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“Oh?” Her mom sat up straighter. “Are you going to try to get a promotion at Matten-Waverly?”
“I don’t know yet. But I can freelance on my own to help build a portfolio and get more experience. I’ve always loved doing those book covers, and there’s definitely a market out there for indie books.”
Her mother nodded. “The ones in your apartment are so beautiful.”
Her words fizzed through Everly’s veins. Her mom hounded her so much about her laugh and her voice and her style—pretty much everything—that it was nice to be reminded she could be proud of her daughter, too.
“And there might be other opportunities. The show has a lot of surprises that they don’t share with me ahead of time.”
Part of Everly itched to talk about her tattoo, but she already felt so raw and open sitting here, moments from seeing herself on TV, that she couldn’t get the words out. Who knew how her mother was going to feel aboutthat?
Becca squished herself between Everly and her mom and turned on the TV. A hush fell over the room as she cued up the episode. Even Everly’s mother had set down her glass of champagne and settled in.
Grabbing a nearby throw pillow, Everly hugged it to her chest. Her stomach was a rope of intricately tied knots, and nerves slipped under her skin until it prickled. She had no idea what to expect. What if it was more of the same lovesick Everly from the premiere special? This was exactly why she didn’t want a party, why she hadn’t let Ellis invite anyone but close family. There was no telling what they were about to see.
She needed a distraction, and Bagel and his perfectly fidget-approved ears were in the dining room with a bone, so Everly took her life in her own hands and dared to pet Cream Cheese, perched possessively in Becca’s lap.
The cat’s fur was soft and smooth, and Everly’s muscles relaxed a little with each brush her fingers made across the white Angora’s coat. Clearly Cream Cheese sensed Everly’s stress, because she only swiped at her hand a few times, and always with her claws retracted. That was as close as this cat got to showing mercy.
After the opening credits, the episode began like the first one did every season—with Jazzy and Stanton introducing themselves and explaining the show’s documentary format (minimal edits, a small crew, each of the four guests getting eight episodes—all meant to infuse as much reality as possible into the show). Then it cut to a shot of Everly at the office, answering the phones. Though it had been filmed days after they’d ambushed her, Sady was using it as an establishing shot.
Becca grabbed her arm and gave it a big shake. “Look at you. Onourshow! Oh my god.” Her eyes were glassy with excitement.
Everly’s vision also blurred. “It’s wild.”
“It’samazing.”
Even her mom offered her a smile. “You look nice,” she said. Rarer words had never been spoken by Penny Winters.
Maybe this would go okay.
The first half hour or so focused on the hosts surprising Everly atMatten-Waverly. She remembered their arrival vividly, but watching it unfold from an objective point of view was eye-opening. She’d thought she held it together really well in the moment, but on-screen, she was practically bouncing out of her own skin when Jazzy greeted her. Her face had this manic expression, eyes wide, her smile stretched to its limits, like those fun house entrances with the giant clown face. It was a wonder everyone hadn’t run screaming.
Sady was clearly constructing a different timeline, because directly after the ambush, the show cut to Everly sitting down with her for their first interview, as if she’d strode straight from the hallway of the office building to the park across the street. In reality, that had happened hours later. It was a good reminder that even when something was trying to be “real” or authentic, it was still a story being told.
Like one of her English professors used to say, everything was a narrative.
Everly’s nerves while talking to Sady were crystal clear in the footage. Though Sady had prompted her with questions, Everly had struggled to say much more than a few words.
After that, things shifted back to the office. It was incredible how well Logan captured the chaos: the loud clatter of pens as Stanton shook them out everywhere, Jazzy treating Everly’s poor sweater as a beach blanket and then later, a bath towel. There were multiple close-ups of the horror on Everly’s face at the mess.
Most of the day unfolded on the television screen exactly the way she remembered it, except for the last few minutes of the segment. There was this moment as the rest of the crew left where the camera swung back toward James and Everly. James caught her arm gently and gave her a wide smile. Her body visibly loosened in response. The shot remained on them, capturing their eye contact that lingered long after James had released her.
Long enough that everyone in her brother’s living room began to murmur.
Her mother leaned over Becca to tap Everly on the knee. “Who’s that?”
Everly shushed her, gesturing toward the television, pretending she didn’t want to miss a second. Her cheeks were so hot they burned, but she did her best to feign nonchalance (as well as anyone could while desperately clutching a pillow to their chest).
She felt strangely disconnected from the girl swooning over James in that clip. Her heart wasn’t dancing at their shared eye contact, and no goose bumps blanketed her arms. Mostly she was embarrassed. She might as well have inscribed her feelings across her forehead in calligraphy.
Ever since the premiere special, Everly had been actively avoiding James (the last thing Sady needed was more ammo for her love story arc), but now she wondered if the distance hadn’t had the added bonus of dampening her crush. Especially given how much more real estate Logan was inhabiting in her head these days.
She almost sighed with relief. FilmingOTPSwould go so much more smoothly if she could do it sans James. Then she could worry a little less, and Sady would be forced to focus the show on Everly’s art and goals. It would be a win, win, win, all around.
The next segment introduced the town of Monmouth Cove and Everly’s day-to-day life. They used a lot of the same clips from the premiere special, only in more extended detail, so, of course, there was plenty of James. Too much, in Everly’s opinion. The scene of her knocking everything off her desk and then slamming heads with him went on for decades.
“Not your finest moment,” her mother pointed out with a cluck of her tongue. She chased her words with a swig of champagne.
