“Better than the alternative?” I suggested.
She winked. “It is.”
For the next few weeks, we all settled into a new normal. Ryan busied himself fixing up the house, and moved some of his stuff into my room at Gran’s. I kept a few things at Ryan’s, but I meant what I’d said to Gran. I wasn’t leaving her. And Ryan understood, making himself equally at home in our place as he was at his own new house. His father became a fixture in our lives too, Ryan picking him up and taking him home whenever he liked, and he and Gran became drinking and card-playing buddies.
Eventually, Gran allowed me to pack her a bag and show her the room we’d set up for her at Ryan’s. It was a mother-in-law suite, with a full living room and kitchen just for her.
Ryan had outfitted the living room with the very best gaming computer he could find, and Gran clapped her hands like a little girl when she saw it. “I might be okay to hang out here sometimes,” she told us. “Just for a change of scenery. And to keep Ronald company.” She smiled affectionately at Ryan’s dad, who smiled back. Ronald didn’t speak much, seemed mostly content to go along for the ride. But Gran confided that he told dirty jokes when they were alone, so it was no wonder she liked him.
Some evenings, it was just Gran and I because Ryan was in working on his new production company, and on those nights we stayed at her house.
“You think he can actually make movies?” Gran asked me one night while we ate a quiet dinner on the back porch of the old house, its quiet wings stretched around us in the fading light. “I mean, you keep saying he can cook.”
“He can, and you know it,” I reminded her. Since moving, Ryan had made us multiple amazing meals, revealing a talent that went far beyond Black Forest cake.
“But a company…” Gran trailed off, shaking her head.
“It’s his dream, Gran.”
“It seems a little crazy that his dream wasn’t being a movie star. How many dreams can one good looking guy get?”
I just smiled. Ryan had been so happy since he’d gotten the company set up and the staff hired. He was giving his name and his vision to the place, and working one weekend night a week, but otherwise, he was going to be hands-off for the most part.
“He can have as many dreams as he wants,” I told her. I was just glad I was one of those dreams.
We were at Ryan’s on the back porch about a month after the party, drinking Manhattans in the late summer afternoon, when the magazine arrived.
“Here it is,” Ryan said, holding up the glossy magazine with a photo of my sister splashed across the cover in the green dress she’d worn at Gran’s party. He handed it to Gran and me, and we leaned together, looking at the cover and Ronald nodded, maybe not quite understanding but happy enough just to be with us all.
In a smaller box on the cover was a photo of Ryan, holding a microphone and looking down at a woman sitting in a rust-colored dress, staring up at him adoringly. It took me a minute to recognize myself. “I’m on the cover of a magazine!” I shrieked.
“A little credit?” he laughed. “I’m on there, too.”
“Yeah, but you’re on magazines all the time,” I said. Lately there’d been a couple spreads about his mysterious disappearance from the Hollywood social scene. His absence, the hub-bub that followed the weekend in Maryland, and the opening of his new production company had all boosted Ryan’s star power considerably. After a lot of wrangling, Ryan had even convinced his agent that making Maryland his home base wouldn't mean quitting the movie business, after all, there were plenty of stars who still worked and didn’t live in the madness of Los Angeles.
“Open it,” Gran said, poking me.
I flipped inside the magazine to find the feature article, and there, at the top right of the center spread, was a photo of Ryan and me, locked in an embrace and kissing. The article was titled, “Ryan McDonnell finds love with Juliet Manchester’s Little Sister.” They actually did use my name later in the piece, but the focus was on Ryan’s “regular girl” and how his life was changing to accommodate her. It was a good piece, actually, and included some beautiful shots of the house and river, and a few of the party. Gran was even in the article.
In a little box at the bottom of the page was a picture of Juliet, looking beautiful as always. The headline read, “Stronger on Her Own: Why Juliet Manchester Doesn’t Need a Man.” The piece talked about Juliet’s next projects and only mentioned her divorce briefly.
I grabbed my phone and called her once we’d all read the articles. “What do you think?”
“I think you look amazing in this picture,” she said. “You’re so photogenic. You could be an actress if you wanted. Want me to make some calls?”
I laughed and looked at Ryan who was listening with Gran and Ronald on speakerphone. “I don’t think so,” I said. “I’ll stick to kayaks. You do the movies.”
“I got a new role, actually,” she said, sounding excited. “It’s not a romcom, Tess. It’s a drama, about a woman on her own.”
“Perfect,” I said, happy at how excited she sounded. “And is Zac leaving you alone?”
There was a brief pause before she said, “No, not at all. But I don’t care. He’s going to do what he’s going to do. That’s why I have lawyers.”
“Right.”
“Good girl,” Gran chimed in.
“And guys?” she said, sounding uncertain. “I’ve got some other news, too…”
We talked for a few more minutes; my heart so full with Juliet’s news that I really doubted it could hold any more happiness. I wasn’t the only
