Total pages in book: 87
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85135 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 426(@200wpm)___ 341(@250wpm)___ 284(@300wpm)
“Okay,” she calls, and I shut the door.
TEN
Vivian
I hate to wake Tommy, but I know he’ll be mad if I call Felicity without speaking to him first.
“Vivian?” he shouts into the phone. “Are you okay?”
“Everything’s fine,” I’ve raised my voice slightly as I’m not sure if it’s a bad line. “But we need to talk to Felicity. I just got jumped by a paparazzi and we need to get ahead of it.”
I hear sniffling and snuffling at the other end of the phone. “Vivian?”
“Can you hear me, Tommy?”
“Shit, what time is it, are you okay?”
“We need to get Felicity on the line, I just got papped.”
“Right. Give me a second. Move over, Robbie,” he says to his husband. “I need to find my—right, I’ve got my glasses. Let me dial in Felicity.”
I wait as Tommy tries to connect the three of us. I can picture him squinting at the screen, punching buttons with his hair standing on end.
“Right, is that the three of us?” he asks. Videos of Tommy and Felicity pop up onto my screen. Tommy’s hair is standing on end, but he’s made it to his office and he’s pulled on a shirt. Felicity, on the other hand, looks completely put together in a black round-necked jumper and a string of pearls. It’s as if she’s been up an hour already despite it being four a.m. in New York.
“How are you, darling?” Felicity asks in her mid-Atlantic drawl.
“I’m fine,” I say. “I’ve been staying in London and keeping it under the radar but I got papped this morning. About thirty minutes ago.”
Felicity nods. “What were you doing, what were you wearing, who were you with?”
“Walking in Regent’s Park. Athleisure, a cap and sunglasses, just like I am now. And…” I sigh. I really don’t want to talk about Beau, but I suppose I have to. “I was with a guy from the coffee shop. We were just taking a stroll through the park.”
“A guy from the coffee shop?” Felicity asks, arching one eyebrow.
“You’re dating a barista?” Tommy bellows, incredulous.
“I’m not dating anyone, but if I was dating a barista, that would be perfectly fine.”
“It’s four a.m., I’m in no mood to argue with you, but to be clear, you’re not dating the barista?” Tommy asks.
“He’s not a barista. He’s just a guy I bumped into at the coffee shop. We’ve taken a walk together a couple of times. And I’m not dating him.”
“Are there shots of you kissing?” Felicity asks, making notes as we talk.
“No. We’re not kissing—not in the photo, not anywhere.”
“Holding hands?” she asks.
I hiss out a breath as I remember what we were doing just before the paparazzi called my name. Did he get pictures of me reaching for Beau’s face? Of us holding hands? Beau kissing my hands?
“I was teasing him and I think we might have looked—yeah, we were holding hands at one point.
“What’s his name?” Felicity asks.
“Beau Cove,” I reply. “He’s a doctor.”
Felicity groans, and I immediately realize that she’s concerned someone’s going to think I’m his patient. “He’s never been my doctor. I just spilled hot coffee all over him one day. We got talking.”
“What kind of doctor is he?” she asks. “Please don’t tell me he’s a fucking obstetrician, because that’s a can of worms I don’t want to be dealing with.”
“He says he’s a GP.”
“That’s something at least,” says Felicity. “The last thing we want is headlines about you recovering from…well, you know.”
“So, can you deal with it?” I ask.
“Are you serious about this guy?” Tommy asks. “It’s very soon since your split from Matty.”
“Matt. And no, I’m not serious about Beau. We’re not dating. We’ve been for three walks in a public park after arriving to the same coffee shop separately to get coffee.” And he’s made me feel safer, more listened to and interesting than Matt ever did. But they don’t need to know any of that.
“Vivian is visiting England and catching up with friends as she prepares for the launch of Everlasting Whispers, the hotly anticipated follow-up to her double-platinum album, Moonlight Whispers.” I’m used to Felicity thinking aloud in our calls, testing out her draft statements as we all watch or listen. Usually we all sit in silence until she’s worked through a couple of iterations. But I can’t sit in silence as she lists out my album names.
“No,” I say. “Don’t mention the new album. I’m not sure I want to call it Everlasting Whispers.” It’s the first time I’ve thought about the name of the album since coming to the UK.
“That’s been agreed for months,” Tommy says. “It was the one that tested the best in the focus groups.”
“I don’t like it. It’s stupid in light of the breakup.” The problem with being famous is everyone thinks they know you. People were invested in mine and Matt’s love story. “I can’t go out with an album with everlasting in the title when I’ve just split up with my fiancé.”