Page 33 of A Thousand Little Goodbyes

The woman’s face fell to such a ludicrous degree that all three of them lurched forward as if afraid the rest of her was going to fall with it.

“You don’t want to play? But you’re both so talented, and we almost never make it out to concerts anymore. At our age, it’s not easy getting around like we used to.”

An uncomfortable silence fell. Every people-pleasing nerve in Chrissie’s body—which, admittedly, was most of them—wanted to fulfill this sweet old lady’s wishes and maybe even get bumped up to the Muskrat Suite. But there was more at stake here than just an impromptu concert, especially if the guests were going to be recording and uploading the performance.

“I don’t mind,” River said. Both she and Scarlett turned to face her, but her expression looked the same as it always did—a little sullen, a little bored, and as if her soul were a thousand years old. She caught their stares and shrugged. “I’m not, like, awanted criminal. My familyisn’t sending bounty hunters after me.”

“Of course they’re not,” Chrissie soothed, but there was no need.

“As long as you’re okay with it, I’m happy to sing for my supper.” Something like a smile touched the corner of River’s highly pierced lip. “It’s kinda cool, to be honest. I never thought anyone would care about my singing. A few more hundred thousand views, and I might even be able to turn into some kind of paying gig in Chicago. People do, you know. There are a ton of indie record labels based there. Can you imagine? It’d be nice not to have to work eight different part-time jobs to make ends meet.”

“Uh-oh,” Scarlett teased. “You’re in for it now, Chrissie. River’s figured out what makes you tick.”

Chrissie didn’t deign to give this remark a response. “It’s not just you I’m worried about, River. It’s my daughter, Kat. She was really upset by that video. We’re going through a bit of a rough patch right now, and I don’t want to make things worse than they already are.”

She could hear Scarlett’s teeth starting to grind in frustration, but River only shrugged again. “If you want, I could call and suss her out a little. If she’s not into it, I won’t say another word.”

The old woman in flannel had long since given up on following the conversation, but at this, she pressed two large brass keys into Chrissie’s hand and closed her fingers around them. “That’s right, dear. You just let that nice young lady figure things out. Dinner’s served at eight. You can play for us then. I hope you like antelope tenderloin. Harold does it up real nice, all slow-roasted and wrapped in bacon.”

Chrissie visibly blanched at the prospect of such a dinner, but she was too polite to do more than murmur her thanks. She was also polite enough to unlock her phone and hand it to River.

To her surprise, River put it on speaker before dialing.

“Ugh, Mom. You don’t have to call every three freaking hours. I’m fine. Rufio is fine. Lily might wake up to find a Sharpie mustache onher upper lip, but whatever you hear, it wasn’t me.”

“Actually, if you really want to get her, you should make a glitter bomb and rig it to explode in her underwear drawer,” River said. “She’ll be finding sparkles in her vagene for the next six months.”

A strangled sound escaped Chrissie as she dove for her phone, but Scarlett was one step ahead of her. With a laugh that echoed off the moose skull chandelier, she wrapped her arms around Chrissie’s waist and held on tight. “Oh, no you don’t. Let the Zoomers handle this one. I’m starting to like this charity case of yours.”

Chrissie wasn’t. Chrissie was starting to regret every kind impulse she’d ever had.

“You’re on speaker with your mom and Scarlett,” River added. “So I’d avoid saying anything incriminating—at least until I turn it off again. I’m River, by the way. The one from the video.”

“I know who you are,” Kat said, her voice strained. “You’re the girl scamming my mom.”

“Scamming?” River snorted. “You’re joking, right?”

“Um…you’re the one hitching a ride across the country with someone else’s mom and making her perform like a circus monkey to get views. What else am I supposed to think?”

Chrissie’s eyes widened at her daughter’s sudden lapse into territorial devotion. This was a new—and delightful—twist. She had no idea Kat cared this much.

“It’s not a scam. She basically kidnapped me. I was just minding my own business at work and all of a sudden she pops up out of nowhere and starts, like, mothering me.”

She said the wordmotheringlike it filled her whole mouth. To Chrissie’s surprise, Kat relented.

“Yeah, she does that to everyone, even if she’s only known them for all of three seconds.” A pause. “What do you want?”

“Other than to teach youmuchbetter ways of getting back atyour nemesis? Just that I promised your mom I’d check in before we performed another duet. The place we’re staying asked us to play at dinner, but your mom was worried you might not like it.”

“Mom!” Kat practically screeched. “You’re talking smack about me to strangers now? I thought you were, like, morally obligated to always take my side. It’s supposed to be in the parental bylaws.”

This, too, sounded more like possessiveness than anger. Chrissie leaned into it. “Sorry, kiddo, but I can’t help talking about you. I’m too proud to keep quiet for long.”

Chrissie could practically hear the eye roll from her distance of fifteen-hundred miles, but in the pause that followed, she could also detect her daughter’s pleasure.

“Whatever,” Kat muttered without any of her usual heat. “Go be famous. Don’t be famous. But tell that girl if you start getting creepy online stalkers after this, I’m going to glitter-bombhervagene.”

“What’d she do to you anyway?” River asked as she shifted from one foot to the other. So far, she hadn’t shown the least bit of discomposure at finding herself on the bitter end of a phone call that Chrissie was pretty sure they could hear at the top of Devils Tower.