Harrison arched an eyebrow at Emma. “Why? ’Roid rage?”
He winked at me. Ever the charmer. Harrison could joke about these things as he’d always been glamorized in the magazines. He’d been a hauntingly attractive child and only grew into his looks over the years. Now, he was always at the top of every good-looking list with his piercing blue eyes lined with dark lashes that gave him that sort of pretty hot guy thing that all the thirsty birds adored.
“Well, if you can’t joke about substance abuse among friends, what can you joke about?” Harrison swung an arm around me, pulling me in for a genuine hug. “It really is good to see you.”
I patted him firmly, and some of the tension melted out of me. “Yeah. You too.”
These two. Just seeing them again. It felt like a little bit of my world was back in order. The three of us bickering, well, them two mostly, could be recorded and played on a sleep sounds app and I’d be the only subscriber. I missed them so bloody much when we weren’t all together. But I couldn’t tell them that, could I? Emma with her world-saving and Harrison with his constant filming schedule. They’d moved on. I felt like the last sibling left at home as his brother and sister went off to college.
I cleared my throat. “Well, let’s get this over with, shall we?”
Emma clicked her tongue in disapproval and Harrison chuckled. I wiped my palms on my trousers and took a deep but quiet breath to steady myself.
Not quiet enough, though, because Emma was watching me closely as we stepped out the door. “Nervous? There are no cameras tonight. It’s just a casual thing.”
“I’m not nervous,” I said even as my Adam’s apple bobbed to betray me. “Just knackered.”
“This whole event is pretty random. Not that I care, but what’s the point if it’s not for publicity?” Harrison asked, smoothing his eyebrows in the reflection of the waiting car. “Happy to schmooze with the fans though.”
I shifted on my feet.
“The producers told me it was a way for us all to get comfortable before we started filming tomorrow,” Emma said. “I guess they’re mixing up how they do the interviews and stuff.”
My head shot up. “What do you mean?”
She shrugged. “I’m not exactly sure. We’ll know when we see the new filming schedule.”
“Don’t worry, dear, I’ll be there to hold your hand. I won’t leave you alone with the big scary reporters,” Harrison teased.
I shoved him off me. “Prat.”
We chatted about various things as the town car drove through the city and to the hotel where the meet and greet was taking place. The closer we got, the more my nerves started to thrum. My heartbeat ticked like the countdown on a bomb.
I wished I could take the edge off.
But then I pictured the sloppy tabloid shots of me stumbling out of bars. If there was any chance in hell I’d been meeting Kate tonight, I didn’t want her to see that side of me. That Charlie was long gone.
The second the car doors opened, all worries about tomorrow were pushed away. People were milling about in the hotel lobby, making their way toward the banquet room for the meet and greet. Never since we began our correspondence had I been this close to Kate.
Kate.
She was somewhere in this hotel, and I would finally get to meet her. I needed a minute to collect myself.
Emma and Harrison moved toward the banquet hall.
“You guys, go ahead. I just want to check in with Agata,” I said, my voice contained a slight shake that I worried would give too much away.
Emma squeezed my arm with a nod and pulled Harrison away.
“Who’s Agata again?” he asked as they made their way in.
I stepped to a quiet cove in the hotel lobby, head tucked to remain unnoticed, and took out my phone to check on the kids. It was late enough here that she might be up for the day.
I would just hear how life back home was. See Kate. Record the reunion. And then go home. Everything was fine. Everything was under control.
16
Kate
