I just couldn’t go out in public with that much makeup on, even if it was only for a minute. I gathered my things up and said some quick goodbyes before I headed out to the car. I was looking forward to a quiet night at home and was anxious to get there ASAP. As I was exiting the building I ran into Matty, literally, and he offered to escort me to the parking lot. “I think we brought down the house with your piece,” he observed, sounding proud. “The crowd went nuts! Everyone was on their feet.” “I didn’t notice,” I replied distantly. I hadn’t really been looking at the crowd as much as I was looking through them. I knew Cooper was supposed to make the trip down to watch, but with our roller coaster of a relationship and his current lack of reliability, I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Instead of trying to connect with the audience, I scanned over them the entire time; it worked for me. “Well, they were.
