Crystal looked down at her feet and wondered how they'd gotten there. The whirlwind that had been the last several months had carried her far from where she would have guessed. Her reemergence from retirement and seclusion had never been directly planned: she merely released a song she'd long held onto and suddenly she was wildly popular again. A nervous churning had begun circulating inside her brain. She'd been sitting in a small dressing in Byron's office for nearly an hour.
“Crystal, are you ready?" Amber asked.
“No. I can't do it. I can't face all those people. Not yet."
“But they're here to see you."
“Where's Duke?"
“I don't know. I think he and Byron are already downstairs."
Crystal sat staring at her feet. She'd taken off her shoes and just watched her toes curl and uncurl.
