The Happy Ever After Playlist - Abby Jimenez Page 0,86
me right in the heart.
I was ready to get serious about my art again. But I’d been bogged down with Etsy and astronaut cats so I hadn’t been able to actually attempt it. And now that I’d shucked all those responsibilities and had this incredible opportunity dangling in front of me, I couldn’t take it.
I put my phone away and went back to watching TV, depressed. I guess I should be happy that I’d gotten to the point where I wanted to pursue things that I used to be passionate about. Even if I couldn’t do them.
Jason clomped into the trailer twenty minutes later and looked surprised to see me up. He put his hand on the back of the sofa to lean down and kiss me. “Good morning. Coffee?” He smiled, but he looked weary.
“Yeah. Hey, did you see this?” I said, nodding at the TV. I was watching E! News.
“What is it?” He went to the kitchen and opened the cabinet and pulled out the bag of grounds.
“Lola’s suing her manager. I guess he embezzled all this money from her.”
He spooned coffee into the press. “She was probably too wasted to notice,” he mumbled. He put water in the microwave. “Speaking of Lola, Ernie thinks the photos of me and her were staged by my label.”
I scrunched my forehead. “Really? Why?”
“Publicity.” He leaned on the counter with his arms crossed while he waited for the microwave. “He thinks they might put her on my tour even if my shows are sold out.”
I shrugged. “Okay. Well, she doesn’t scare me. Just so you know.”
He smiled and walked over to turn off the TV. “Hey, I got you a gift.”
I grinned at him. “You did?”
He opened a cabinet in the kitchen and pulled out a large blue polka-dot gift bag and put it in my lap as he sat down. “I thought you might like this,” he said.
I reached in and pulled out a small table lamp. It had a gear for the base, a twisted metal neck, and an old scuffed-up curved license plate for the shade.
“It’s from your car,” he said. “I had Zane get the parts from the junkyard and send it to a guy who makes lamps out of refurbished auto parts. I had to place a rush order to get it before we left, but I really wanted you to have it. I know you liked that car.”
I beamed. “Jason, this is so thoughtful!”
I loved it.
I leaned over and hugged his neck. “Thank you.”
He pressed his cheek to the side of my head. “We can keep it here until we come back from tour and get a house.”
I nodded, wiping under my eyes with my thumb. This was Jason. So thoughtful.
“You ready for breakfast?” I sniffed. “Pancakes or bacon and eggs? Both?”
He sighed, and his hand went up to rub his forehead. “I’m sorry we can’t go out to eat.”
He’d been getting recognized. A lot.
The Wilderness Calls was a blockbuster. Once the movie came out and Saturday Night Live aired, his soundtrack had blown up. The music video for the theme song had over fifty million views as of yesterday, and unlike with his Claymation one, he was in it, front and center.
At the last minute they gave him the cover of GQ magazine, which didn’t surprise me one bit. The man took a good picture. And Lola’s little tabloid scandal had actually seemed to work to his advantage. His website crashed the day it came out, so I guess the publicity stunt succeeded—even if it did almost ruin our lives.
Jason liked his fans. He liked signing autographs. He was personable and outgoing. But I don’t think he’d quite expected this level of celebrity. There was no shutting it off.
He was a neon sign. People took pictures without asking, came up to him at the store and the gas station. Followed him. We had gone out to a late-night dinner a few days ago and we hadn’t had a moment’s peace. And even if he wasn’t being approached, he was being looked at. Stared at.
On top of all of that, he was super on edge after the Lola thing. He said he felt like he couldn’t protect me with random strangers coming up to us at every turn.
I climbed into his lap, straddling him, my shirt bunching up around my hips. I wasn’t wearing shorts and my G-string was red. He glanced down and arched an eyebrow.