Page 11 of The Ex Factor

So here we are at someone’s place

Two ghosts with imperfect social grace

Dancing round what used to burn

Waiting for our turn to…

She stopped there. Turn to what, exactly?

Her phone rang. Simon. She put down the guitar and picked up immediately. Not from excitement. Quite the opposite.

‘Simon,’ she greeted him.

‘Ashley, great news.’

‘Yeah?’

‘There’s no news.’

‘The great news is that there’s no news?’

‘Precisely. I was talking to Chet at the label—can you believe people are actually called that?—and he said no one was currently making any calls about your next album.’

Ashley sighed. ‘I think we need to talk about the phrase “great news” and its definition.’

‘Look, the tour is coming up, focus on that.’

‘Have I lost any dates?’

‘No. No. Not really.’

‘Not really?’

‘You’ve still got a lot of dates.’ He paused. ‘And I think I know how to boost sales.’

‘How?’

‘Well, ha-ha, you know, I saw something funny the other day.’

‘If it’s a TikTok of that drag queen lip-syncing to “Half Light”, I’ve already seen it,’ she said drolly.

Simon chuckled briefly. ‘My assistant keeps me abreast of any significant, er, developments with your profile, you see.’

‘Right.’

‘And he told me a little birdie went to a party the other night.’

Ashley rolled her eyes. ‘Can’t fart without ending up on a watchlist.’ She paused. ‘Wait, why are you bringing that up?’

‘Because it trended.’

Ashley shrugged. ‘I don’t understand. I stayed for less than an hour, talked to no one, and left.’

‘You did talk to someone, didn’t you?’

‘What are you talking about?’ she asked. But she knew.

‘You bumped into someone you knew, right? An actress, Molly Sullivan.’