When Rebecca and I got to the Lone Star Lounge, it was already busy. There were people everywhere. I could see a combination of the business-casual happy hour crowd and the student population mingling around the space. We managed to snag a table in a good section near to the right of the stage by carefully stalking the prior occupants until they paid and got up.

“So, tell me,” Rebecca asked as we settled in, “where did you happen to find Rosie Ross?”

I took a sip of my water and frowned. Although I was still very much absorbed in my worry over Rosie, I needed to wear my game face for Rebecca. Regardless of whether or not Rosie wanted to date me, I was still her agent. She deserved my best. “You know Calvin Ross, right?” I ventured.

She made a face. “Yes. Unfortunately.” Then she figured it out. “No. No. His daughter? Niece?”

I nodded. “I’m afraid so. Yes. His daughter.”

Her disbelieving face melted into a smile. “No wonder you want to get her a different agent. And no wonder you’re working so hard for her.”

“It’s not just that,” I admitted. “We’re dating.” I wasn’t going to lie about my relationship with Rosie, even if was a bit up in the air at the moment. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I had to believe it would work out.

Rebecca’s eyebrows looked like they might disappear up into her hairline. “Is that so?”

I nodded and shrugged in reply. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if it was so anymore. Rosie still hadn’t called.

Rebecca was kind enough not to follow up. Still, her eyes narrowed in a way that made me worry. “Have you given any more thought to joining me in my new venture?” she asked. She was probably thinking that I was going to need a new job.

I shook my head at her. “I’m not moving to California.”

We’d been around on this topic before. I couldn’t just uproot my life and march out to the west coast. I had no interest in doing so, and even if I wanted to, my family situation wouldn’t allow it. Ian needed me. And if I was being entirely truthful with myself, I needed him too.

She looked around herself, taking in the vibe of the bar. “I can see why you like this town,” she said after a moment. “What if you didn’t have to move?”

I blinked. That had never been an option before.

Rebecca took in the change in my expression and pushed forward. “I’m not saying that you wouldn’t ever have to travel, and I’m not saying that some of that travel wouldn’t be to California, but the truth is that LA doesn’t have the same cache it used to. It used to be the center of the universe, but now there are a ton of other trendy music scenes, not the least of which is Austin.” She rolled her eyes as if it irritated her. “Maybe it wouldn’t be a deal killer for you to be here instead.”

It would be a deal killer for me not to be here. “What about you?” I questioned, feeling like this might be some kind of a trick. “You’d be in LA?”

She laughed like I’d just asked the world’s stupidest question. “Wild horses couldn’t pull me away.”

I appreciated the Rolling Stones reference, but I was confused. “How would we be able to run a business like that?”

She shrugged. “Skype. Email. Letters. Smoke signals. Carrier pigeons.” Her eyes rolled back dramatically. “Come on Ryan, you know that’s not a real stumbling block anymore.”

I was confused. She’d always said that it was the stumbling block. “What changed?”

“I just don’t feel like going the rest of my life reporting to somebody else,” she told me. “Do you?”

God no. Especially if it was Calvin Ross. “I see your point.”

“So, let’s do this,” she told me. “I’m willing to compromise on you being in Austin to get this off the ground.” She laughed again. “Nothing good comes for free. There are always drawbacks.”

The idea was growing on me. I’d been an agent since graduating from law school. It hadn’t been my ideal career path—I just sort of fell into it. Originally, I’d wanted to be a prosecutor. But when I graduated and took a look at my student loans, the meager salaries of the state of Texas wouldn’t make a dent. So, I found something that would get me out of debt, and fast.

The plan worked, but at the cost of being professionally fulfilling. Other than the really weird, really big deals that followed around clients like Jason Kane, I spent a lot of time doing things that didn’t exactly make me excited to get to the office each morning. Maybe it was time for a change.

“There’s no guarantee that I’ll be any good at running a record label,” I told her.

“You won’t be running it,” she replied with a smirk. “I will. You’ll only be the Vice President and Chief Legal Officer.”

Ha ha. Only that. “You know what I mean.”

“You have a great eye for talent, the patience of a saint, and all the industry connections money can’t buy,” she finally said. “You’ll be fine.”

“If we did this, what would the next step be?” I asked. I kept my composure, but inside, I was a lot less confident; I knew I was about to need a job.

“Well, there are a few,” Rebecca answered. I could tell that she thought she had me hooked. She was probably not that wrong. I was at least eighty percent convinced. “We can put the boring stuff to the side for now. How about we focus on signing our first artist?” She pointed up at the stage where Rosie would soon be performing. “We can start right now.”

Worry shot through me again. Just for a fraction of a second, I’d forgotten about Rosie. Even though it had only been a few hours since we’d last spoken, and less than a day since we’d seen each other, it felt like ages. What should have been nothing but a small argument had become something much, much bigger.

Rosie had good reasons for hating it when people tried to control her. I had good reasons for disliking underage drinking. But if I could go back in time, I’d smack the phone out of my hand and scream that my reasons were my own. They had nothing to do with Rosie and I shouldn’t impose them on her. Otherwise I was no better than her dad.

Rebecca said that I had the patience of a saint. Right now, I needed every ounce of it. Because waiting to know whether or not Rosie would ever speak to me again—let alone want me in her life—was killing me.