“She listens to everything,” I said, before she could answer. Alba rolled her eyes and whispered “nailed it” under her breath. I leaned back in my seat so I could look at her in my periphery while facing the camera and proceeded to blow her mind. “It does depend on her mood though.” She pursed her mouth and shook her head like I was embarrassing myself. “She listens to Bad Bunny when she’s tired.” She didn’t say anything, but her eyes widened just a little. “When she’s in a funk it’s Selena or old-school stuff, like José José and Juan Gabriel. If she’s happy, Merengue, ’90s hip-hop and Cardi B. But Cardi is also for the days when she needs extra motivation.” She was so quiet I would’ve thought she had fallen asleep, but for the stare burning a hole into the side of my face.

“I love that, is it true?” Mona asked my co-host. Alba nodded very slowly like she was digesting what had just happened. It took her so long to answer I almost thought she would deny it, but eventually she dipped her head.

“Yeah, it is.”

I turned to look at her and found more than surprise there. It was as if she was just noticing some vital pieces of me for the first time.

Chapter Seven

Alba

Theo Ganas knew my music tastes. I was still ruminating that late in the afternoon after the crew had finally left and instead of getting my shit and heading back to Julia and Rocco’s I was sitting at the breakfast bar, staring at my laptop screen while Theo went to “get comfortable.”

Logically I knew it was not that surprising that my boss could’ve picked up on what I liked to listen to. I kept music on in my little office next to his whenever I was there, and though I made sure to keep it at a low volume, in three years he was bound to become aware of some of my favorite artists. It’s not like I didn’t talk about Cardi B and Rihanna like they were my personal friends.

It was how he’d said it. That he’d noticed when I listened to certain songs, and more surprisingly was the fact that he could tell when my mood was low or high. I’d been under the impression Theo Ganas didn’t have anything beyond a superficial awareness of me while I worked for him. I could’ve sworn on my life that as long as I did the things he required of me, he didn’t have a single reason to give me a second thought. But one didn’t discern the music listening habits of another person with that degree of accuracy unless they were interested in them. Right?