Page 95 of He's The Reason Why

“The animators wanted to start compiling, so they’re going to work with what they have. It takes a while to run the programs, and if they start now they get to have Christmas off.” She tapped her tablet. “It looks like we only have three scenes left for voice and then you’re all done. Tamar’s on her way. Give us a second and we can get going on the kiss, okay?”

“Sure,” Piper agreed, feeling a little hollow.

Three scenes and they were done.

She wasn’t ready for their time together in the studio to end. February was a long,longway off. She wouldn’t see him for two months, and by then, he’d be deep intoConnedand probably wouldn’t have time for her.

Couldn’t they have just a few more days? Or maybe one more night? Nobody would know.

“Are you busy tonight?” Blake said, cutting into her thoughts. “I have a set design problem I could use some help with. I was hoping you could stop by.”

That sounded like an excellent excuse to spend quality time alone with Blake. Her heart pounced on it. “Sure, no problem.”

Realization dawned that there was a very real reason why she had to say no. “Wait, sorry, I can’t tonight. I’m doing an AMA at eight. They usually run pretty long.”

He nodded, and the polite smile he hid behind slid onto his face. “Oh. That’s okay.”

She hated that smile. It was a mask, and she liked the real Blake a whole lot better than Hollywood Blake. “How about tomorrow?”

The mask slipped, revealing a hopeful glint in his eyes. “That works.”

Anticipation of a fun night rode in to quicken her pulse. Then reality dashed cold water on her again when she remembered all the commitments she had lined up for the next few days. “Wait, I can’t then either. I have rehearsals. Dammit…let me look at my calendar.”

She tugged out her phone.

“It’s not a big deal. We can play it by ear.”

“Yes, itisa big deal. How’s Thursday night?”

His shoulders relaxed. “Sounds good.”

“Great.” She blocked the time on her calendar. “It’s a date. I mean, I blocked the calendar.”

Jeanette appeared in the doorway. “Ready to get started?”

Blake cleared his throat. “Let’s do this.”

“Ready.” Piper tucked her phone away.

When she signed in for the AMA that night, there were already over five hundred thousand viewers, and the number kept climbing as more logged on to see Piper Bellamy answer their questions live.

She started out the way she always did, with a big happy smile and a wave. Fans were the lifeblood of The Bellamy Sisters, and she’d always been the face who greeted them the most. She’d kept up these chats over the years even though The Bellamy Sisters had split up because she loved interacting with them.

Sure, there were the few odd balls and trolls, but for the most part, people in the AMA were happy to get a chance to talk with her, even if it was only a typed question on a screen.

“Okay, you know the drill,” she told the camera. “Go ahead and shoot me your questions in that little box on the side of your screen, and I’ll try to get to as many as I can. While y’all are working on that, let me tell you about today’s studio session.

“I had so much fun today. Blake is amazing to work with, and so funny! We have quite a few bloopers because he’d say something that would crack me up and then we’d have to do the takeover, but, y’all, seriously you have to see this movie. Jewel is kicking butt and I think Jesse is falling in love with her.” She winked at them. “You’ll have to watch to find out for sure, though.”

She took a sip of water. “I’m going to see my family for the holidays and I can’t wait. I love living in Los Angeles, but every now and then you miss the seasons changing, you know? I’ll be staying at the best bed-and-breakfast ever. There’s snow already, and the inn is decorated like something out of a magazine, and there’ll be s’mores. Don’t you just love s’mores? Mmmm I can smell it already.”

Her phone dinged with the first question.

“Question time,” she sang, then read it out loud.

“Scott wants to know what I like drawing the most.” She looked up from her phone and giggled. “Stars, and smiley faces. Seriously, I can’t draw. My people are all stick figures and you should see me try to draw a dog or a cat. It winds up looking like an airplane without windows. It’s bad.”

She laughed at herself, then read the next question.

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