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“Mmm, good point,” I say. “I’ll tell him so.”
She grins. “Hey. Are you letting Mom in on the secret?”
I squeeze my eyes shut. I’ve been trying not to think about my mother, on the other side of the Atlantic from my shenanigans. “I was hoping I could maybe get away with not telling her about the engagement at all?”
Nia tilts her head, considering. “What happens if she finds out? She does read American news.”
“She quit after we pointed out that it made her miserable.”
“True. You could not tell her for now, and if she finds out, you could do triage then.” She chuckles. “I still think it’s pretty rich. You’ve been hiding out for years, and now you’re going public with a big, fat fake wedding. You’ve been avoiding players and liars, and now you’re going to spend months with a guy who’s obviously fine being both.”
“At least what you see is what you get with Shane,” I point out. “I already know he’s a player, and right now we’re both liars.”
That makes this totally different from things with Anthony, who let me think he was a good guy who loved me, when in fact he was a Hollywood user.
We both mull that for a moment. “There is that,” she says. “And maybe this’ll be good for you. Maybe getting back in the public eye will scare up some TV or film opportunities.”
“I don’t want TV or film opportunities. You know that.”
She gives me a long, hard look.
“I don’t! If I wanted them, I’d be pursuing them.”
“Okay.” She shrugs. “I got it. You don’t want sex with Shane Hott, and you don’t want to act in film or TV again.”
I didn’t say I don’t want sex with Shane Hott. “I love my life here.”
“I love your life here, too,” she says and wraps an arm around my shoulder. “Just tell me how I can help.”
When she lets me go, I watch her walk down my front path, between the two sides of my garden, to her car. I wave and slip back into the house.
I stand inside the door, right where I stood a moment ago with Shane’s big, warm hand wrapped tightly around mine.
What’s weird is that even though I told Nia the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, my chest still aches like I’ve told a lie.
11
Shane
“So,” I say. “I, um—I’m going to propose to my girlfriend.”
Five Hott siblings and Sonya turn to me in a movement so coordinated it could have been choreographed.
We’re all gathered at Hanna and Easton’s house to celebrate Eloise’s christening earlier this morning. It was the first time all six Hott siblings were under the same church roof since Preston was in high school. We didn’t even all make it for Hanna’s wedding, which is still a source of shame to those of us who thought at the time that we had more pressing engagements. (Read: Me. I was filming, but I still regret not telling my director to put it on ice so I could watch my baby sister walk down the aisle.)
After the christening, the Wilders and the Hotts came back to the house, the little bungalow bursting at the seams with all the combined energy.
Easton cooked up a giant batch of his family’s spaghetti, people brought side dishes and desserts, and several giant ice tubs overflowed with drinks. We passed baby Eloise from arms to arms, everyone cooing over her. Meanwhile the Wilder cousins organized themselves into a surprisingly civilized and fair game of wiffle ball, loosely overseen by various Wilder brothers and their wives and girlfriends, and chased by Gabe’s and Sonya’s dogs.
Now, though, the party’s broken up, leaving just Hotts, Hanna’s husband Easton, Quinn’s wife Sonya, and Sonya’s dog Gus, who looks like a Dr. Seuss character and adores Eloise so much that he’ll sit on his haunches next to her swing, watching her sleep and panting at the amount of restraint required not to lick every inch of her.
We’re all gathered in the kitchen, helping with cleanup.
Or, well, that was what they were doing a moment ago, until my I’m proposing bombshell. Now they’re all staring at me, wide-eyed, frozen in mid-motion, dishes and silverware and baby-bottle parts in hand.
Then Rhys snorts and Preston bursts out laughing.
“Oh my God,” Rhys says. “That’s actually brilliant! Why didn’t any of us think of that before?”
