Page 6 of The Boss I Can't Stand
“You can ask her when you see her!” Grace added.
“When I see her?” I repeated, confused.
“Yeah, I saw you guys on all those magazines at the grocery store!” Grace said. “You were holding hands.”
Christ! I rubbed my eyes.
“Yeah, Uncle Finn will get you something,” Connor cut in, clearly taking the phone away from her. “Why don’t you go play your game for a bit, then get ready for bed, okay?”
“Aww,” Grace whined, her voice drifting farther away.
“Sorry about that,” Connor said. “I thought I’d hustled her past the tabloids fast enough to keep her from spotting you. I normally don’t do the shopping, but Grace needed something for school at the last minute, and it was easier just to swing by ourselves.”
“Great,” I muttered. “AnotherViolet story.”
“Scandal sells,” Connor said.
“I just don’t know why it’sstilla scandal,” I said. “It’s been months. Something elsehasto be brewing in Hollywood by now.”
“Because it’sRun ’n’ Gun!” Connor said. “It’s huge. That makes this story huge, and you know how the press likes to milk these things.”
I grumbled. My on-again-off-again friends-with-benefits fling with Violet Stone, the lead actress of theRun ’n Gunfranchise, had landed us in hot water when she was photographed leaving a hotel with me after reportedly being in a relationship with her newRun ’n’ Guncostar.
No one was actually cheated on, but that sure wasn’t how it looked to the public at large. So now I was Hollywood’s number-one playboy.
“At least you can say you’re the hottest topic in Hollywood.”
“Right,” I said, deadpan. “Because that’s a title I want.” My breath left me in a huff. “The only bright side is with everyone talking about me and Violet, they’re not bringing up the article where Mom panned my movie.” I managed to keep my words light, but my jaw tensed.
Thinking about that UC Berkeley article still left a bad taste in my mouth. My mother was earning her PhD in history there, and when the paper interviewed her, she’d talked about how brainless action movies likeRun ’n’ Gunwould be the death ofrealart.
“You know that quote was taken out of context,” Connor—always Mom’s biggest defender—said quickly. He’d called me right after thearticle circulated and explained that Mom had mixed up film franchises. So even though she was critiquingmymovie, she didn’trealizeit was my movie. “She got confused.”
That didn’t make me feel any better. “She called action films a plague to creativity.”
“Finn—”
“Oh, wait. Another one of my favorite lines: ‘mindless drivel leaving the youth of today with nothing to aspire to except gratuitous violence.’”
“I know it was shitty,” Connor said. “But it really was just a misunderstanding.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. I was pissed at Mom, not Connor, and I wasn’t going to take my frustration out on the wrong target.
“Seriously, Finn,” Connor continued, his voice softening. “You know Mom’s proud of all you’ve done.”
“Sure sounds like it,” I muttered. “Don’t worry, though. It’s not like I’m gonna call her up to talk about it.” I’d never be so stupid. Mom was in a better place now than when we were kids, but she was still…delicate. “The last thing any of us has time for right now is to drag Mom out of a depression spiral.”
“She’s been doing all right,” Connor said. “Did I tell you she’s about to defend her dissertation?”
“Awesome. Well, when she’s finished with that, you can let her know I’m officially done making forgettable art. This next production is going to be my award winner.”
“You can tell her that yourself,” Connor pointed out.
“You’ll see her before I will.” Not only did Mom live in San Francisco, she was also a frequent babysitter for Grace. She was a part ofConnor’s daily life in a way that wasn’t really feasible with Liam or me. “Anyway, I thinkEvery Day Is Sundaywill actually make her proud. It should be right up her alley with the nineteen-twenties setting.”
Connor chuckled. “I still can’t believeyou’redoing a period piece.”
“Why?” I bristled. Because I didn’t look like a guy who could pull off something more than explosions and car chases? I was more than capable of making meaningful art. I’d forced the industry to takemeseriously as a power broker, but now I was going to force them to take my work seriously, too.
