Love Me (37 page)

The woman straightened her white cap. “We’ll see. For now, I think it’s most important that you have a nice long rest, don’t you agree?”

Gabby was suddenly very tired. She looked around the room. The walls were apricot, like the carpet in her bedroom in the house on Fountain Street. The lace curtains were like a gauzy bridal veil around the face of the sky. “Yes,” she said, more to herself than to the woman. “A rest sounds nice.”

What a good idea this was
. A little vacation, and no mothers or dance instructors or selfish friends or faithless lovers around to ruin it.

Morisco tucked the cool, crisp sheets around her as Gabby settled back onto the pillow, singing softly to herself. “You made me love you,” Gabby sang. “I didn’t want to do it, I didn’t want
to do it.…” If she couldn’t have music yet, she’d just have to make her own.
Who can do it better than me?

She’d have a nice long rest. And when she went back, Hollywood had better watch out.

Because when Gabby Preston got back, she was going to shine so brightly she’d make those stars in the sky look like painted dots on an old tin ceiling.

They might not want to love me. But I’m going to make them
.

So many people to thank, and no band to play me off! But for the sake of paper and ink, I’ll try to be brief.

As always, gratitude goes first and foremost to my glorious agent, Rebecca Friedman, and my fabulous editor, Wendy Loggia, who are the best in the business.

Huge thanks also to Lauren Donovan, Krista Vitola, Dominique Cimina, and the whole gang at Delacorte Press for all their hard work and their belief in this project. Gratitude beyond gratitude to Joseph Papa, Bob Morris, Ira Silverberg, Dana Borowitz, Ember Truesdell, Jillian Larkin, Anna Godbersen, and of course to Michael Schulman, Lauren Marks, Suzanne Marks and Tony Nino, Peter Cook, Colin Shepherd, Alex Block, Laurie Henzel, Mike Edison, Judy McGuire, Billy Zavelson, Ben Rimalower, Dan Fortune, Nick Jones, Ariel Shukert and Jeff Wienir, and Aveva and Marty Shukert.

And to Ben, of course, who puts up with all of this nonsense.

Rachel Shukert is the author of
Everything Is Going to Be Great
,
Have You No Shame?
, and the Starstruck novels. She has been fascinated by the Golden Age of Hollywood since she was a girl, when she used to stay up all night watching old movies and fall asleep the next day at school. Rachel grew up in Omaha, Nebraska, and graduated from New York University. She lives in New York City with her husband. Visit her at
rachelshukert.com
.