Page 89 of Finding Forever

“Yes. Anacondas and great whites,” Fern muttered half to herself, and Cade grinned. Iris looked confused but nodded nonetheless.

“If that’s what gets you through it, picture everyone in there as anacondas and great whites, by all means. Mike’s huge, gleaming teeth alone would put him in the great white category.” Fern snickered at the other woman’s words. “You don’t even see the audience, I promise you. The studio is too brightlylit and the audience isn’t. Your segment will fly by and before you know it the focus will shift to Trystan and his new movie.”

“This interview’s supposed to be about promoting your new book,” Trystan said, mild protest in his voice and Iris rolled her eyes.

“Please, all anybody ever wants to talk about is whatever new movie you’re working on. Mike’ll devote two minutes to my book before it becomes the Trystan Abbott show.”

“You’re writing a new book?” Fern asked, the information seemingly dragging her out of her panic.

“Yep.” She popped the P before adding, “But nobody’s going to care about that with Mr. Hottest Man on the Planet in studio.”

“Icare,” Fern said, a frown marring her brow as her disapproving gaze flitted to Trystan Abbott.

He saw the look and grinned before holding his hands up in surrender.

“Hey, I care as well,” he said. “And I’ll be steering the conversation back to that anytime it strays off the point.”

“Don’t worry, okay?” Iris reiterated. “You’ll be fine.”

It wasn’t great.But it wasn’t terrible either. All Fern was aware of was Cade’s hand tightly enfolded around hers for the duration of the interview.

Mike Holmes was a warm, welcoming host and had a way of making one feel at ease.

His questions were quiet and designed to encourage further discussion. It was different from the other interviews they’d done. Those had mostly been about financial repercussions, with very few questions aimed at Fern. This was more intimate, and a lot of it was focused on her.

After a few establishing questions about who they were,and what was happening with Granger, he dove into the more personal stuff.

“One of your stepfather’s main accusations, of course, was that Niall somehow manipulated you, Fern. Could you tell us, in your own words about your first meeting?”

Fern licked her lips and sent a quick panicked glance at Cade before saying in a quiet rush, “I thought he was the most dangerously beautiful thing I’d ever seen in my life.”

The audience laughed almost gently and the unexpected sound made her jump nervously.

“Heisrather easy on the eyes,” Mike Holmes agreed with a laugh, effortlessly diverting her attention back to him. “In fact, you two make a rather striking couple. Night and day almost. What aboutyou, Niall, what were your first impressions of Fern?”

Cade shifted easily beside her, hiking an ankle onto his knee and sprawling out comfortably on Mike Holmes’s famous—massive—dark blue crushed velvet Chesterfield sofa. Always so at home in his own skin.

His eyes raked over her face with what looked like affection—who knew he was such a good actor?—and he smiled.

“She was different from everyone else there,” he said. “Shy, quiet… and that was what drew me to her. Peaceful, serene moonlight, in the middle of all the clashing colors and chaos.”

The audienceaawedand Mike Holmes smiled.

“You’re more poetic than I gave you credit for,” he said.

“What can I say?” Cade asked with a careless shrug. “She brings it out of me.”

“Fern, do you want to continue?” the host invited and Fern chewed on her lip while considering what to say next.

“We were drawn to each other, I knew who he was. He didn’t know me. Nobody knew me. My stepfather ensured that I was always heard of but never seen. If you’ve done anyresearch into me before the show, I’m sure you found little to no pictures of me online from before my marriage.”

“You’d be right about that,” the man agreed with a somber nod. “Did you tell Niall of your connection to Granger Abernathy that night?”

“No, it was the first taste of freedom I’d had in fifteen years. I wasn’t going to ruin it by bringing my stepfather into the conversation. Cade knew my first name only.”

“Cade?” the man asked blankly.

“That’s myuhmnickname for him.”

---