Nik smiled at her.

“A really great way to start,” she said.

They talked for a while longer, about why she’d been so excited about the Varon role, about working with the guy who was going to be her costar, whom she’d met briefly a handful of times but had never worked with before, about her house, and how much she loved her swimming pool, but the hard part was over.

When they were winding down, Nik picked up her phone.

“I’m sorry, I have to send a quick text to get picked up.”

Anna waved that away, and walked her through her garden as they waited.

“I should probably tell you I work really hard on this and I commune with nature as I weed and water and clip flowers, but really I have an excellent gardener who comes twice a week and does all of that and leaves me big vases full of flowers in my house.”

Nik laughed.

“Hey, we can’t all be good at everything.”

The gate rang, and Anna buzzed Nik’s ride in. She walked her outside to see the same red sports car driving up.

“Oh, is this a friend of yours? I assumed it was an Uber or something, but you usually don’t get the same one.”

Nik smiled.

“It’s my fiancé.” Anna looked down and saw what she hadn’t noticed earlier: the simple gold solitaire on Nik’s finger.

“Oh! Congratulations.” Anna seemed to remember Nik had started dating one of her former costars. “It’s not . . . that guy I worked with, right?”

Nik laughed. Hard.

“No, oh God, no. I met Carlos right after—just as, actually—Fisher and I broke up. Carlos is . . . really great.”

Carlos got out of the car and bowed to both of them.

“Your chariot awaits, ma’am.”

Anna laughed, and Nik rolled her eyes, but with a grin on her face.

“He’s also a ham. And a big fan of yours.”

Anna walked over to the car, her hand outstretched.

“Carlos? I’m Anna. Nice to meet you.”

Carlos grinned as he shook her hand.

“A real pleasure to meet you, Anna.”

Anna turned to Nik.

“When’s the wedding?”

Nik and Carlos looked at each other and laughed.

“That’s still . . . under discussion,” Nik said. “We have slightly different visions for a wedding, but we’ll get there soon.”

Anna looked at Nik and Carlos as they smiled at each other. She could feel the love flowing back and forth between them. She wanted . . . no. Not now. She couldn’t think about that now.

She gave Nik a hug good-bye and watched them drive away.

Twenty -Two

Ben waited at the bar for Theo. He liked this place—he’d been wanting to come here for a while, but between work and . . . Anna, he hadn’t been over to the East Bay in way too long. And between his work on that sneaker pitch—which had finally happened the day before, and he’d been great; Roger had even congratulated him afterward—and Theo’s planning for city council meetings, it had taken awhile before they’d actually been able to meet up.

He kept thinking one day he’d wake up and not care about Anna anymore. That he would be over her, like she never existed, like he’d never met her and fallen in love with her, like she hadn’t become wedged into his life. It hadn’t happened yet. He thought about her every night as he fell asleep, her name was on his lips every morning as he woke up. One night he dreamt she was there with him; waking up that morning had been awful.

He hadn’t even realized he’d been falling in love with her. If he had known, could he have stopped himself? He knew that this wasn’t what she wanted; he shouldn’t have let himself do it.

But he couldn’t regret a single moment he’d spent with her.

Suddenly his brother dropped into the seat next to him.

“I can’t believe you’re here before me,” Theo said.

“I’m always here before you,” Ben said. “You’re always running even later than I am; you just seem so responsible and put together that everyone forgets that about you.”

Theo laughed as he nodded at the bartender and pointed at Ben’s drink.

“I’m glad I seem that way, at least. So, how are lifestyles of the rich and famous over here?”

Oh. He’d been concentrating so much on telling Theo about Dawn he’d forgotten he had to tell him about Anna, too.

“That’s . . . all over,” he said.

Theo raised his eyebrows.

“Just like that? When you were at that premiere with her everything looked great between the two of you.”

He should have told Theo the truth from the beginning.

About everything.

“Yeah, well. I thought it was great, too. But, the thing is, none of it was real.” Theo started to say something, but Ben held up a hand. “Let me back up.”

He told Theo about what Anna had asked him to do and why.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. She didn’t want anyone to know, but I should have pushed harder on that. And please don’t tell me I never should have done it—the universe told me that loud and clear.” He stared down into his drink. “I fell in love with her.”

Theo looked at him, then signaled to the bartender again.

“Can we get two of those grilled cheese sandwiches, please?” He turned back to Ben when the bartender was gone. “Okay. You’ve got to tell her. Remember when I—”

Ben interrupted.

“Let me stop you right there. I told her. It . . . didn’t go well. So. It’s all over.”

Theo was silent for a moment.

“Fuck. Ben, I’m sorry. What did she say? Are you not rich enough for her, or famous enough, or—”

Ben shook his head.

“Don’t. I know you’re trying to help, but she’s not like that. I’m not saying she’s perfect, but that didn’t matter; I loved everything about her. It was just . . . she didn’t love me back, that’s all.”

Fuck if that didn’t hurt to say.

Theo put his hand on his shoulder.

“Damn. I’m really sorry. That fucking sucks.”

Ben let out a long breath. It felt good to hear someone else say that.

“Yeah. It really fucking sucks.” He looked at his brother, then looked down. “I don’t . . . I don’t know how to get through this. I keep thinking I’m going to feel better, but I just feel worse. How do I do this?”