Right Back to You

13. The Drama Banners

Kyle tried to focus on the music since it was Jessie's new attempt at writing something heartfelt, but the arguing voices wouldn't let him.

With a sigh, he took the headphones off and concentrated on Macy and Jessie who were practically screaming at each other in the other room.

"Come on, Macy, please," Jessie said, her voice drowning in tears.

"Absolutely not!" Macy's tone was final. "Look, I don't know what's gotten into you and what the deal is, but we're already below my estimations and I know this will work."

"It's not a matter of it working," Jessie said. "We got by without them for a whole week. Can't we just do it for another?"

With a frown, he got off the bed and joined them in the other room. Macy was by the door, looking more than ready to exit their hotel suite. Jessie looked desperate, her hands held up in prayer.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"Finally," Macy said with an eyeroll. "Maybe you have some sense and can convince her to drop this act."

Kyle raised his eyebrows, turning to Jessie.

"The banners and posters are here," she whispered.

"That's right," Macy interjected. "The ones with both of you on them. With the real name of the tour and the right publicity."

A sinking feeling grabbed hold of him and he only then realized how much lighter he'd felt after the damn things got lost in transit. He was much happier not being on any of the banners and not seeing the word engagement plastered on the walls. It made it easier to ignore the lie they were living.

"If Jessie doesn't want to put them out, you don't have to," he said.

Macy rolled her eyes again. "The two of you don't see the difference in sales proper marketing makes. No. The right banners are going up for once. We've already started putting up the posters. You two just focus on each other and singing. I'll do the rest." And she let herself out without another word.

"Is it that bad?" Kyle asked once they were alone. "I mean I don't like them either, but we're already pretending that we're--"

"I never mentioned this to Jimmy," she whispered.

He frowned. "You think he doesn't know? He's been with the tour for a week."

"I... I don't know. I mean we never talked about it and he was never at the concerts themselves and..." She raised desperate eyes to him. "What if he doesn't know and sees the banners?"

He would surely see the banners since there was no avoiding them, but Kyle wasn't sure where the problem was. He was torn between doing damage control and asking Jessie just how serious this thing with Jimmy was that she dreaded him finding out about their fake engagement.

"So you never mentioned me at all?"

She shook her head.

"Why don't you go talk to him? Explain what's really going on and... I guess trust him not to blow our cover." Because there was no way Kyle would let anyone jeopardize the tour and his chance to find Kay.

"I can't. I gave him the day off so he could see his brother. He's supposed to come back before the show and the banners will already be up by then."

That sucked. "Maybe you could still talk to him afterwards."

"Maybe," she said, sounding miserable. "Though that's already me lying."

"You don't really owe it to him to explain this, you know. Whatever this thing between you is, it was in its incipient stages and what we're doing--"