Breaking Stars (The Celebrity 2)

“Is Tatum back there?”

“He’s at the shop already.”

“I need to make a couple of phone calls, if that’s all right with you, and I just wanted some privacy. Is that rude?” This woman had gone out of her way to make me feel at home, and telling her that I needed to be alone felt like I was betraying her trust, or accusing her of being untrustworthy.

“Of course that isn’t rude. You go on back. Take all the time you need.” She waved me off. “And here, take a muffin.” She tossed another freshly baked muffin at me and I caught it with both hands, surprised I didn’t smash it into a hundred pieces.

“When I come back, you’ll show me how to make that pie?”

“I won’t start it without you.” She smiled and sipped from her coffee mug.

I walked to the back of the property toward the barn and opened the front door. Yelling Tatum’s name just to make sure he was gone for the day, I relaxed when I heard nothing but the sweet sound of quiet. I scanned the living room for the phone and spotted it sitting on the counter in the kitchen. Reaching for it, I dialed Quinn’s number and held my breath as it rang.

“It’s about damn time,” Quinn answered, and I smiled.

“I know. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Tell me everything,” she insisted.

Leave it to Quinn to not even care how long it had been since we last talked. She wasn’t the type of best friend to hold a grudge like that, and she wasn’t needy. We could go for weeks without speaking, and nothing would feel off. Not that we would ever do that; I just knew that we could.

“Quinn, I’m dying here,” I breathed out before plopping down onto the couch.

“What are you talking about?” she demanded, her tone turning serious. “What’s the matter?”

“Sorry, not in a

bad way. This guy. My God.”

“The Tatum one?”

“Yes. The Tatum one,” I repeated as my mind filled with memories of last night.

“Oh my gosh, you little slut! You slept with him, didn’t you?”

“No!” I yelled back, my fingers picking at strands of fabric.

“Well, why not?” she huffed. “Dude, send me a pic of this guy! I’m dying to see him.”

“You’d approve,” I informed her, knowing that Quinn would absolutely think Tatum was worth doing whatever it was I was doing with him. “But listen—” I started to say before she interrupted.

“Me first. Colin’s in town. He’s been asking about you. Tried to talk to Ryson, but he got scared when Ryson started cracking his knuckles and threatened to deck him. Colin ran away. Like literally, ran away.” She laughed and surprisingly, my insides didn’t ache at the mention of Colin’s name.

I was fully aware that not much time had passed since Colin and I had broken up, and that I should still be hurting to hear any news about him. But it was in this moment when something inside me clicked. I realized that Colin now belonged to my past, and that was where he would remain. My future would never include him.

“You still there?”

I cleared my throat. “I’m here. I…I don’t care about Colin. At all. I need to tell you about Tatum. And about all these feelings I’m having.”

“So, quit stalling and tell me then.”

“You’re the one who… Never mind! You don’t understand.” I searched the recesses of my mind, trying to find the right words to explain my Technicolor emotions. “Ugh! Quinn, it’s like if we associated ourselves with colors and how those colors felt, I’d be red. Oh sweet Lord, I’d be red.”

“You’d be what?”

“You know, like that damn Taylor Swift song.”

Quinn hummed the melody to “Red” before saying, “So this guy is like driving a car down a nowhere street? Is that what you’re saying?”