in every conversation, you notice things. Things like the way your fingers tightened on the phone when you were reading the emails before you even got to the one about the photos,” Trent told her.
“What he said,” Ryker grumbled as he used his teeth to bite off the thread. “Tinsley, take these to Skye and have her wear this bra and these shoes today. They’re all ready for her.”
Tinsley got up and called to Skye. Now it was just Ryker, Trent, and Karri in the room. Trent crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair waiting.
Karri huffed as she flopped back in the kitchen chair. “It’s not just Bernie. The whole team is going rogue and I don’t know if I can stop them. I don’t know if anyone can. Rebecca, the head of PR, is telling news outlets that Skye is unavailable because she is in the hospital due to exhaustion. That’s code for drug overdose. That’s how they’re explaining her absence. Then Tony Ketron emailed demanding Skye wax until she’s completely bare down there because she’s too disgusting to be in his movie until she’s quote: ‘shined and buffed.’ Then he offered to do it for her to get it just right for the movie, so they capture the artistic purpose of the movie correctly.” Karri rolled her eyes.
Trent felt like breaking the table in half. Even Ryker looked affected. Trent looked to his cousin. “Olivia handles it or I will,” Trent said to Ryker through his clenched jaw.
“She will or I’ll help you take them all down.”
Trent looked up at Ryker and saw that he wasn’t just saying it. Ryker was ready to take down Hollywood right along with him. “Thanks, cousin.”
Ryker nodded his head in response and slid back in his chair to stand up. “I have a conference call. Karri, why don’t you tell Castle and Granger of our appointment with Olivia? I’ll see you both at noon.”
Ryker strode out the door and it was Karri’s turn to pin Trent with a look. “You care for her, don’t you?”
“Yes,” Trent answered instantly.
Karri nodded and went to work on her phone. “Agent Castle and Sheriff Fox will meet us at noon. Agent Castle asked for Low Country. What does that mean?”
“There are two barbeque places here: Low Country and the Pink Pig.”
“It’ll be hard to beat the Pink Pig. That was really good. But there’s no burger place or something like that?”
Trent shook his head. “We have the diner. They have a burger, but it’s nothing special. Mostly it’s Low Country cooking. Shrimp and grits, gator—”
“Alligator?”
“It’s fantastic. You deep-fry it and put it on a salad and you’ll never be the same again,” Trent told her as they heard Tinsley and Skye walking down the stairs.
Karri leaned forward and dropped her voice. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re good for each other. You count her celebrity as a negative. And while that’s a refreshing take from a guy, it’s also an inescapable fact of life for her, it’s never going away. You need to find a way to reconcile that if you wish to move forward with Skye.”
Karri left Trent with a lot to think about as the women went into downtown with Kord ready to trail behind them. Karri was right. As much as he loved being with Skye, he wasn’t experiencing her daily life. She was experiencing his. For him to know if they’d be able to have everything he’d been thinking about, he needed to stop tethering her to Shadows Landing. If he did that, he was just as bad as Lenny and the others trying to force Skye to be something she wasn’t. It was time to let Skye fly and see if they could soar into the future together or if it was just her time to shine.
12
Skye had a blast at Bless Your Scarf. She ended up with two dresses, a sweatshirt, cute lounge pants, a college ball cap, and a handful of accessories. The group had grown to include Ellery and Darcy as they went to Darcy’s museum. Kord was with them, but he’d blended into the background and she’d completely forgotten about him until they left the store and he trailed after them.
Darcy told Skye and Karri about how she met her husband, Trent’s brother, Wade, and how they had discovered one of the largest sunken treasures ever to be found. Skye stared in wonder at the jewels, the ancient trunks they’d filled, and the pictures