grin. There was a guarded, unsure quality, signaling that she was nervous, vulnerable.
“They liked the show.” It wasn’t a lie.
“They did?” Carly let her hands drop. “That’s such a relief. You have no idea. What about us? I’m guessing if they liked the show then we fared okay, right?”
“Yes, they were complimentary.” She didn’t mention that the reviews seemed to favor her. It didn’t feel right to say so, and it felt even weirder that they’d written it. Carly was amazing in the show and had come such a long way in terms of her work ethic.
“You’re not saying much. Guess I better take a look.” She squinted at Lauren, headed back to the bedroom, and returned a moment later with her phone, already engrossed in what she found there. She raised her gaze to Lauren, beaming. “They love you. They absolutely do.”
Lauren smiled back. “It’s nice of them to say those things.”
“I’m so proud of you.” A pause. She held up her phone. “I don’t think they liked me as much.” She shrugged but seemed a little smaller as she stood there. “That’s okay. I’m new at this theater thing, right?”
“They did like you. It’s just that my late casting probably made for an interesting spin on the write-up.”
But Carly was continuing to click around on her phone now, and Lauren watched as her supportive smile dimmed. Damn it. She’d run into the gossip reports.
“They think I started fights.” She raised her gaze to Lauren’s, dumbfounded. “But I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I like most everyone, and if I’ve been spoiled and shallow in the past, I haven’t treated anyone poorly.”
“You haven’t. You were late and had a bit of a culture shock, but you were never hard to work with.”
“Lauren,” she said, looking helpless. “I never threw fits.”
“No. You don’t have to tell me that. I was there.”
Carly kept clicking. Lauren’s stomach turned over as she imagined what she’d find as she surfed from one link to another. Likely, much what Lauren had: other media outlets had picked up the same nugget of gossip, making it look widely reported that Carly had been a problem child yet again. When Carly set her phone on the kitchen counter and looked up with a crestfallen face, Lauren’s heart broke for her. “I can’t win.”
“Don’t look at it that way. Come here, please.” Lauren held open her arms, but Carly hesitated and ultimately backed away from the gesture.
“I’m good. Not to worry.” Instead of the embrace Lauren offered, Carly wrapped her arms around herself, resembling a vulnerable child protecting herself from other kids on the playground. She gestured behind her. “I should finish getting ready. Get out of your hair.”
“I don’t want you out of my hair,” Lauren said to Carly’s back as she retreated down the hall. No answer. She closed her eyes and let her emotions settle into a neat pile. Carly needed space to work through this atrocious rumor, which was the opposite of what she’d been hoping for. Though it was Lauren’s natural inclination to try to fix everything, there was very little she could do about the media and what they wrote. She gave it some time, tidied up the kitchen, and eventually picked up Rocky IV and carried him, infant style, into her bathroom where she found Carly putting the finishing touches on her makeup.
“Someone wanted to say good morning.”
Carly eyed her in the mirror. Her shoulders relaxed and the ends of her mouth tugged when she saw Rocky. It was hard to resist the face of a pug carried like a precious newborn. Rocky dropped his face over the back of Lauren’s arm and regarded Carly from his upside-down position, content to be adored and fussed over like the little prince he was.
“Well, that’s certainly an unusual greeting.” Carly leaned down and let him swipe his upside-down tongue across her face. She scratched his head with both hands, and his curlicue tail set to wiggling, which was so much cuter than wagging. “I can’t say I’d ever turn away a kiss from this fur ball of love.”
“Well, who would?” A pause. “You okay?” Lauren asked quietly. “You fled the scene earlier. I was worried.”
Carly leaned against the bathroom counter and considered the question. Her hair was shiny and her lips were perfectly adorned, but her soul likely hurt. “Yeah. I’m sorry about that. I’m doing okay. I can admit that those were not the words I wanted to read this morning, but do you know