Free Sweet Texas Kiss (Sweet Texas Secrets) by Monica Tillery

perform.”
    “That show’s only a couple of years old. What about the years after Tori died? Did you just not work at all?” Why he cared about her career or financial affairs was a mystery, but how could she have just … quit? Maybe all her rowdy and unprofessional behavior had caught up to her. Even as careful as he’d been to limit his exposure to her, Macy Young was famous enough that news of her bad behavior occasionally seeped onto his radar. He knew she’d been in minor altercations at bars and clubs, thrown out after screaming matches with strangers, and he’d read that she trashed a hotel room or two and was a no-show for performances. Things must have gotten worse than that.
    “You know, if you want to know what I did after Tori died, why don’t you just read a tabloid? I was headline news on every celebrity gossip site for a while there.” She cut her steak with more vigor than was necessary. “I ruined everything, and I didn’t care. Didn’t even know that my own mother had passed away until my boyfriend told me, since I couldn’t be bothered to answer my phone most of the time.”
    “You have a boyfriend? What do you think he’d say about you staying in the house with me?” He speared a chunk of cucumber in his salad. “Not that I care, of course.”
    “He’s not my boyfriend any more, hasn’t been for a while. I wasn’t exactly lovable. Turns out being a hot mess isn’t such a turn-on for most guys. Happy?” Challenge flashed in her eyes, daring him to take another dig at her.
    “Of course not. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”
    She put her knife down and relaxed her shoulders. “It’s fine. You were right. I felt guilty, and a few years of self-destructive behavior made me feel like I was getting what I deserved. The night Dave—that was my boyfriend—had to track me down to tell me my mom had passed away was the night I realized I’d hit rock bottom. She had congestive heart failure and hadn’t been doing well. For a while, I was able to take care of her. I’d visit her, clean up around her house, fill her prescriptions, things like that. I think the days I spent with her were the only times I didn’t sit around feeling sorry for myself. Then a program about Young and Wilde aired, and it was like Tori had died all over again. I holed up in my house, refusing to answer the phone, not making any contact with the outside world, and she passed away during that time. Dave was already beyond pissed off with me because I’d done it before, the whole hermit routine, but I missed taking her to a doctor’s appointment. He was a real trouper, rescheduled her appointment and took her since I was useless. He was the one who found her.” She took a deep breath, keeping her eyes trained on her plate. “He’s a good guy, really. Better than I deserved. But that night, he had to pull the blankets off me and practically drag me out of my bed since I wouldn’t get up. After everything he’d been through that day, he had to deal with me acting like a child, and it was finally too much for him.
    “After that, I knew I had to pull my shit together or I’d end up homeless or lying in a ditch somewhere. I couldn’t blame him for leaving me, but without my mom, he really was the last person I had left. They were the only two who’d stuck around, and whether I sank or swim at that point was entirely up to me. It was a miserable time, but at least I picked myself up and got back to work.”
    “But not as a singer.”
    “Nope. I’d pushed Dave away along with everyone else, but he stuck by me as a friend. God only knows why he did it, but I hate to think where I’d be without him. He’d just been hired as the first judge on the show, and he convinced the producers to take a look at me.” She shrugged. “I thought it was kind of cheesy to be on a talent competition show at first, but it kind of saved my life.”
    If Macy had been able to go on with her life as though nothing