Page 133 of He's The Reason Why

“You’re about to be immortalized in action figures and theme park rides, how does it feel?” Blake asked her with a laugh.

“I am not…am I?”

“Oh yeah. I bet there’sScorchedaction figures out by summer. The theme park ride might take a few years.”

An official photographer for the studio waved them up for the group shot. “Okay, you two, in the center. Blake, stand slightly behind Piper. Gina, you on this side, Jeremy, over there…Rachel, please step over here. Tamar and Paul, you have the place of honor in front. Remember, everybody, this is for the internet so smile nice.”

They all laughed.

Rachel brushed by Piper on her way to the spot the photographer had indicated. “Perfect for the role, huh?”

She said it so quietly Piper almost missed it, but she didn’t miss the look of envy and intense resentment on Rachel’s pretty face.

That look said what’s yours should be mine. It was the kind oflook she imagined someone would have right before they murdered someone.

A shimmer of unease flickered down Piper’s spine.

Blake put his hand on the small of Piper’s back and whispered, “Don’t let her spoil this for you.”

“I won’t.”

They posed for at least ten minutes after the official photos were done to allow the paparazzi time to get their shots.

A stage director ushered them into the lobby, where buckets of popcorn and beverages waited to be scooped up and enjoyed.

Blake sat next to her, with Marshall on his other side, while her sisters sat one row behind them.

The lights dimmed, and the movie started to play.

Piper held Blake’s hand and watched Princess Jewel fall in love with Prince Jesse and realized it wasn’t just in the movie.

Somewhere over the past few months, she’d fallen in love with Blake Ryan.

Life was everything she’d ever wanted it to be. She was going to sing with her sisters again. She was in love with a wonderful man, and sitting here watching her own movie, she felt like she’d finally shaken free of that awful runner-up feeling that had haunted her for her whole life. She’d finally emerged from Della’s long shadow, and no one was going to make her feel second best ever again.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Blake held hands with the woman he loved and forced himself to look at the screen. It was hard. Why watch an animated princess when he had the real thing sitting next to him?

Would it be rude for them to sneak out of their own movie premiere?

When Jesse appeared on the screen, Piper giggled. “They kept that cute duck tail in your hair.”

“What duck tail?”

“Shhh,” someone said behind them.

Someone else giggled.

One of her sisters, he thought.

He caressed Piper’s hand just to remind himself that she was there.

The movie was fantastic fun. The audience laughed at his animated antics, they cheered when Piper befriended the dragon, and they roared approval when the dragon ate the evil sorcerer.

When the show ended, everyone moved outside to the first of several after-parties. The entire block in front of the theater hadbeen closed off traffic, and bars, tables, and party games for the kids had been set up.

Dusk was beginning to creep across the buildings. Blake walked hand in hand with Piper through the forest of trees covered in twinkle lights, wishing they were alone to really enjoy it.

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