To Begin Again by Emily Conrad

Author:Emily Conrad [Conrad, Emily]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781736038871
Publisher: Hope Anchor LLC

18

While Michaela was at the grocery store, picking up ingredients for enchiladas, her phone rang. Reese. She let it go to voicemail, as she had Gannon’s call on Sunday night.

The people who’d been lifelines in the past couldn’t help her. She’d have to go back to work eventually to occupy herself. But she was done scrambling to please people in the industry when it cost her self-respect and hadn’t earned her the security she’d longed for. If Reese wanted to drop her, so be it. Everyone ditched her sooner or later anyway.

Or … Okay, she wasn’t ready to lose Reese.

She’d better listen to the message.

As she picked out a couple of more tomatoes, her manager’s voice played in her ear. “You may be friends with Gannon, but you have your own manager. Tim Bergeron burned a major favor getting you a spot with Evie Decker. You and I had a plan—collaboration first, Evie after—and I don’t appreciate you working around me.”

Tim had succeeded?

Reese should be happy, not annoyed.

Reese could lecture all she wanted, but light cut through the haze she’d been operating in. Her life might be a mess, but her career would get a healthy boost. What more could she ask for?

Not a friendly evening with her family, that was for sure, because a couple of hours later, when Riley and her family arrived, Riley scowled when her husband greeted Michaela with a hug.

Surely it hadn’t been out of line, though, right? Maybe Michaela wouldn’t know. After all, she’d offended Philip by how she’d interacted with Tim too. She vowed not to touch Darren again, even if it meant awkward maneuvering.

Still, Riley sat stonily at the table as the meal began. If not for four-year-old Bailey’s animated stories about her day, Michaela suspected they’d eat in silence.

Halfway through dinner, the doorbell rang.

Dad made a show of laying aside his napkin and rising to get it. “Who comes around at dinner time?”

Probably someone who knew family meals had never been a revered event in the Vandehey house. But instead of voicing the guess, Michaela shrugged and shook her head.

Dad ambled off.

The interruption distracted Bailey, allowing Darren to turn to Michaela. “What’s new with you since last week?”

She debated sharing the developments from the last couple of days—deciding to walk away from the collaboration, landing the spot with Evie. The stories would probably strike Riley as being boastful. In fact, lines had appeared on either side of Riley’s mouth, as though she were annoyed Darren had chosen to fill the break in conversation by inviting Michaela to take the floor.

So instead of giving an in-depth answer, Michaela lifted her fork, stretching and snapping a string of cheese. “I learned a new enchilada recipe.”

Dad returned alone and harrumphed into his seat. “Michaela, there’s a gentleman caller here for you.”

“A what?” She set her utensil back down, the food uneaten.

Dad offered no more explanation, so she went to the door.

Philip waited on the stoop. He wore a T-shirt with the logo of another band on the chest.

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