The Fall Up (The Fall Up #1)(4)

She was amused by my joke, but I was pissed the hell off that Stewart had had the audacity to interrupt that moment.

“Guess what? I think I have some special surprises in the back.”

Her eyes lit up.

“Can you give me, like, one minute? I’ll see if I can find them.” I gently guided her away while I pushed myself upright.

She nodded excitedly, backing to her mother.

I followed Stewart toward the room the hospital had set up for us. Loud groans of disappointment started to rumble through the crowd as I left.

“I’ll be right back. I promise,” I announced, which earned me a loud cheer from the group.

“You won’t be right back! You’re already three hours late,” Stewart grumbled.

“Well, I’m going to be a hell of a lot later than that too, because I’m not leaving here until I’ve seen everyone,” I whispered out of the side of my mouth. I gave the group one more wave as Devon ushered me into the room, closing the door behind us.

“Come on, Levee. Don’t make me the bad guy. In less than an hour, you have a VIP meet-and-greet. I understand your dedication to being here, and it’s great. Good for your heart, good publicity. Win. Win.”

I rolled my eyes. I wasn’t there because of publicity. I had plenty of that.

I was there because it was what I did.

Where I felt comfortable.

Where I was happy.

Where I had once been crushed.

But, ultimately, the only place I felt like I needed to be.

“Levee, you have hundreds of fans who paid for the VIP treatment. If you aren’t there, it’s not exactly VIP, now is it?”

“You know I can’t leave,” I snarled.

I hated Stewart, but it wasn’t because he was an *. He was just doing his job. I paid him thousands of dollars to make sure my life ran smoothly. And for all intents and purposes, he was good at what he did.

But that didn’t mean I liked having absolutely zero control over my life, including something as simple as time.

“Levee, what about all the people who waited in line for hours to meet you? What about the parents who’ve scrounged and saved in order to buy the four-hundred-and-fifty-dollar tickets? That’s not exactly pocket change. What about the guy who’s planning to propose? All of that has been set up way in advance. I get it. I swear to Christ I do. I let you stay an extra three hours, but if someone doesn’t show up at that venue in the next hour, it’s going to be a mess.”

I nervously chewed on my bottom lip. He wasn’t telling me anything I didn’t know. I’d signed the contracts for three concerts and three meet-and-greets. It had been heavily promoted as my big homecoming since I hadn’t been back to perform in San Francisco in over three years. It was my last stop before closing out my tour with a live television event in Los Angeles the following week.

I’d known ahead of time that a man had paid a large chunk of money in order to surprise his (hopefully) soon-to-be bride by proposing beside her favorite singer. And then there was the little girl with leukemia waiting there as well. I had personally sent her tickets the month before. There was also the Olympic gold medal swim team that had recently suffered the loss of one of their teammates. They’d used my song “The Belief” as her dedication on social media. I’d mailed those tickets as well.

They were all there.

Waiting.

Guilt overwhelmed me. Regardless of how hard I tried, I couldn’t be everywhere.

And, God, did I try.

“Okay, how many are left out there?” I asked, trying to get my head on straight.

“At least a dozen more kids. Then their siblings, and parents…as well as a handful of doctors and their families, nurses—”

“Okay, okay. I got it.” I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“Levee,” Stewart breathed, walking up behind me and squeezing my shoulder. “I’ll tell them. Maybe I can set up something for next month. You can come back, specifically for those you missed. We’ll block out an entire day.”

A month.

Lizzy hadn’t lasted a month.

How many won’t be here when I get back?

I shook his hand off. “I can’t leave. I’m sorry.”

He groaned behind me as I started to open the door. I froze when an idea hit me.

“Hey! What about Henry?” I twisted to face him.

“What about him?”

“He’s in town. If I can get him to go over to the venue first, it will buy me some extra time here, and it will be like a double treat for the VIPs. Everyone loves Henry!”

Stewart didn’t. So he rolled his eyes. “It’s not a good idea, Levee.”

I rushed to my bag in the corner and pulled my cell phone out. “Bullshit. It’s a fantastic idea.”

Another groan came from Stewart’s direction, but I was too busy dialing Henry’s number to pay it any attention.

He answered on the first ring. “There she is! What’s up, beautiful?”

“I need a favor.” There was no reason to bother with pleasantries. Not with Henry.

“Mmmm, I like the sound of this. What kind of favor?”

I could envision his flirty smile as he patted his purposely messy blond hair. “I have a meet-and-greet for my VIPs in an hour.”