The Happy Ever After Playlist - Abby Jimenez Page 0,17
would say that. So what’s your question?”
I didn’t even have to think about it. “What did you tell your friend Kristen about me?”
She groaned. “I think I’d prefer to send you a picture.”
“That bad, huh?”
“If I give you back your forfeited question, will you change this one?”
“Definitely not.”
She let out a sigh and I snickered. Then I threw her a lifeline. “I’ll tell you what, if you agree that our hike with Tucker is going to be a date, I’ll ask you something else. Or you could keep calling it an appointment, and then you can tell me all about what you two ladies talked about yesterday. Or you could send me a picture. It’s all a win for me. I can’t actually decide which option I like best, they’re all so great.”
She laughed. “You are not going to give this up, are you?”
“Nope.”
“You know what? I think I will tell you what I said. Because I said very little, actually. I showed her your picture. I said we’d been texting and talking. And I said you were taking Tucker back. That’s it. You asked the wrong question. You should have asked what Kristen said in response to what I said. That was the juicy stuff.”
“You showed her my picture?” I asked, grinning.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She’s my best friend and we were talking about you,” she said.
“So you agree that having a picture of someone is helpful?”
“I see where you’re taking this, and it won’t work.”
“I have a best friend too, you know. Cooper, the bartender downstairs, would also like to see a picture to accompany my stories about you.”
“Well, Cooper is going to have to help you to think up much better questions, then, isn’t he?”
I put my arm behind my head and grinned. “Make my picture your wallpaper.”
“What? No!”
“Do it, I dare you.”
“No. Tucker is my wallpaper. I like having Tucker as my wallpaper. Unlike his dad, Tucker is well behaved.”
“Well, in all fairness, Tucker’s got a date and not an appointment.”
She laughed.
Housekeeping knocked, and I slid off the mattress to open the door and wave them off, slipping the Do not disturb sign onto the knob. I grabbed a bottled water from the minibar and climbed back onto the bed.
“So what did you do yesterday that had you so busy that you missed your daily question?” she asked.
“I had sound check and rehearsal. Then I had dinner with the group,” I said, taking the cap off my water.
“Oh, you’re in a group?”
“No, I’m a lone wolf. I had dinner with the group that I’m working with tomorrow night.”
“And who’s that?”
I was opening for The Black Keys on Sunday, but for Sloan that was embargoed information. I had officially decided not to tell her who I was or what I really did for a living. I didn’t want it to distract her from getting to know me as a person. I’d learned a few lessons from my time with Monique. I wasn’t going to lie, per se, I just wasn’t going to volunteer things whenever possible.
“You’ve probably never heard of them,” I said. Then I changed the subject. “So my mom’s pretty excited I know The Huntsman’s Wife.”
“Really? Does she use my website?”
“Yes, religiously. I’ve eaten a lot of your food. Where did you learn how to cook?”
“My mom has a catering company. She has a food truck on the Warner Bros. lot. I grew up helping her.”
“And does she serve a lot of wild game?”
I could almost imagine the smirk I heard on her lips. Almost. I really did wish I had a picture.
“No, but once you know how the meat tastes, it’s not hard to work with it,” she said.
I shook my head. “Yes, it is. That’s why your page is so popular.”
“Is it?”
“You’re kidding, right? Everyone I know uses it. Why don’t you update it anymore?”
She paused for a moment. “I cooked the meat that Brandon, my fiancé, used to bring home. He died in a motorcycle accident two years ago. Hit by a drunk driver. So I stopped blogging.”
I could hear the tightness at the edges of her voice, and something protective in me twitched—which was weird. I barely knew her. But I didn’t like that she’d gone through this. Why do all the bad things always seem to happen to good people?
“Do you still cook other things?” I asked, getting us off the topic.
“Not really. It kind of lost its allure for me.”
“So if you don’t cook, what have you eaten today?”