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Charlie almost fell over from the relief of spotting her, and also because one of his shoes had come untied.

“I looked everywhere for you. I thought you were gone! There was a girl with curly hair in your wagon, but she claimed not to know you even though she was wearing your clothes.”

Jean sipped her beer. Charlie almost asked if she liked it, possibly even enough to stick around for a while, but those were questions for later.

“I guess we all have secrets,” she said, mysteriously.

He turned that over in his head a few times. “Are you talking about something specific or is that just a thing people say?”

“I’m talking about relationships.”

“Right.” Charlie hesitated. “Which ones?” He’d been hoping to go straight to discussing the two of them, but judging by Jean’s sigh, the timing might not be ideal.

“Cards on the table?”

“Yes, please.”

Jerking her head at him to follow, Jean led the way farther from the nearest concertgoers, where they could hear each other without whisper-shouting.

“Are you getting back together with her or what?” She gestured at the stage, where a giant black banner featured the overlapping double A that was Adriana Asebedo’s logo.

That was an easy one. “No.”

Jean narrowed her eyes at him, like she was shooting a truth ray directly into his soul. “What were you talking about on the trail ride? The two of you looked pretty cozy.”

Charlie hesitated, trying to decide if he was violating Adriana’s privacy. “She wanted to apologize.”

“For what? I thought you broke up with her .”

He shook his head. “That song is just a song. It’s not about me.”

“Really? You’re telling me you’re not the one who got away.”

Jean made it sound like he’d tried to sell her an acre of swamp. “Listen.” He stepped closer and was immediately distracted. “Is that a new perfume?”

“More of an essential oil. Keep talking.”

“Okay.” Charlie sighed, wishing he could say something that would paint him in a better light.

“We barely dated. A couple of dinners, a baseball game, and then that one beach where everyone lifts weights and rollerblades. I got a sunburn.” It felt like his skin had shrunk a size, even before it started peeling.

His most vivid memory of that time was an itchy discomfort verging on physical pain.

“There are like a million pictures of the two of you together. And she’s wearing different outfits.”

“She changes clothes a lot. If they spot her in a dress, she can put on jeans to sneak out the back.”

“Sounds exhausting.”

That was an understatement. “We never even slept together. In case you were wondering.”

“Do I strike you as a prude?”

He shook his head. “Because we didn’t know each other that well. That’s what I’m trying to tell you. Plus I panicked.”

“About having sex with a pop star?”

“All of it. Camera flashes and people yelling, like they’re mad at you.

It was a nightmare, only you were never going to wake up.

” Maybe that made him weak, but he didn’t want to lie to Jean about who he was.

“That’s what she was apologizing for. She was sorry about how it changed my life.

The attention that came with being in her orbit. ”

“So you told her you couldn’t take it and that was the end?”

“Not in so many words.”

Jean looked horrified. “You ghosted her too?”

“No! I did run away. Not my finest hour. But not quite so suddenly.”

“Lucky her.”

Charlie winced. “I deserved that.”

“Maybe, maybe not. Jury’s still out. Tell me the rest.”

“There’s nothing more to tell.”

She rubbed her forehead. “I don’t get it. If you weren’t in love and you didn’t have epic sex, why did she write that song?”

“Must have been about someone else. Or she made it up. The songs can’t all be about real people.” It didn’t matter to Charlie, apart from wishing whoever it was would come forward and take the spotlight off him. “I like Adriana. She’s a nice person. And very talented.”

“Yeah, okay. Don’t get carried away.”

“I think she might be lonely. That’s what made me feel like there was a connection, at first. Even though she’s a star and I’m just me.”

Jean frowned at him. “So she didn’t come here to win you back?”

“She never won me in the first place, Jean. Not like you.”

Her huff was skeptical. “You prefer me to Adriana Asebedo?”

“Yes! I’m not pining for her .”

“A dozen tabloids beg to differ.”

“Well, they don’t know me. I’m telling you that it was never that big of a deal—for either of us.

She probably thought I was a nice, boring person who didn’t have an embarrassing past, so why not?

But we both figured out pretty quickly I wasn’t qualified for the job of being Adriana Asebedo’s boyfriend. ”

“It’s not like it was on your CV: ‘Celebrity wannabe.’”

“She understood that. Adriana wasn’t upset when we ended things. Mugsy said she took it very well.”

“Mugsy? Why was she there?”

“I was a mess. Didn’t leave my room for days. So Mugsy flew to California and talked to Adriana.”

“You mean, Mugsy broke up with Adriana for you?” Jean’s silence was deafening. “Did you ask her to do that?”

“Well, no. I was too caught up in it to see a way out.”

“And you didn’t feel like that was overstepping? By a lot?”

“She meant well. And it was such a relief, like she pulled me out of a hole in the ground.”

Jean grumbled under her breath.

“It was for the best,” Charlie assured her.

“The publicity was great for business, and my parents finally let me go to Australia, as long as I agreed to come back here after. But at the last minute I couldn’t do it, so I got off the plane, and then I met you.

” He longed to reach for her hands but wasn’t sure Jean was ready for that.

“I was so happy when you didn’t know anything about me except… me.”

“Perks of answering the door naked.”

Charlie didn’t remember answering the door. He’d looked up, and there she was—and all he really wanted out of life was to keep being surprised by Jean.

“When this is over, would you consider giving me another chance?”

“Who’s asking?”

“Me. Charlie.”

She poked him in the chest. “Charlie who?”

He grabbed her hand, holding it in place. “Charlie who loves you.”