Tim and Cissy both sit in armchairs across from us. I tell them everything. Who I really am. The real way we met at a Chase Holt concert—and what followed. The acrobat hoops we’ve had to leap through to see each other while I was on tour.
And my deep regrets now with what this is doing to him.
And by extension: them.
Neither Cissy nor Tim say anything for a moment, taking it all in, or perhaps waiting for more. They hold hands the whole time. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say Cissy is clutching Tim’s hand so tightly, it’ll be a miracle he still has his bones intact by the end.
When it’s clear we’re finished, Cissy sits forward. “So … what you’re saying … what you’retellingme is … you’re a famous singer? Who plays the guitar?”
TJ literally rolls his eyes. “Of course that’s all you’d hear.”
“Oh, I heard the rest,” says Cissy. “I very, very much heard the rest. And from what I heard, your team ain’t doing diddly-squat to help. This is whenwestep up now and take this shit-show into our own hands.” She eyes me. “And you, Mr. Holt, havenothingto be apologizing for.” I’m about to tell her to please keep calling me Austin, but she goes right on ahead. “Don’t you think for a second we’re gonna sit here on our butts and do nothing while the media runs rampant dragging yours and my son’s name like they love to do to anything they can sink their sick-ass teeth into. We take care of our own here. Don’t we, TJ?”
TJ smirks. “The madder you get, the more Texan you sound.”
Tim pulls out his phone. “Sit tight. I’ll call up Tyrone King and see if he’s still got connections in the police department. May need to look into ramping up security in town, if any of that madness out there invites itself here to Spruce.” He’s already up out of his chair with his phone to his ear. “Hey, Omar, hi, how’re you? Good mornin’. Think I could chat with your hubby a sec? Bit of apressingsituation …” And he’s out of the room.
Cissy rises from her chair at the same time we do. “I’m gonna need to put a stop to some of my Fourth preparations. It won’t do to invite half the town over with all this going on.”
“Wait, wait,” I quickly interject. “Cissy, ma’am, no, no, I can’t have you go cancelin’ your big Boomin’ Bash on account of—”
“Boomin’ Barbecue,” she corrects me, “and I’m not canceling. I’madjusting. And enlisting some help. You think this is the first scandal we’ve dealt with? I nearly ran head-to-head againstNadinefor Mayor until I realized we’re stronger together. Optics happens to be our jam-and-toast now. Sit tight. Hey, Nadine?” She’s already on the phone and sauntering out of the room. “Oh, you are gonnadiewhen I tell you, yes, oh, youbet, but that’s not what I’m calling about …” And out she goes onto the patio.
I look at Cissy through the glass, her chatting now muted and far away, passion in her.
And Tim on his own mission, standing in the foyer, his words echoing, passion in him.
Something’s clawing at the surface of my mind.
Something I don’t quite know yet.
TJ frowns. “Why is everyone telling us to sit tight?” Suddenly, his eyes light up. “Wait, I just realized there’s someone’s helpIcan enlist.” And nowhe’sthe one pulling out his phone. “Y’know Cole at the gym? His fiancé Noah works at the paper—didn’t I mention that?—and they’ve been establishing a lovely online footprint for Spruce over the last year or so. If there’s anyone who can—”
“Wait.”
He stares at me, eyebrows lifted. “Wait …?”
I don’t know why I’m suddenly thinking of dollhouses.
Ian and his comically terrible English accent and falsetto lady voice.
The sweet, pure laughter of his daughter.
Then I’m at the back windows staring across the grass at the distant pavilion, remembering TJ and I making out on that stage floor next to the piano, all sweaty, out of breath, full of passion.
Passion, passion, passion.
YouareChase Holt, said Ian.And you’re Austin.It’s about time you stop separating the two and accept they’re one and the same.
Maybe he was on to something.
And didn’t know it.
“Austin …?” TJ has come up to my side. “What’s going on?”
“We’re playing the wrong game,” I realize, a discovery.
That only confuses him worse. “What do you mean? As in … we’re all going about this the wrong way?” He lifts his phone and points at it. “So I shouldn’t call Noah?”