Page 106 of The Ex-Best Thing
“No…I plan to sing. But I don’t want to go back to any of the people who used to represent me.” I swallow. This is harder than I thought it was going to be, and I knew it would be difficult. “I’m taking my music in a different direction, and I don’t need a manager anymore.”
She blinks. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“I don’t know exactly what’s next, but I know I can’t mix family and business anymore. I love you, and I don’t want to resent you because we don’t see eye-to-eye on some of these important decisions. It’s just business, and I need to take it elsewhere.”
Silence falls, making the pounding of my pulse loud in my ears. My hands are shaky, and I’m glad Benny stays at my side through all of this—that he sees firsthand how serious I am.
Mom inhales. “We can talk about this when you’ve had some time?—”
“I’ve had a month here, which was plenty of time to take a hard look at my life and get my priorities straight. I won’t be changing my mind. I’m moving on to other things.”
“You’re being ungrateful, is what you are, Bree. I’ve given up so much for you. Theteamhas sacrificed so much.” She widensher eyes briefly. “I’d hoped the paps…” She seems to rethink whatever she was going to say.
“What?” My heart is racing. I don’t know if I want to hear the rest of this, but I need to. “Don’t tell me you’re the reason they’re all camped out in front of Benny’s house.”
She purses her lips, her gaze darting to Benny before coming back to me. “I thought a few public images showing how happy you are would help your image.’
“How did you find me?”
“Once Zoey and Olive chartered the plane, it wasn’t hard. You can’t hide forever.”
“So you thought you’d smoke me out?” My teeth clench hard.
“I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing.”
Her pretend outrage is proof. She’s upset with me now, but eventually she’ll have to accept this. If anything, she’s confirmed why I need to stop working with her. Our relationship will suffer if I do. Closing my eyes, I breathe deeply and let out all the irritation for every time she’s acted in opposition to what I wanted. At the end of the day, my mom is trying to help my career, and I can recognize that her heart is in a good place.
Even if I want her to be thinking ofme, not my public status, I understand her on a deep level and can accept her for who she is. “I love you, Mom.”
Benny gets another call. He looks at it, then puts his phone away. It’s giving me flashbacks to hanging out on Bay Hill Road with the cows and Colby calling to tell us that Zoey got engaged.
“You should answer that,” I say.
“Next time they call.”
“If I can give you some advice?” Mom says acidly.
“Yeah?”
“Remember that no one will ever have your best interests in mind as much as yourmotherdoes.”
“I know, Mom.” I smile to soften things. “That’s why I’ll be representing myself.”
30
BENNY
Bree offeredher mom a room in Colby’s Airbnb, but she turned it down, choosing to head back to the airport with the publicist and one of the bodyguards. She left the rest of the security team—and the hairstylist, who wanted to remain—because her appearance had the effect of fully revealing the Belacourt women to the locals.
It was a good thing for the paps. They got all the pictures they wanted of the ladies in their disguises. So, that was fantastic.
The security detail ended up being great, keeping everyone away so the girls could remove their wigs and enjoy the rest of the concert without being bothered for selfies. Lucy, the stylist, helped them remove the crazy makeup at the car, and they came back looking fairly normal.
“Hey, now that the cat’s out of the bag,” Colby says, his camera hanging from his neck, “You two could sing your new song.”
I cough, almost spitting up my Coke. “It’s Bree’s song.”
“It’s ours,” she argues, her hand drawing around my waist while she leans into me.
