Page 92 of Lights, Camera, Love

A rush of affection travels up my chest. ‘Yeah. I do.’

He clutches his thighs. ‘All right, this is gonna hurt like hell to say, but let me try, okay? Because I really do mean it.’ He inhales a deep breath and sets his eyes on mine. ‘I’m happy for you, Kye, I am. You deserveso much love. And I’m so, so sorry about what I said to you the other day about your childhood. It was so fuckin’ out of line, and I promise you, I will never,everdo that again.’

My brow draws tight, and I lift off the couch to pull Austin into a reassuring hug. I feel him sigh as his arms wrap around me, and even though I know I could never love him the way he wants me to, I let him hold on for as long as he wants. When I think about what he must’ve been going through all these years—pretending to be someone else not only on-screen but also in his real life—the sadness of it drops a piano on my chest.

When he finally lets go, his eyes a little hazy, he says, ‘Could you help me with one more thing before you leave?’

‘Of course, I won’t go anywhere until you’ve found a new manager.’

‘Not that.’

I sit back down and give him my full attention. ‘What, then?’

‘Help me figure out how to make this shitshow of a movie a success before the whole fuckin’ thing gets cancelled. Once the stories about me and Evie and our “breakup” die down, there won’t be anything left to keep this sinking ship above ground. Yeah, Buzz has screwed up the film entirely, but with some great marketing and PR, anything has the chance to become a hit. And no one’s better at that stuff than you are.’ Two ridges form in his brow. ‘Please, Kye, I need this.’

I stare back at him, trying to imagine how rattled he must be, with this deeply personal stuff coming to light. He’s probably anxious about what his parents will think, too, and if his career comeback bombs, he’ll have little to fall back on.

‘I’m halfway there already.’ I smile, remembering the look on Gabriel’s face when I left the studio the other day. ‘Leave the rest with me.’

CHAPTER 24

Evie

The laid-back beats of ‘Girls’ by The Kid LAROI flow through my earbuds as I head down the street towards DanceLab, having had to park a few blocks away thanks to a public protest. When I arrive, I halt and do a double take at the grey-haired man hovering outside the building, his dark sunglasses and LA Lakers cap facing away from me.

I pull the speakers out of my ears and inch up the concrete steps.It can’t be…

Gabriel spins around. The instant our gazes clash, he throws up a hand, his suede jacket slipping up his arm and exposing a diamond-encrusted watch. ‘I’m not stalking you, Evie, I promise,’ he says. ‘I saw that you were teaching tonight, and I … I wanted to talk to you.’

My heart thuds against my windpipe as I eye him up and down. How does he even know where I teach? It’s on the DanceLab website, but the thought of thisinternational icon googling me feels borderline preposterous. I glance around for any phone cameras pointed at us, but my famous father has seemingly, so far, gone unnoticed in his cap and glasses.

He steps forward. ‘Darling, I came to apologise—’

‘Darling?’

‘Evie,’ he corrects, his cheeks colouring.

I gape at him, a gust of early evening air whipping against my bare midriff, sending a chill through my body.

‘I’m sorry,’ Gabriel says, the unexpected words nearly toppling me over. ‘I’ve been such a coward,’ he adds in a rush. ‘For much, much too long. There are so many things I have wanted to say to you, and here I am, in your city, and once again, I … I feel like I’ve been a gutless fool. The other day, I tried to explain, to apologise, but then you … you walked out of the restaurant, and I assumed you’d had enough of me.’

‘That’s not why I walked out,’ I counter in a throttled tone.

His brow dips as he shakes his head. ‘I didn’t say anything right that day; I was just so damn nervous. I have built an entire career out of saying other people’s clever words, but when it comes to thinking up my own, I’m a failure; always have been.’ He shifts on his velvet loafers. ‘Look, I don’t expect you to welcome me into your life with open arms or to even want anything to do with me. But before I go back home, I need to tell you that I …’ His throat rises and falls. ‘I want to know you, Evie. I want to know my daughter.’

My chest, my lungs, my stomach, the parts of me that make words—everything has turned to water. Is this really happening? It feels as if I’ve stumbled into an alternate universe, or at least onto the set of one of my childhood dreams.

Gabriel repeats what he just said. He wants to know me. He wants us to have a relationship.

Tears surface behind my eyes as a war breaks out between my heart and my head over how to respond to this man who has waited until now to say these things. But isn’t it better to be diabolically late than to never arrive at all?

A crowd of emotions squeezes my throat, and words I can’t seem to stop come tumbling out. ‘I want to know you, too,’ I say with a gasp. ‘I’ve wanted to know you my entire life.’

Gabriel’s eyes glisten, and he goes to say more, but I get in first.

‘Nothing will change the last twenty-seven years and what you and I have lost,’ I continue, thinking this out as I go. ‘I’m … I’m not sure that I’ll ever know what really happened between you and my mum around the time I was born. And I know that she’s not perfect—no one is—but she raised me, she loved me, and she was there for me. Which is always going to be more than I can say for you.’

His lips press tight. ‘That’s fair, Evie. You’re right.’

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