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That made me laugh, easing some of the tension. “Yeah, I guess it is.”
She looked down at Patti, running her fingers lightly over her soft fur. “I manifested you, you know.”
“Uh, I’m sorry, but I’m not sure I understand.”
“I was just feeling so shitty, like I was letting everyone down. We’d been talent scouted twice and both times, I got totally locked up on stage and couldn’t perform. Us not getting a contract was definitely my fault. So, before I went on stage that night, I manifested getting something that would make me feelbetter, make me forget about all the stress. When I saw you standing at the bar, I thought you were it.”
I was speechless for a moment, struggling to wrap my head around the idea that anyone would think of me as some sort of cosmic reward. Then my mind locked onto the details. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you just manifest getting an agent?”
She looked away again, her fingers still running through Patti’s fur. “Because I wanted to earn the contract, fair and square.” Her voice was so low that I had to lean in to catch the words.
Christ, this girl was going to tear my heart out, I swear. “Sweetheart, you did earn the contract, fair and square.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’d already decided to offer it to you before you even finished your set.”
The intensity of Stef’s gaze almost flayed me. “For real?”
“Yes. For real. And I’m sorry that I gave you reason to think anything different.”
Placing Patti carefully on the recliner in front of her, Stef got up and climbed into my lap, wrapping her arms around me. I hesitated for a moment, surprised by her sudden movement. But then I hugged her back, feeling the warmth of her body against mine.
As we sat there, holding each other, I realized that after everything I had done, Stef was the one comforting me. I felt a such rush of gratitude and affection for her that it brought a lump to my throat. “I really am so sorry.”
She pulled back and gazed into my eyes for a long moment. The shadows that had lingered there for so long had finally gone.Thank Christ.She leaned forward and pressed a kiss to my forehead. The gesture made her seem so much older than she was. “You’re forgiven.”
Relief washed through me, almost leaving me breathless. “Thank you.”
A soft smile curved her lips and her eyes danced. “It’ll cost ya, though.”
“Yeah? What’s the price?”
“You have to make me some of that amazing linguine we had the other night.”
“Sure thing.”
CHAPTER 28
Stefania
Sometimes, you don’t know how much something is really weighing on you until it’s gone. That’s how I felt right now. Like I’d had a boulder pressing on my chest for months and now that Grayson had lifted it off, I could breathe again.
I was lounging on the couch with him, my feet in his lap as he painted my toenails. Patti was all curled up in her little cat bed on the floor next to the couch. It was getting late, but I wasn’t quite ready to call it a night yet. The silence between us was comfortable and I really, really liked that fact. Watching him, his head bent as he concentrated on the task, did all sorts of things to my…well, everything, actually. I found myself wanting to know more about him.
“Tell me about Lydia,” I said abruptly.
Grayson’s hand paused for a moment, but his voice was calm when he replied, “What do you want to know?”
“How did you guys meet?”
“At the Country Club,” he said with a self-deprecating smile. “A friend of my mother’s introduced us and suggested I ask her out for dinner.”
“Naturally.” I rolled my eyes. “I bet she’s an absolute looker.”
“Naturally.” He gave me another twisted smile before going back to painting my nails.
“So you were married for four years, and split four years ago. That means you were not far off the big three-oh and thought, times up? Better get hitched?”