Rosé leaned across the table and grabbed Lisa's chin. She turned Lisa's face back towards her. "Why did you hang up the phone, Lisa? That's the question the reporters keep asking. And I don't know the answer."
Lisa shrugged. "So make something up."
"Sure..." Rosé said. "I can make up some bullshit. I'm a publicist. That's what I do. But you know how this works, Lisa. If you want me to control the story, you have to tell me what the story is. The real story. You have to let me do my job."
The real story, Lisa thought. The real story was that she'd hung up the phone when she went down on one knee because the cord didn't reach to the ground. And thank God for that. At least she hadn't humiliated herself completely by proposing and getting turned down flat on a national radio broadcast.
Rosé was looking at Lisa expectantly, waiting for her to explain. She shrugged again. "What? I was on a payphone," she said. "I ran out of change."
"You ran out of change."
"It was a stupid idea. Next time I'll call from my cell."
"There's nothing more to it than that?"
"Nope."
They stared at each other, eyes locked, both fully aware that Lisa was lying. Rosé looked away first. Something in Lisa's eyes must have told Rosé not to press the matter further.
"And you and Jennie?" Rosé asked.
"What about me and Jennie?"
"Do you need me to play the tape again, Lisa?"
"Ok. She's my ex-girlfriend. There's some history."
"And?"
"We're getting reacquainted. That's it."
"Are you together?"
Lisa shut her eyes, willing the woman across from her to disappear in a puff of smoke.
"Lisa..." Rosé said, leaning towards her again and putting a hand on her arm. "You just declared your love in front of 4.5 million radio listeners. So when the press asks me if the two of you are together, do you want me to confirm? Or do you want me to walk it back?"
That was the million dollar question, wasn't it? And not a question Lisa cared to answer out loud - not even to her publicist. Sure, Rosé could walk it back. The world hadn't been there in that gas station parking lot to see Lisa down on one knee. But Jennie was there. Jennie knew what Lisa had said. Jennie knew how Lisa felt. There was no walking it back with Jennie.
And there was no walking it back with herself either. There was no way to tell herself that she didn't feel what she knew she felt. That her life without Jennie these past seven years had been missing something essential - no matter how many times Lisa had lied and told herself that everything was great. It wasn't great. It would never be great. It would never even be good. And now that she knew what was missing, it would never even be bearable, if Lisa had to go back to life without Jennie. No, there was no walking it back. The truth was out.
Jennie had said it was too soon, though, and Lisa knew deep down that she was right. They'd only been in touch again for a few weeks. Jennie didn't know about the secret conversations Lisa had been having with her in Lisa's head all these years. Or how, when Lisa was out on the town with her latest piece of celebrity arm candy, she would picture Jennie's face looking back at her instead.
No, Jennie was right. Just having an itch for someone for seven years was not the same thing as being in a relationship. Pulling over into the rest stop and calling into the radio show had been a spur-of-the-moment decision.
Lisa hadn't even realised that speech was going to end in a marriage proposal until the words were coming out of her mouth. What was she thinking? Probably spending too much time reading the scripts that the movie studios kept sending her way - all those cliché-ridden romantic comedies, star vehicles designed to help her make the leap from recording artist to movie idol.
Lisa regretted it now. It was way too soon to talk marriage, and she knew it. But that didn't mean she'd changed her mind about Jennie. She knew exactly what she wanted. And she wasn't about to take no for answer.
Now Jennie was coming out to stay with her. Jennie was due to arrive on Saturday and would stay for two weeks. That's what she had promised Lisa. Two weeks to show Jennie what their life would be like if she stayed. Two weeks to prove to Jennie that all these years later - even with everything that had changed - Lisa was still that same person that Jennie used to love, and Jennie was still that same little girl.
"Lisa." Rosé prompted her again. "What do you want me to tell the media?"
Lisa reached out and pushed her laptop closed. "No comment." she replied, squaring her jaw with a look of single-minded determination. "No comment today. But ask me again in two weeks."
