“Dad, this is my boyfriend, Eamon O’Brien. Eamon, this is my dad, Mr. Thorne. Or do you want to be called Michael?”
My dad appraised Eamon. “I’m not sure. This is new ground. Michael will do, I suppose.” They shook hands and I breathed out with such a gust that Ryder giggled. First boyfriend meets Dad? Check. I honestly hoped it’d be the first and last, but that’s probably so romantic it’s ridiculous.
When everyone had filed in and found chairs, I spotted Julian and his fiancée, Elora, at the bar. Elora had flown in with Julian, surprising all of us. She was built like a ballerina, with flawless brown skin. Only a week ago, I would have taken one look at her and put a bag over my own head, but I wasn’t doing that anymore. What’s more, they were nearly spooning while they ordered drinks, so I guessed they were ready to come out to the world.
Julian gave me a side hug. “I leave for a week and you hop in bed with a handsome elf named Charles?”
My cheeks burned with happiness—something I didn’t know could happen. “We just cuddle,” I muttered. He raised a gorgeously sculpted Julian eyebrow at me. “What? It’s Grade A, First Class, Cosmic Love cuddling.”
Eamon appeared, hanging on to me the way Julian held Elora. “What’s this about?”
“I was bragging about how good our cuddling sessions are.”
“Top notch,” he said, his cheeks pinking.
“We should double date,” Julian said. “Right? When we’re all back in Cali?”
“I’ll check my schedule.” I wiggled my phone at him. “I’ve got your number.”
“Hey, are you playing it cool with me? I’m a movie star, Iris Thorne.”
Elora laughed, and I held on to Eamon even tighter, not wanting to point out to Julian that we couldn’t double because I didn’t know when Eamon would even be in the States.
After this night, our love story was up in the air.
“Hold on a sec,” I said. “I need to make an important introduction.” I stepped away from the bar and ran straight into Roxy.
She grabbed my arm. “Iris, I want to chat with you about something.”
“Sure.” I couldn’t stop myself from looking at Shoshanna at the other end of the bar, watching us completely indiscreetly. “What’s up?”
“You made a not-so-veiled comment about Shoshanna being interested in me.”
“I did?” I feigned.
Roxy gave me an exasperated look that was adorable. “Were you playing matchmaker or do you think she might actually be into me?”
“Massively,” I said. “Sings about you when she’s drinking.” I patted her shoulder and let gravity take over from there.
I grabbed my dad from a conversation with Mr. Donato, bringing him over to where Cate sat at a table with Henrik, both of whom looked exhausted and yet pleased. She sat up when she saw my father’s gloomy mug, and I smiled, hoping she knew I wasn’t bringing a storm cloud to her parade. I motioned for my dad to sit.
Then I sat.
“I’m going to reintroduce you two,” I said. “All other interactions have been stricken from the record. We’re starting anew.” I sat up a little taller, trying not to smile at how amused Henrik looked. My dad and Cate were both still on edge. “Dad, this is Cate Collins. The director of seventeen feature-length motion pictures, my role model, and a major fan of your mother’s fictional world. Cate, this is my dad, Michael Edward Thorne. Author of fifteen crime mysteries and my other role model.”
He eyed me for sarcasm, and when he didn’t find it, he shook Cate’s hand wearily.
“Now, Dad, tell Cate the good news.”
“You’re investing!” Henrik nearly shouted, making Cate and my dad jump.
“Yes,” I said, holding my dad’s eye and daring him to disagree. “We are.”
Cate leaned forward, staring at my dad in a way that made him tilt back. “I will not accept your money with no strings attached, and I will not accept your money with strings attached that I dislike. Is that understood?”
Mobster Cate Collins. God, I loved her.
“It’s not my money,” my dad said. “It’s Iris’s.”
Cate looked at me as tears lined her cool-blue eyes. “Iris.”
“It’s an investment. I can’t think of a better way to use my grandmother’s financial legacy.” For a long moment, Cate and I stared at each other, and I hoped she knew I wanted to be part of her continent. Her struggles were my struggles, but that also meant we shared victories, right? “We’re in this together.”
She gave a fierce, certain nod that I would practice in the mirror when I got home.
“Thorne producers!” Henrik crowed, making us all laugh. I glanced at his empty glass. Had the grumpy AD finally let loose? “Cate, we’re going to get more investors with their name attached. Guys, I swear I just felt our IMDb rating jump a thousand percent!”
Although the train was slow to start, Cate and my dad started talking to one another like fellow intelligent, hardworking humans. They were, after all, rather similar. Headstrong, passionate—artists to a fault. I faded into the background, following Henrik to the bar where Julian, Elora, Shoshanna, Roxy, and Eamon were hanging out. Eamon looped an arm around my waist and kissed one shoulder.
“Eamon, you’re Catholic, right?”
“Of course.”
“And how does one become Catholic?”
He squinted at me for a long moment before his face dawned. “Iris Thorne, you’re not losing your religion for me. Are you, girl?”
“Nope. Don’t have a religion to lose.”
“I love you too,” he murmured into my neck. I pressed my chest to his, sealing our mouths in a kiss that swiftly turned into my hands in his hair and his hands twisted into my shirt at my lower back.
“Iris!” my dad roared from the corner, and we broke apart laughing.
Our friends were laughing as well, and I shrugged. “Worth it.”
Eamon winked, his cheeks all red.
Julian looked mournfully into his empty pint glass. “I just got back in this country and its already time to leave.
