Landon & Shay: Part Two (L&S Duet #2)(70)

“You’ve always been pretty good at reading me.”

“What can I say? I’m a well-read woman.”

I smiled a little and took a sip of the tea. The warmth of the cup felt amazing against the palms of my hands. “I need to make right of a situation. I mean, obviously there’s a lot of things I need to make right when it comes to Shay. But the most recent is this whole coffee-gate fiasco. If it weren’t for me, she wouldn’t have lost her job, and now the internet is losing its mind and mocking her nonstop. It’s my fault the paparazzi was there. I should’ve never gone into that shop knowing how they follow me around.”

“Did you tell her to throw the drink into that woman’s face?”

“No, but—”

“Then it’s not your fault.”

“No, it is. Those people took videos of her because I was there.”

Maria arched an eyebrow. “Did you tell those people to follow you and take those videos?”

“Well, no.”

“Then it’s not your fault. I understand why you might think you are to blame for what happened in that coffee shop, Landon, but this time the blame does not fall on you. It’s not your burden to carry.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and frowned. “For a split second on Christmas, it felt like Shay was almost going to let me back in. I mean, obviously not in the same format as before, but we were friendly with one another. Almost playful, and I screwed that up.”

“If at first you don’t succeed…” she murmured, grinning my way.

Try, try again.

Which was exactly what I planned to do.

I placed my cup of tea down on my yoga mat, reached into my back pocket, and pulled out my wallet. “I’m filming in town over the next few months, and one of my costars is in need of a new assistant while hers is on maternity leave. I passed on Shay’s name and thought it could be helpful with getting her a new job. My costar is more than willing to help out. She needs to meet her this week, though, since we start shooting. I need your help passing on the information to Shay. She won’t accept it if she thinks it came from me. Not after what happened.”

Maria sipped her tea before setting it down and taking the piece of paper with a number on it. “You really care about her still, don’t you?”

“I don’t think I ever stopped caring. I don’t think I ever will.”

“Well, I will do my best to get her to go in for an interview. I’ll be honest, though, my granddaughter can be a bit stubborn sometimes.” She smiled wide. “She gets that from me.”

“As long as you try, that will be good enough for me. I can’t imagine not trying to fix this issue. Even though you said it isn’t my fault, I still feel responsible.”

She reached across to me and took my hand into hers and patted. “I’ll make sure she gives it a go, as long as you make two promises to me.”

“And what’s that?”

“Since you’re here in town for a while, you must come take a few yoga classes with me. Once a week. I know you’re a hot shot actor, but if you can’t make time to slow down and breathe for an hour a week, then you don’t really have time to do anything else. Deal?”

“Deal. And what’s the other promise?”

“You come by for Sunday dinner, like the good ol’ days. I’ll make your favorite.”

“Lasagna?”

“Lasagna,” she echoed. “I’ll even bake homemade bread.”

“Well, you had me at lasagna, and sealed the deal with the fresh baked bread.”

We go on to talk about life, and catch up for a little bit longer, before we both hug one more time to say our goodbyes for the evening.

We walked out of the studio, and Maria locked up the door. I waited to walk her to her car. When we approached it, I opened the door for her, and she slid inside. “Thank you, Landon.”

“Of course.” I held my hand on the door and hesitated. “Maria?”

“Yes?”

“Why have you been so kind to me? After what I’d done all those years ago, disappearing and breaking Shay’s heart. Why are you being so welcoming?”

She placed her key in the ignition and her car roared to life. “Because I know you’ve probably beat yourself up enough for what happened, but lucky for all of us, you’re still here, and I get the feeling you’re going to spend the rest of your life trying to make up for those mishaps.”

“Thank you. For everything.”

“Of course. Just don’t disappear again. This time I’ll track you down and beat your behind.”





28





Shay





“What do you mean someone dropped this off at your studio?” I asked Mima as I gave her a bewildered look. She called me over to come help her move a dresser, but when I arrived, she’d already changed her mind about moving it, but she made us some coffee and cut me a slice of the pound cake she made the day before.

“I mean exactly that. Someone came by the studio and put up the sign. It’s not uncommon for people to hang up posters in my studio. It happens weekly. I kept this one for myself, because it seemed like a perfect fit for you.”