Page 25 of Silver Fox's Secret Baby

I don’t want to bring any more attention to my distraction. Moving right past my sister’s rudeness, I ask, “What are we talking about?”

“Boys,” Amy says with a tiny shrug.

Boys. As if we’re still kids staying up past our bedtime chatting about our crushes. I don’t do the crush thing anymore. I do the intense one-time, life-altering sex in treehousesthing.

“And we’ve just landed on the subject of,” Amy smiles devilishly, “Dana and Drewwww.”

Dana rolls her eyes. “Stop. No.”

“Come on, just your names together are cute!” Amy giggles.

Drew was Dana’s patient up until a few months ago. Now, the two of them have become fast friends. Based on his eagerness, we’ve all assumed it might be a little more than that. “Has he finally asked you out?” I ask.

“No! And he never will becausewe are–“

Kira interrupts in her usual, serious way, “You keep saying you’re just friends, but from how much you talk about him–”

Dana’s eyes widen. “It’s taken me months to feel like I’m not breaking the code of ethics by getting coffee with him.Datinghim would be–”

“You’ve been thinking about it, though,” Kira adds with a subtle smile.

Dana grunts frustratedly, gripping the couch cushion. “I’m done talking about this. Drop it.”

The rest of us exchange glances. Dana is the only one of us who gets the privilege of demanding we leave her alone. She’s gotten the shit end of the stick so many times being the eldest. Now that we’re all grown and can recognize everything we’ve been through together, we give her as much space and respect as she asks.

Even though I’m desperate to hear about what’s been happening with her and Drew.

Gillian claps her hands together. “Well, anyone else have any movement on the dating front?” She starts to scan our faces for a response.

The room is silent.

I feel my cheek start to twitch. Or is it my imagination? I obviously don’t have anything to share, certainly not on the dating front. Grant and I had sex. That’s not romance whatsoever. And yet, I’m thinking about him all the time, wondering if he’s thinking of me. More dangerously, I wonder if what happened between us can ever happen again.

Gillian can’t see all that on my face, can she?

She sighs. “Well, we’re pathetic, aren’t we?” Gillian says drolly, leaning her head in her hand.

The rest of us burst out laughing. For five sisters in their twenties to all be single is definitely out of the ordinary in most people’s eyes. But we’re all in this shit together.

We always have been.

8

GRANT

“Abel Riverwas a hallmark of a whole generation. A reboot right now would hit right upon the nostalgia that people have for the nineties and introduce Gen Z to the IP, which would give it a whole new life.”

I hold back a sigh. I’ve been told my sighs translate even louder over the phone. I glance out the window of my office down into one of the lots where some people are carting set pieces into soundstage C. “Abel River, huh?”

“I’ve already spoken with Tina Tharman about reprising her role and she’sin,” the man on the end of the phone, I’ve forgotten his name, is pitching himself to be the showrunner of…another reboot.

Ever since my conversation with Harley at the Fourth of July party, her blatant disapproval of reused stories has been at the front of my mind.

Hell, Harley has been front of mind since then too. Half the time when I’m talking with people, I completely lose the thread of the conversation remembering all the things she did to my body and the way her hands –

“I’ve storyboarded the whole first season,” the man interrupts my thoughts. “I know we can squeeze at least three out before general interest goes down. And who knows, it could be hit material.”

Is this why I got into entertainment? To guess how long people will hold onto the nostalgia for old intellectual properties before they lose interest and we stop making money? That’s…sad.

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