Flirting With Forever Read Online Free Page B

called a celebrity. “They’re booking you in the same cities I have us booked in, in small venues.”
    “Venues? How small can a venue be?”
    “They’re theaters that hold somewhere between two and five thousand.”
    “People?”
    “Kit said when you shot down the tour, she didn’t think there was any point in mentioning it, but they’re offering you a minimum guarantee of ten-K per show. Sounds exciting.”
    “And terrifying.”
    “Don’t worry about anything. I promise I’ll be with you every step of the way.”
    “Oh, God.” I didn’t have a choice. “Am I really am doing this?”
    “Not bad for two little southern girls from Summerville, South Carolina, huh?”
    “No, and I appreciate your hard work more than I can say.”
    “Well, don’t you worry your pretty little head about anything from here on out, this is going to be fabulous. Look, I’ve got to run, but we’ll talk later.”
    I tucked the phone back in my pocket and went up to the house to coax Lilly into eating something. She looked so peaceful, I wanted what she had. Until I realized Lilly had left me too.
    Three hours later, I was okay enough to drive to the vet. We got there just before they closed at eight o’clock, but the vet tech let me sit with her as long as I wanted. He explained that the company who did their cremations had a beautiful spot near Boone in the North Carolina Mountains, fifty acres where they spread the ashes of beloved pets, a fitting resting place.
    It sounded like a wonderful place for Lilly, but I wasn’t ready to let her go. “I want the ashes. How long will it take to get her back?”
    “They send someone to pick up on Mondays and we get the ashes in a few weeks. They’re good people, but they don’t have the fastest turn around. A lot of vets use them, so there’s a good chance it might be later.
    “With their deluxe package, you can pick from one of these.” He opened a three-ring binder and flipped through a few pages filled with every thing from tasteful urns to tacky rhinestone ones. “You get these little wooden boxes with the middle package, and then there’s the basic package.”
    “What does that one come with?”
    “The ashes are packed in a Ziploc bag and then shipped to your home in a cardboard box.”
    “I need something that travels well.”
    Now he looked a little weirded out but nodded. “She’s a small Jack Russell, I think this one would work well.” He pointed to a picture of what looked like a miniature coffin, measuring five by eight inches. “I’ve got a couple of these at home. You can take the little screws out on the bottom. It comes off and then you can take the ashes out to look at them or to hold them.” Okay, now I was weirded out.
    “I’ll take the little coffin one, and can you put a rush on it? I’m leaving in two weeks and won’t be back for a while.”
    “I could have it FedExed to your house, maybe have it to you by then, but it would cost extra.”
    I nodded and tossed my credit card onto the counter. The only thing left to do was go home to an empty house.

Chapter Four
    ‡
    W aiting for Lilly’s ashes to arrive, I didn’t make my plane, and Erin didn’t miss a beat. With a few clicks of her mouse, she got me on the next direct flight out of Charlotte set to arrive at LaGuardia, around six.
    A few days earlier, when we were going over the final itinerary, she’d asked me if I was okay. I didn’t answer her question but told her I wouldn’t leave home without Lilly. Erin suggested she meet me at the airport, we’d chat about the tour on the way to the hotel. She’d wait while I got settled in and then we’d have dinner at the little pizza place she knew I loved in the East Village.
    “I know you’re sitting there, holding Lilly, at the terminal—” she stopped like she was rethinking her choice of words, and I shifted around in my seat, looking for the hidden cameras. “Tara, I know you’re still grieving, but I need you to be up