CHAPTER 76

Two days until the wedding

"Where's the coffee?" Frank gripes as he drops into a chair across the table.

A moment later, a hotel attendant wheels a cart into the room.

"We all know why you're here," Eddie says as Frank nods to the attendant, who fixes his drink. "Timothy and I are part of a consortium looking to purchase Wicked."

"We want to retain the existing slate of talent," I continue, shifting back in my seat to survey the table. "Including you."

In addition to Eddie and me, there's Frank and two other artists.

"And you elicit our support through threats and violence," Frank quips, stirring his coffee.

"That was personal." My voice is more composed than yesterday because I need it to be. "This is business."

The other reason it's easier to be composed is because Emily's not here distracting us both by being her.

Which reminds me she and our friends are heading for an adventure across the island today, and Eddie and I are the suckers in self-inflicted weekend detention until we can hammer out an arrangement.

I tug on my hair as if that can transport me out of this room.

One of the artists, Den, a strong guy with kind eyes who does mellow R&B music, leans in. "You left Wicked on bad terms after a legal battle, Eddie. What makes us think you have the company's best interests at heart?"

Eddie rubs a hand over his jaw. He looks as if he could be on stage any second even though he hasn't performed in a few years and is officially retired from that part of his career. "Because I was part of what it used to be. I know it can be better. The music industry is evolving, and we can be on the right side of progress or not."

Flash, a woman with a bleach-blond mohawk and electric blue eyes, frowns. "And you two would be running it?"

I shake my head. "We'd hire a CEO to run the day to day. Any use of company assets by Eddie or myself would be contracted separately. Everything would be done above board and ensure there's no conflict of interest."

Frank chuckles. "This whole thing screams conflict of interest. Why should we trust you?"

Eddie jumps in. "Let's be clear on what will happen if we don't do this deal. You start over at a new label. Not the end of the world. But without a good offer like ours, Wicked will run out of cash, which means not only will you not get another deal there, you'll have to get in line with other secured creditors to try to get your piece of existing royalties owed to you."

Eddie's "bad cop" brashness shuts them up, but instead of confident, they look uneasy.

I study the table. "Frank, here's why you trust it. Because no matter what's between us personally? We're artists too. And we're the best chance you have." We're all scheduled to meet at the beach at noon, but I'm the first one there except for an attendant who appears to be working on setting up the wooden altar we'll use for our rehearsal tomorrow and the wedding the following day.

I'm distracted by a cage with a bright-orange bird sitting in the sand. The same kind of bird I saw last night from our villa.

"Well, hello," I say, bending to my knees as I come up next to the birdcage. The white sand is smooth against my skin as my jean shorts ride up.

The bird peers back at me, its green head jerking back and forth.

"She's beautiful," I say softly. "What's her name?"

"Hugo," the attendant informs me. "It's a male. The female fruit doves aren't as brightly colored."

"And he's here to get a tan?" I ask with a smile.

"He gets bored up by the buildings. Figured I'd bring him with me for an outing." "They live around here? I saw one behind my villa."

"All over the island," the man confirms. "This one hurt his wing recently, and we've been keeping him grounded until he heals."

I search his bright feathers for an indication of a disability.

"He's almost right. Another couple of weeks, should be," the attendant says as if reading my mind. "Then he'll go back to his mate. She'll wait for him."

"Of course she will," I say dryly, scanning the length of the beach.

I rise from the sand as Andie, Jacob, and Rica arrive. "You guys ready for our adventure? We're going to this secluded cove."

"Hell yes. I'm going to show it to my entire audience," Jacob promises.

"No, you're not," Andie retorts.

"Where's our boat?" Rica asks, scanning the horizon.

"Dad and Haley and the kids are taking a boat. Timothy too. We're taking better transportation."

Timothy texted to say they were nearly done and would meet us there. I shelve my feelings about that and look past my friends. I see a string of horses heading up the beach, a rider on the first one only.

"Wild West!" Jacob hollers. "I'm so ready for this."

When I arranged this with the wedding planner and the resort, I'd imagined Timothy and me riding off into the sunset. He'd told me he'd never been on a horse before-something about a fear of horses that he promised, after I teased him about it, wasn't really that bad-and I figured it was about time.

It was going to be romantic and cheesy and perfect. But he's not here. I shove the thought away and resolve to enjoy it until he is.

The trail leader, a woman of middle age with a warm smile and a fastidious eye for her horses and how we engage with them, introduces us to our mounts and tells us the basics. Most of us haven't ridden before, and when I get on, I'm grateful for the saddle to help me keep my balance.

Once we're all on horses-mine is a beautiful black mare named Ilsa-we head in a row...

Out toward the sea.