Page 44 of Fighting Happily Ever After

What would that look like?

She hadn’t stopped to think about what things would be like after they got married. Would they both immediately get back to work? Dax still had filming to finish up on his current project and she’d been waffling between scripts. Her agent, Brenda, was starting to press her to choose one, and she would. Soon.

Maybe looking at the scripts again would take her mind off the wedding for a few minutes.Stephanie pulled her phone out of her pocket and flipped it on to download the files but before she could, her screen lit up with text messages from her assistant, Terri. Over the last few days, she’d started to reach out a little more so Terri wouldn’t think she’d fallen off the face of the earth, but still, she’d kept her location a secret. And she planned to keep it that way for a little longer. At least until after the wedding.

With a sigh, she clicked open the first text.

What is this!?! Where ARE you!?! Who IS this!?!

The coffee went sour in her stomach, and Steph swallowed down a knot of fear. A text that asked those three questions with that many exclamation marks was never good. The picture attached was taking a bit to download—the cellular signal wasn’t always strong in the mountains—but as far as Stephanie was concerned, the photo didn’t take long enough to develop on her screen because the moment it did, she knew she was in trouble.

ChapterSeventeen

“Okay, okay.”Faith was in full damage-control mode. “It’s not that bad.” She looked again at her tablet with the photo on full screen and shook her head.

Stephanie had forwarded her the photo that her assistant had shared with her earlier that morning.

“Not that bad?” Stephanie lifted her head from the table. “Seriously? How could you think it’s not that bad?”

Faith looked at it again, with new eyes. It was a candid snapshot of Stephanie and Nick, Damon’s friend from the city. They were sitting outside of Sweetie Pies, laughing, and from all outward appearances, having a great time. And that’s how she’d seen it. But when she looked closer, and with a critical eye that obviously the tabloid had used, she noticed other things.

The way they were turned to each other, their knees almost touching.

The way Stephanie had her head thrown back in abandon.

Her hand on his arm, in what could definitely be seen as an affectionate gesture.

And most importantly, the look in Nick’s eyes.

No matter what Faith knew to be true, there was no denying what the pictureshowed.Which was a woman sharing a very cozy moment over coffee with a man.

A man who wasn’t her fiancé.

“Okay,” Faith finally relented. “I could see how a gossip magazine would be able to find something sinister with this picture. But you know it’s not true.” She turned to look at Stephanie and added, “It’s not true, right? What they said?”

The accompanying headline had read: “Stephanie Starz canoodling with sexy stranger. Where is Stephanie? And where is Dax?”

“No!” She jumped up from her chair. “How could you even ask me that? Of course I wasn’tcanoodling. I justmethim.”

Her eyes flicked to the side and Steph glanced down quickly, but Faith didn’t bother pushing that particular detail. Maybe she had just met Nick, but she’d obviously enjoyed that meeting. Still, Faith believed her friend. There was nothing untoward about it. She trusted that was true.

“Okay.” She put her hand on Stephanie’s back and led her back to the table. “I believe you and so will Dax. Just like you believe him when he tells you there’s no truth to the garbage they print about him, right?”

Again, Stephanie’s eyes flicked and she looked down.

“Right, Steph? You believe him, don’t you?”

“Mostly,” she offered finally. “It’s complicated, but the media and the tabloids can really get to you after a while. They make you question things you never thought you would. They can get in your head.”

“I bet they do.”

Both women turned to see Logan walk in the front door.

“How are your mom’s horses?” Faith asked quickly. They’d been making up a series of lies about how Logan was needed over at the Langdon ranch late at night and early in the morning so as not to admit the truth about their relationship yet. Faith still fully planned to tell Stephanie the truth, but with the wedding being planned so quickly, and now with this additional stress, it didn’t seem right to own up yet.

“They’re good,” Logan answered smoothly. He crossed the kitchen to the coffee pot and turned to look in question at the women.

“She made it,” Faith answered his unasked question and Logan chuckled.

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