“Hopefully next time, Anderson,” Marley said.
Anderson looked straight at the camera then. “You can catch Nik Sharma, along with Serena Vox, inIronis 3, coming to theaters sometime next year, right?”
“As soon as we film it!” Nikhil said.
Anderson laughed. “And I think you can find Marley wherever Nik is. There’s more information about the Still Glowing Foundation and their fundraising gala next month on TheConfab.com. After the break, picnic cocktails!”
Someone yelled, “Cut,” and Marley could finally exhale. Nikhil leaned in and kissed her cheek. “You were amazing.”
“Do you think that worked?” Marley asked Nikhil.
He nodded. “No doubt. You made everyone fall in love with you,” Nikhil whispered in Marley’s ear. “I love you so much.”
Marley smiled, leaning her head against his. “I love you, too.”
EPILOGUE
Marley
Nik, who are you wearing?”
“Nik, over here—show us your smolder!”
“Nik, what’s coming next for you?”
It had been seven months since Marley started dating a real-life movie star, and this was her first red-carpet experience. It was, well, overwhelming. She was so glad Nikhil insisted that she didn’t need to walk the carpetwithhim. The camera flashes, photographers, and yelling fans were… intense. Intrusive. And Nikhil wasn’t even in this movie—he and Marley were only here to support Serena and her new holiday rom-com.
Marley was instead walking with Caroline a few paces behind the actual stars. But even if this was a lot, and Marley had no interest in a public profession like her boyfriend’s, Marleylovedwatching Nikhil work a red carpet, or any press event, actually. He was a natural. Preening for the camera. Laughing. Even flirting a bit. The cameralovedhim, and the fanslovedhim.
And it all made Marley love him even more.
Dating an actor had meant a lot of new experiences for Marley. They’d had to duck into shops to avoid photographers while shopping in Los Angeles, she’d randomly seen her ownname in TMZ more than once, and pretty much every person Marley had ever known had contacted her at some point to try to get access to Nik Sharma. But also, she’d hung out with celebrities, had the phone number of an actor from her favorite medical drama in her contacts, and she and Nikhil had even been invited to exclusive fashion shows, since his reputation as a style icon was still going strong. Overall, the positives way outdid the negatives. And of course, Nikhil himself was the biggest positive of all.
Once past the chaos of the red carpet, Marley walked into the theater and immediately saw Nikhil waiting for her in the entrance. He grinned and came right for her. Marley smiled as he kissed her cheek lightly, knowing not to smudge her makeup. They hadn’t seen each other since she arrived in LA that afternoon—she’d had appointments at several boutiques to pick up clothes for her Toronto clients, and he had a meeting with his agent.
“You made it,” he said. “That dress is gorgeous.”
She was wearing a dress she’d had for a while, a slim, green cocktail-length dress with a lacy overlay that was completely backless. It was handy that her silicone breasts meant she could go braless now. Her hair was curled lightly and pulled to the side, and she had tall nude heels on. “We’re going to sit together, right?” he asked.
Marley chuckled. “I hope so. I came all the way from Toronto for this—if you weren’t going to sit with me, then I would have just watched from my living room with McQueen.”
He laughed, putting his hand on her lower back to guide her in. Once they were seated in the theater, the charismatic, schmoozing Nik Sharma was gone, and it was just her Nikhil. Her attentive, doting, little-bit-goofy boyfriend.
He poked a finger through the gauzy lace of her dress. He was always very tactile with her. Especially with her clothes. “How did your shopping trip go?” he asked.
“Pretty good. I may have to do a little more shopping while I’m here, but then I’m all yours for the rest of the week.”
He grinned at that and leaned in to bury his nose into her neck.
Marley’s personal styling business had been doing very well since it launched six months ago. And to her relief, it was doing well without any promotion or advertising from her. She didn’t have to hustle on social media or put herself out there more than she was comfortable doing. And she still had more clients than she knew what to do with. Many were her customers from Reid’s who were happy to come to Marley wherever she was, and their word of mouth was enough to sustain her business. That plus Serena’s and Caroline’s referrals, too. Despite her busy client list, she still found the time to volunteer with the Still Glowing Foundation as a stylist. And she did her best to attend the monthly BRCA peer support group with Jaime. The women in the group had become such an important support system for her.
And of course, Marley was spending a ton of time with Reena and her new baby son.
Marley had never been busier… and adding a long-distance relationship to the mix wasn’t ideal. But she wouldn’t change anything for the world, because she’d also never been happier than in the eight months since her mastectomy.
She’d been to LA several times to see Nikhil, and he came to Toronto whenever he could. His family was doing better—his mother was finally on antidepressants, which seemed to be working, and Nalini was in her second year of her biologydegree and was still determined to go to med school. Arjun was still in prison—he’d been denied parole thanks to him selling information to the paparazzi, so they had some time before they had to figure out how to avoid him.
Nikhil had been to tons of auditions and had been working steadily since he filmed the Ironis movie. In January, he was starting principal photography on a limited streaming series for Netflix that would be shooting in Toronto. It would be the longest stretch of time that they’d be in the same city sinceIronis 3filmed six months ago, and Marley couldn’t wait.
