugh. "I hired Ryder again. Julius only thinks he's a thug because Ryder made him let go of my arm yesterday."

And I hoped Julius had a massive bruise.

"Ryder?" Jubilee looked confused. "But I thought you hated him now? At the restaurant in San Gallicano, you were yelling at him and…"

"We cleared the air."

"You've been so quiet. Your socials are dead."

"Halle-freaking-lujah. Do you know how liberating it is to live life as I want to for a change? I sleep as late as I like. I'm learning to drive. Oh, and I'm going to foster a dog. His name is Rocky, and we're going to pick him up tomorrow morning."

"A dog? But what will you do with it when you're touring?"

"I'm not going to be touring, duh."

"But Julius said he'd gotten you a new deal? Five years, three albums, world tours?"

"And I told him I'm not doing that."

"But…but it's worth millions of dollars."

"So? Money doesn't buy happiness, and neither does fame."

"But we don't have any money. The police still haven't found Ron, and your mom is freaking out."

"If she thinks it's so much fun, maybe she can try getting a recording contract and going on tour? I'm going to finish my show at the Palace, then chill until my contract with Julius expires."

Jubilee just stared at me, and the waiter chose that moment to return with our drinks. My smoothie came with a mini platter of fruit slices and a bamboo straw.

"Would you like to see a menu?"

"Just bring me something light. No shellfish."

"And for you, ma'am?" he asked Jubilee.

"A Caesar salad."

Honestly, I'd rather have been in the gym watching Ryder get sweaty, but I needed to understand what was going on with Jubilee. Was she truly worried about me or just doing Mom's bidding? In a strange way, I missed her. She'd been the one constant in my life growing up. I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to forgive her for the Cordelia thing, but if Mom had messed with her head as much as mine and Jubilee could also break free, perhaps it would be possible to get back a semblance of our old friendship?

"I thought you loved singing?" she said.

"I do, but I can sing in the shower. I can dance in my living room."

"You found a new place?"

"Well, I haven't been sleeping on the street. I'm surprised Mom hasn't shown up at the door yet—the paparazzi are always outside, and even my stalker has the address."

"You have a stalker?"

"I told you I had a stalker, remember? When I asked you whether it was Cordelia messing around again?"

"But I thought that was just letters?"

"Where do you think he's sending them?"

"You should come home. After your car got stolen, Amethyst installed cameras."

Oh, sure, she installed them. As if she climbed the ladder herself. More like she paid someone else to do it with what was left of my money.

"My car wasn't stolen. I just picked it up."

"You… I don't understand."

"I told you I'm learning to drive."

"Why didn't you call first? Amethyst reported it to the police."

"Because if I'd told Mom, she would have tried to stop me, and if I'd told you, you would have told her, wouldn't you?"

Jubilee fiddled with her phone. She wouldn't look me in the eye. "She's worried about you. We both are."

"I just said I'm fine."

"But you're not. Amethyst said you're trying to throw us out of the house. She got a letter from a lawyer."

"Because it was meant to be my house. I chose it, and I paid for it, but somehow it ended up in her name."

My cousin's brows knitted, and why was I surprised? Mom dished out information on a need-to-know basis, and she clearly didn't think Jubilee needed to know that she'd stolen a whole-ass property.

"Oh, she didn't tell you that part?"

As best my lawyer could work out, I'd owned the house for a couple of months when I was eighteen, and then Mom had filed a transfer of title form at the county recorder's office, switching it to her name. The form was notarised, and I'd signed it. But I'd signed so many documents in those days, and I could barely freaking read. The legal stuff meant nothing to me. I'd trusted Mom when she told me what each form was for.

All I ever wanted to do was sing.

"I thought she bought the house."

"Of course you did; she lies all the time."

"But she said?—"

"Mom has a way of crushing your mind. The time in San Gallicano gave me the space to break out of her hold, and honestly, I don't understand why you went back."

"What was I supposed to do? You fired me, and I didn't have anywhere else to live."

"What about savings? I was paying you, like, a hundred thousand a year."

She shrugged.

"You spent it all? What the heck on?"

Lululemon wasn't that expensive, was it?

"Private yoga lessons with Guru Balvani, food, a new car." She picked at her napkin. "I lent some to Benji."

"Benji? The loser from high school? The one with the pocket protector?"

"He's not a loser."

"Then why did you have to lend him money?"

"He started a business."

"A business? What kind of business?"

"He designs executive stress toys."

Toys? Freaking toys?

"And how is that going?"

"His first project just got funded on Kickstarter, but it took a lot of investment to get to the prototype stage."

"Why didn't you tell me about this before?"

Because I would definitely have talked her out of it.

"Because you would have talked me out of it."

"Does Mom know?"

Jubilee snorted. "Of course not." The napkin was in tatters now. "I realise you don't like Benji, but we care about each other."

I didn't like Benji because one time when Jubilee had gone to get us more drinks, he'd told me I was a walking exothermic reaction and asked if I wanted to break the Pauli Exclusion Principle with him, but I didn't know what an exothermic reaction was, or the Pauli Exclusion Principle, so I'd had to wait for him to explain before I slapped him. When I'd tried to tell Jubilee what happened, she'd just reassured me that I must have misunderstood because I definitely wasn't his type.

"Will you ever get any of that money back?"

She got defensive. "It's a long-term investment, and do you know how many executives get stressed? It's, like, ninety-five percent of them. Benji ran focus groups."

"If he's so successful, why don't you go work for his toy company? Then you could afford rent."

"The company is still in the startup phase. There isn't room in the budget for an additional salary. Have you hired a new assistant?"

Was she angling for her old job back?

"I'm doing okay on my own for the moment."

"Really? But you're barely posting on social media, and who's looking after your schedule?"

"I literally have one thing on my schedule, and I'm sick of social media."

"So you're just…not posting anything?"

"Exactly."

"What about promo work? What about raising your profile?"

"I have reporters following me from dawn till dusk. They can raise my profile. Or not. I genuinely don't care anymore. In fact, I wish I could fall off their radar altogether."

"So you're going to throw away your whole career?"

"I'm thinking of retraining as a server."

"Are you actually serious right now?"

The waiter brought our lunch, and I got a steamed cheddar soufflé with salad. I took a bite. Not bad.

"No, I'm not serious. But I am planning to take some time off."

"Is that really a good idea?"

"I've been working since I was four years old. You don't know what it's like to be under that kind of pressure." Crushing. It was crushing. "While I was practising for pageants and taking dance lessons and working with my vocal coach, you went to school like a normal kid. You were allowed to sleep over at friends' houses, date boys, and go to the mall. Just for once in my life, I want to wake up and not be beholden to the entire freaking world."

"But you're a star."

We ate the rest of the meal in silence because she truly didn't understand. And why would she? She'd always been able to fade into the background while I took the full brunt of everyone's attention. Look at what happened in San Gallicano, for instance. The stunt that had gotten me banished to the turtle sanctuary amid a hail of headlines had been cooked up by her and Kory.

After the waiter had taken our plates and I'd handed over my credit card—because of course she still expected me to pay for everything—we hugged each other goodbye, and I knew things could never be the same between us. The moment was tinged with sadness. Although we'd still meet up for lunch or whatever, I'd lost a good friend, a family member.

But at the same time, I was moving on.

I needed to move on.

The waiter came back with my card. "Ms. Maara, my apologies, but I've just been informed that lunch was covered by Mr. Metcalfe."

I was definitely moving on.