Talking to her mother always got her in a good mood. Her father wasn’t as soft as her mother and couldn’t understand why Bristol wasted her time on pop music and love songs. He called her a sellout but didn’t say no when she offered to buy him a loft in downtown Los Angeles with her pop-star money. He refused to see that his artwork was selling only because he was Bristol Baines’s father. Nobody had cared about his overpriced abstract paintings before she made it big.

They never had a normal father-daughter conversation, and Bristol craved it. She just wanted her father to ask how she was doing and be invested in the conversation. Thinking about him was exhausting. She curled up on the couch, slipped her AirPods in, and meditated enough to relax. She fell into a deep sleep for about an hour and woke with a start when somebody knocked on the door.

“Bristol. Annie’s taking the stage in about ten minutes. Your duet will be in about thirty,” Lizzy called through the door.

Bristol sat up fast, completely confused by her rapid heartbeat when Lizzy mentioned Annie’s name. Maybe the knocking had startled her, and her heart was catching up. “Okay. I’ll be out in fifteen.” She switched her yoga pants for torn-up jeans and grabbed a black V-neck to throw on over her cami. She had a minimal amount of makeup on, knowing full well that Annette was going to do magical things with her brushes and pencils in about an hour. She was hungry and grabbed a few carrot sticks from the tray. Another knock. This time Bristol opened the door. “I’m starving.”

“I thought you might be.” Lizzy held a bag up under her nose. “Butternut squash with fried sage and steamed vegetables. All vegetarian. It’s from a restaurant Annie recommended.”

Okay, this time the kick-start she felt in her chest when Lizzy said Annie’s name couldn’t have been a coincidence. There was something about her. “Yum. Do I have enough time to eat it now?”

“No. You don’t want to sing with this stuff in your throat. Eat more vegetables. I’ll keep this warm until the set with Annie is over.”

“It smells delicious.” The thought of food made her smile. The fact that it was Annie’s recommendation made it special.

“Since we’re leaving tonight, there’s a twenty-four-hour diner just outside of Denver that we might be able to commandeer for a bit,” Lizzy said.