Chapter 10

Justin: I was worried about her when I saw her last week, but I wanted to let you know that she’s smiling again. She’s writing lyrics and she played her violin. She misses you. 

Britney: Thanks for the pictures, I miss her too but I think it’s better for her this way. 

Justin: Is it better for you?

Britney: Will you send me what she’s written? She always was the writer. 

***

Lynn met them at the movie’s production studios and introduced Ashley to the sound engineer who’d be recording her audition along with members of the casting department and even one of the co-producers. Since everyone knew about Justin’s role in the project, they were all falling all over themselves a bit to meet and talk to him. Lynn rolled her eyes at Ashley behind his back. 

The casting director briefly explained the role to Ashley and the plot of the movie, then spent fifteen minutes gushing over the work Justin had done thus far on the project. The sound engineer finally stepped in, reminding the casting director that they needed to get the audition recorded and motioned for Ashley to head into the sound booth. 

“Thanks for stealing the show,” Ashley teased Justin as she leaned in to hand him her purse and phone. 

She recorded several short clips as ‘Poppy’ to the best of her ability, grinning at the thought of herself as a small troll doll like the one she’d had as a kid. 

The producer sounded like they were wrapping things up when Justin appeared in the window in front of her, talking for a moment with the others before he appeared in the sound booth with her and placed sheet music on the stand in front of her. “They’re going to let you record some of this song.” 

She read the title, Can’t Stop the Feeling, and recognized it as the title of the song he’d played for her in the car, “You’re gonna share your song with me, JT?”

“I can share the spotlight once in a while,” he said with a challenging grin. He sang the few lines of melody that he wanted her to sing, and gave her some tips on the tricky sound he’d created with his just imagine line. He winked, “Just do your best, it’s just something to put in your reel for the producers to see.” 

She did two takes of the few lines of the song he’d given her, she didn’t think they were earth shattering takes, but she didn’t think she’d embarrassed herself either. She and Lynn thanked them for their time and then headed back out, she accepted the water bottle Justin handed her as they started down the hall. 

“My expectations are not high for that,” Ashley teased a little. 

Justin shoulder bumped her, “You never know.” 

“But,” Ashley added, “I could see how that would be something fun to get into.” 

“I’m taking note of that,” Lynn put in. “We can get your name out there as someone who’d be interested in doing voice over work.” She looked at the time on her phone, “I think you do need to get going though.”  

“Oh no!” Ashley asked, glancing at the time as well and then holding her hand out to Justin, “Keys please. I’ve got an appointment I need to get to this evening. I guess you can ride back with your mom.” 

“A date?” Justin questioned casually, digging in his pockets for the keys. 

Her lips twitched in a smile, “an appointment.” 

“I was going to take you both to dinner,” he said as he dropped the keys into her outstretched hand. “I’m flying out again tonight on a red eye so I was going to hang out until I have to be at the airport.” He looked at her a little hopefully, “Unless you want a driver?” 

For some reason she couldn’t define, she hadn’t wanted to tell Justin about her plans to look into buying a home, it felt a little too close to her heart. But seeing him look a little rejected in front of her tugged at her heart. 

“You want to drive me house shopping?” she asked nonchalantly. 

“Wait, what?” Justin looked between her and Lynn. “You’re buying a home here in Orlando?” 

She shrugged, “Maybe, I’m looking. You’re mom got me in touch with a real estate agent and I have a couple homes lined up to see tonight. But you don’t have to tag along.” 

Justin plucked the car keys back out of hand, “Consider me your chauffeur for the evening if you’ll drop me off at the airport later.” 

“Done,” she agreed with a nod. “At least that way I’ll get a goodbye this time.” 

***

Justin followed the directions on the phone’s GPS, glancing over to Ashley who was looking out the passenger window, “So…you’re home shopping now?” 

“I like to shop,” she answered flippantly, glancing at him for a moment, then back out the window. 

“You want to live in Orlando?” 

She shrugged, “Yes. No. I don’t know. I just want to find a home that feels right. Elle and I went looking when I visited her as well.” 

Justin wasn’t sure why this decision of hers had hit him hard and with so much confusion. He was well aware that it wasn’t any of his business if she chose to buy a home; he had four of them across the country; each one served its purpose for him. But Ashley had never put down roots anywhere. The idea that she’d move back home and run away was still hitting him harder than he wanted to admit. 

He could tell that Ashley was still a little bothered that he’d left her and gone to Memphis. That he hadn’t said goodbye. The truth was that yes, he had needed to get to Memphis the day before. But, he couldn’t deny that after Ashley’s confession of her dreams for herself, he hadn’t been able to sleep. Something about those dreams she had so carefully shared with him had him looking at what his own dreams were.

And that was distracting him. 

She was distracting him in a way that he’d never felt around her before. 

The two of them had always been close, even when they didn’t see each other often, they’d had the ability to pick right up where they left off the next time they met up. But he was beginning to feel like that friendship had been so surface level and he felt like he was seeing her through new eyes.

He’d thought the excuse of getting out to Memphis would help him clear his head, but then the guilt of not being there to see things through with the song they were working on set in and without a thought, he’d taken off for the airport. 

He hadn’t allowed himself to be distracted like that in a long time. 

He shook himself free of his thoughts as he realized that Ashley was looking at him curiously now, tapping his knee with one finger, “It’s just a house, Jus,” she told him, “someplace I can call my own. I haven’t really had that since I lost my mom.” 

“I don’t have anything against you buying a house,” he assured her. “It’s probably a good idea for you, there’s just a lot going on this week, it seems like something you wouldn’t need to worry about right now.” 

“Says the man who took me on as a project with everything you’ve got going on,” she challenged. 

“You’re not a project to me.” He pulled up to a gated community and looked over at her, wanting to address the tension that was building between them. “Are we fighting right now?” 

She pulled out her phone and read him the code to get through the gate then leaned back in her seat and sighed, “we’re not fighting. I’m just confused about a lot of things and I’m taking it out on you.” 

She reached into her bag and pulled out a Red Sox baseball hat and tugged it on over her hair, she looked at him. “I am, however, going to fight with you about this hat. This is mine and I found it in your closet.” 

He grinned, pushing the lingering tension to the back of his mind for now, “It is yours, I don’t even like the Red Sox. The real question is, why were you in my closet?” 

She worked her arms out of the blazer she’d worn for the audition and pulled one of his flannel shirts out of her bag and shrugged it on over her t-shirt for a much more casual look. 

“I was getting this shirt,” she told him with a wink. “Although Florida might not realize that it’s fall, it is, and it’s time to pull these shirts out.” 

He parked the car in front of one of the large houses with a For Sale sign in the yard, then reached behind her neck to adjust the shirt’s collar and pull her hair free of it. “It looks better on you then it ever has on me.” 

He wondered if he imagined her cheeks flushing in the fading light as she looked away from him and up at the house. The car suddenly felt too hot and he pushed his door open to escape from any lingering thoughts he was suddenly feeling at her wearing his shirt. Where had that come from? She’d been sealing his clothing all week. 

He shook his head and walked around to open her door from her, offering her a hand out of the car. “I want that hat back,” he teased.

“Why?” she challenged, “you hate the Red Sox.”

He shrugged, “it reminds me of you.”

“You’re laying it on a little thick,” she teased back as they started up the long driveway. 

Before he could respond, a tall, tan and blonde haired man in a suit started down the steps of the house towards them.  

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Justin muttered under his breath as Ashley grinned over at him. 

“Your mom is good,” she told him with a laugh. 

“We’re house shopping, not husband shopping,” he mumbled. 

“Speak for yourself,” Ashley said as she put on a bright smile and stepped forward to meet the man. His blinding smile was focused solely on Ashley as he introduced himself. 

Ashley greeted him and then did turn to include Justin, “Justin this is Adam. Adam, Justin.” She turned back to the realtor, “He volunteered to be my driver for the evening.” 

“Good to meet you both,” Adam said in an unnecessarily booming voice, directing Ashley with a hand behind her back, “I’ve got two great options for you to look at tonight Ashley, and then we can talk about what you liked and what you didn’t and then we can go from there. With your budget, you’ve got some fun options. Let me tell you a little about this place and then we’ll take the tour…” 

“Oh J,” Ashley said, turning back at the last minute, she handed him her phone. “Will you FaceTime Elle? She wants to be here on this tour.” 

“You’re still mad at me for not saying goodbye, aren’t you?” He grumbled as he searched her contacts for Elle’s number. 

As Adam droned on, the phone connected and Elle’s face appeared on the screen before him. 

“You seem to be around a lot, Superstar,” she drawled with a slow grin. “Should I get used to it?” 

“I’m just trying to keep my promises a little better,” he assured her. “Today I’m at your service as a real estate tour manager.” He flipped the phone's camera so that Elle could see the front of the house where Ashley and Adam were disappearing through the front door. 

“That’s a very Florida looking house,” she commented. 

“We are in Florida,” he pointed out the obvious as he jogged up the steps to keep up. “She said she went house shopping with you when she visited.” 

“Yeah, we looked at a few places, but I didn’t realize she was as enthusiastic about her plan as she seems to be now.” 

Justin panned the phone around the open living area, then flipped the camera back to himself, “I think she’s just trying to find next steps.” 

Elle eyed him closely. Maybe too closely, he realized he should have kept the view on the house and not on him. “Do you think those next steps are in Florida?” 

“I’m trying really hard not to give her my opinion,” he said as he walked into the kitchen and flipped the camera around again so she could see the light cupboards and the space. He walked to the back wall of windows where Ashley and Adam had gone out and were standing next to a pool in the backyard. 

“Maybe you should try giving her your opinion,” Elle suggested, and he couldn’t resist flipping the camera back. 

“What’s that supposed to mean?” 

She grinned back at him from the screen, “Superstar, if you don’t know, I’m not going to tell you. However, I will tell you that if you happen to let her buy a home anywhere that isn’t within an hour of where I live, I will hunt you down and hurt you.”