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Isabella was over the moon, frantically reading every new headline to me each morning as we ate room service in my suite. And when I told her about the song I’d kept a secret, the one Aleks had told me to release… she’d lost it.
“We’re recording this,” she’d whispered when I’d played it for her, her eyes misty. “Now.”
And we did. In between shows and interviews, we snuck into a recording booth tucked away in Brooklyn, just me and my piano. It only took a few recordings to get what we wanted — mostly because this song was so engrained in me at the moment that I couldn’t help but sing it with my whole heart. That was why Aleks had caught me singing it in his condo. I was consumed.
On the last night at the Garden, we played it as the encore song.
We released it as a bonus track at midnight.
And by morning, it was number one on every streaming platform.
I woke to a text from Aleks, three words that made my heart gallop, my lips curling into a smile.
Aleks:Told you so.
I held onto those words as the weeks flew by. They were all I had. The night he’d come to my opening show, we’d had only moments together — a quick, staged kiss and photo op before I went on and then him guiding me to my car after the show, his hand on the small of my back.
That touch had lingered in the car, but we didn’t have a spare second to talk with Isabella and Rina there with us. They were freaking out over the show, screaming how amazing it was, showing me videos and photos posted online.
Aleks had kept his hand on my leg, but he was silent, and I’d wondered what he was thinking as he stared out the window.
Once he got me safely inside the hotel, he was all but run out by my team — who had gathered for what felt like an afterparty in my suite.
He’d squeezed my hand and told me he was proud of me.
He’d kissed my cheek and told me to get some rest.
He’d offered a weak smile and told me he’d see me soon.
And the next morning, he was on a flight back to Tampa, getting ready for his next game.
That was it.
For two weeks, that was the most time we had together.
Our texts were short, him busy with the season in full swing now and me too caught up in my head to know what to say when I did have time to get on my phone.
I didn’t tell him about Austin.
I didn’t tellanyoneabout Austin.
I may or may not have put some extra effort into the little photo ops Aleks and I did have, holding our kisses for longer and leaning into his touch when he walked with me in public, just to prove my ex wrong.
But truth be told, I’d forgotten about the punk and his stupid phone call.
Until the day Isabella dumped a bucket of ice-cold reality over my pretty head.
“I think it’s time.”
Isabella and I were huddled together on the bright orange velvet couch of my suite in Nashville where I was about to play another sold-out show in just a few hours. Giana and Aleks were on Isabella’s laptop screen, G in the top square and Aleks in the middle with us reflected at the bottom.
Just like it had been when we’d proposed this whole charade months ago.
