"Do you know Wesley Grant?” Camilla asks, and I nearly drop my glue stick.
There's a beat of silence.
"Horizon Pictures, right?" Alex says carefully. "I know of him. We've never worked together directly."
"He's Nora's fiancé," Mia offers, and I want to sink into the couch cushions.
Alex's eyebrows rise slightly. "Oh wait, I do remember seeing that the other week. Well. Congratulations."
"Thanks," I manage.
"He's a piece of shit," Camilla adds cheerfully. "Just so you know."
"Camilla," Lydia warns from the dining room.
"What? He is. Multiple sources confirm."
Marcus is trying not to laugh. Alex looks like he's mentally drafting a very polite exit strategy from this conversation.
"So Nora," Mia interjects. “Ollie says you're staying with Nate? How’s that going”
“She’s not staying with him.” Camilla intervenes before looking at me. “You have your own bed right?”
The name drops into the room like a grenade, and I watch everyone's attention shift to me with the synchronized precision of a dance troupe.
“I have my own cabin.” I reply.
"Wait," Alex says. "Who's Nate?"
"Oh, this is good," Marcus mutters, settling in like he's about to watch his favorite show.
"Nate is Nora's ex," Camilla explains. "First love. Childhood sweetheart. The one that got away. The reason she writes emotionally devastating romance novels that get turned into movies.”
"That's not—" I start.
"It absolutely is," Mia interrupts gently. "Your books are basically just Nate with different names."
"They are not."
"The brooding musician with the tragic past who's really good with his hands?" Camilla raises an eyebrow. "Book two. That was Nate."
"The guy who builds furniture and has commitment issues but is secretly a softie?" Marcus adds. "Book three. Also Nate."
"I'm sensing a pattern," Alex says.
"There's no pattern," I insist, but my face is burning.
"So let me get this straight," Alex continues, clearly entertained. "You're engaged to one guy but staying at your ex's studio?"
"It's not like that."
"It's exactly like that," Camilla says. "She's been there for days. Living in a cabin sixty feet from his. Book four perhaps?”
"It's a Nicholas Sparks novel waiting to happen," Marcus corrects.
"I hate you all.”
"Nothing about this is practical," Mia says, but she's smiling. "But we support you anyway."
