Still Into You (39 page)

Mia

Malibu, February 2011

Mia’s eyes kept veering off to the ocean on her left. She’d been back home for three days and this was the first opportunity for a run along the beach. She looked ahead and smiled, seeing her favorite rock ahead. Cranking up her music on her iPhone, she jogged the quarter mile to her rock.

She stretched a little before taking a seat on the smooth boulder, facing out towards the ocean. As Mia watched the waves hit the shore, she let her body relax and soon found herself thinking about the past few months. She was still on a high from the Academy Awards a few days ago.

In November, packing for the media storm for
Burn for You,
she truly was unprepared for how utterly crazy her life would be—promotion for her movie, her album, her tour. If she wasn’t performing, she was doing interviews all the time—on the phone, at radio stations, on entertainment shows, hotel restaurants, even on the plane traveling from show to show.

Downtime was basically non-existent. Her sleep often came while traveling or waiting for their shows to begin. She may have bit off too much, but as the award season rolled around and her band got nominated for multiple Grammy’s and she personally was nominated for a Golden Globe and then an Oscar, she deemed all that work worth it.

The band’s fifth album won Album of the Year. She couldn’t believe she was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Actress as well as an Oscar.
Burn for You
won the Oscar for Best Picture. She may not have won the awards for Best Actress, but whenever she was mentioned in the media, she was now known as “Oscar-nominated Mia Devereux.”

And that fucking rocked.

So while her professional life was beyond anything she had ever dreamed, her personal life needed some work. Her family was still broken. Ethan was still not with her.

Time to change that.

Now.

Mia jumped off the rock and trudged back to her house. She quickly showered and went to her office. Sitting in the plush chair behind her desk, she picked up the phone to call Allie, who answered on the fourth ring, sounding flustered. “Hello?”

“Allie! You coming over?”

“I was actually on my way. Fifteen minutes tops, depending on traffic. On PCH now. Just stopped at Whole Foods for a couple of salads.”

Mia’s stomach growled at the thought of food, even if what she really wanted right now was a buttery croissant with jam.

“Thanks! See you in a few.”

Mia felt an excitement she hadn’t experienced in a long time, the excitement of getting the life she wanted—the life she needed.

Rising from her desk, Mia crossed the office to the built-in bookcase that housed her favorite pictures and moved a couple aside to get what she wanted—a picture of her and Ethan taken at a gala right after they got engaged. She was so happy then. She wanted to get back to that.

Mia rearranged the pictures and went back to her desk and placed the frame on it by the light so she could easily see it and remember her goal.

He would be in her life again.

She would be completely honest with him and trust him—something she hadn’t done as well as she should have back then. Mia would tell him everything about her family and what had happened. That incident was done ruling her life. She wanted more.

Mia heard the front door open and shut and then the voice of her manager rang out. “Mia?”

“I’m in my office,” Mia replied. She looked up and smiled when Allie entered the room. “Come in. Have a seat,” she said, gesturing at the chair across from her desk.

Allie sat down but looked at her oddly as she handed Mia her salad and utensils. “Why are we being so formal?”

“Are we?” Mia asked in response.

“Uh, yes,” Allie answered with an added eye-roll for emphasis.

Mia laughed. “I thought we were going to eat lunch.”

“We are, but there’s more to it. Normally, we eat in the kitchen or on the patio by the pool. This is
so
a working lunch. You sneak!”

“Well . . .” Mia started, finding herself a little nervous to relay what she wanted to Allie.

“Shit, what now?” she exclaimed, her fork stopping halfway to her mouth.

“Huge changes, Allie!”

Mia was too excited to eat and pushed her salad aside.

“How big?”

“I think it is time for me to return to Chicago.”

“For how long?” Allie asked, totally in business mode, stabbing at her salad.

“Yeah, I don’t know. For the foreseeable future. I’m going to need a lot of things shipped there. And, uh, I kind of need you to come with me.”

“Yeah, I knew that was coming,” Allie said before taking another bite of her food.

Mia worried that Allie may not want to go with her. She needed her support—just in case. She needed the strength that Allie provided, because there was a possibility that this would not turn out how Mia wanted. Especially after she told Ethan everything. All the things she had kept from him. All the things she’d done that he didn’t know about. She needed Allie in her corner. She also needed Luke and would get to him in a bit.

“So?” Mia asked expectantly, needing Allie’s answer.

“Of course, I’ll come with you. But why now?”

“I need a change of pace. Think of it as a vacation.”

Allie rolled her eyes. “Though I’ll be working.”

“Not as much,” Mia laughed.

“When do you want to leave?” Allie inquired as she pulled out her phone.

“By the end of the week. Or is that too soon?”

Allie studied her phone and Mia was pretty sure her manager was studying her calendar, calculating what could and couldn’t be rescheduled or canceled all together. Finally, with a smile, Allie spoke. “We should be able to do that.”

“Yay! I’m excited!”

Relief coursed through her with Allie’s confirmation. Mia stabbed at her salad. Things were going to start moving quickly. Her one step at a time was going to end up unfolding at a record-breaking 100-meter dash speed. But she wasn’t going to stop now.

No way in hell.

Chicago, March 2011

Allie and Mia arrived to a sparkling clean brownstone. The house didn’t look like it had been empty for well over a year. The covers were off the furniture and the whole place smelled amazing. Not stale like she’d been expecting. Thank God Allie always thought of everything.

Mia’s first stop was the side-by-side full-size freezer and glass fridge. She saw all the goodies right when she walked in. Totally stocked with all their favorite foods.

When they had moved to California, Allie had given up her apartment in Chicago. So instead of having her get another one, Mia had Allie stay with her and set her up downstairs. At one time it was a self-contained apartment, but Mia hadn’t needed that. She’d converted the space into a large guest suite, a home theater with a bar, plus a secured storage room for all her music and memories. All the videos she had taken, all the journals she had written from the very first one at the age of thirteen to now. She didn’t want anyone getting their hands on any of those.

Allie left Mia upstairs in the family room while she went downstairs to settle in. Having Allie there with her, being the huge support she had been since the day Mia met her, was everything to Mia. But it didn’t stop the memories from pressing their way into the forefront of her mind. It had been almost three years since Ethan had been in her home, yet she still felt his presence there.

All those memories rushed at Mia, physically pushing her to the floor as she remembered all the good times here with him. Waking up wrapped in his arms. Cooking for him while he sat at the island watching her. Being lazy and vegging on the family room sofa watching TV together, snuggled up close to him.

All those simple, everyday sort of things.

Mia had let her fear of him abandoning her erase all those wonderful aspects of being with him. She would
not
let that happen again.

Pulling herself up off the ground, Mia took a deep, cleansing breath and went about getting settled in her home.

First on her list was a new car, since her old Pathfinder, after years of neglect, would no longer start. She got herself a white Range Rover and also purchased a black Cadillac Escalade for Allie to use while there.

With the cars taken care of, Allie handled contract negotiations. The band had fulfilled their previous one and with their huge success were now asking for more freedom. Mia needed a lot more flexibility with this new contract, and if everything went like they hoped, it could really change things for them all—in a direction they all wanted.

Before a small impromptu show at the Double Door, they had a quick band meeting to discuss their collective objectives and then put it in Allie and Marty’s more than capable hands . . . as well as the band’s official lawyer, if Marty would let him talk.

While Allie took care of that, Mia shopped for Kaitlyn’s birthday the following week. She planned on being there for it since the last time she saw Kaitlyn and Luke was two Christmases ago. She missed them. If she was living here in Chicago, she could see them a hell of a lot easier than living in L.A. and she could see them more often. One big check for being back.

Mia could get past all the bad memories. She was ready.

So Mia found herself walking into the kitchen a few days later on a mission. Allie sat at the kitchen island, eating her trademark salad while browsing her phone.

It’s go time,
Mia thought, but she needed her friend’s help.

“Hey Allie. I need a favor.”

“What’s up?” she asked, looking up from her phone.

Mia breathed deeply and took a huge step towards her future. “Can you get me two tickets for the Flash game this Friday? Preferably box seats if possible. I really don’t want to be seen. And uh, could you get me a suite at one of the hotels downtown, starting Thursday?”

“Indefinitely?” Mia could sense Allie’s excitement. She wanted this for her.

“Yeah,” Mia responded, letting the contained smile come to her face. Allie grinned along with her. “I have some unfinished business and I don’t know how long it will take, but I’ll be there until I’m finished with it, one way or another.”

“You’re going to get him back!” Allie said excitedly, jumping out of her chair and enveloping Mia in an exuberant hug.

Mia couldn’t help the big, dopey grin that crossed her face as she hugged Allie back.

Excited Allie released her and Business Allie took her place. “What about our trip to Los Angeles on Saturday?”

Shit
. . . that one detail slipped her mind. Contract talks. She couldn’t postpone those. “Just switch my flight. I’ll be flying out of Indianapolis.”

“I will take care of everything!” Allie said with a wide smile.

“Let me know the details when you get them, all right?”

“You got it!” she said with a playful roll of her eyes. “God, I am so happy for you! It’s about time.”

“I know—way overdue.”

Allie then hugged her again. Mia closed her eyes to fight the tears that threatened. This was everything. She didn’t know exactly how she’d approach Ethan, but it would come to her eventually. More than likely with Luke’s help.

Indianapolis, March 2011

The last time Mia stood inside of Flash headquarters was the week she’d broken off her engagement to Ethan. She ran into Ethan that time. This time she didn’t want a repeat performance. She didn’t want her reunion with him to be in public. No. Mia wanted privacy. She had things she wanted to continue. Like kisses . . . lots and lots of kisses.

She was here to see Luke. He didn’t know it yet, but he’d be helping her get Ethan back. He would hopefully be her support system at the game.

On her way, Mia had called Luke’s assistant, Betty, and told her of her plan to surprise Luke. Betty snuck her into the building and to his office. With a silent thank you to Betty, Mia now stood in his doorway, studying her best friend as he worked at his desk. He had changed his hair—again. She swore his hair was different each time she saw him. This time, he wore it much shorter, styled messily. Though it could be from him running his hands through it. She knew him better than that—it was completely intentional.

God, she’d missed him like crazy. Another facet of her life that would be changing.