“Have a good day at work,” Harry said. He had been in the kitchen when I came downstairs this morning after I’d gotten dressed. He’d convinced me to run on the treadmill at his house instead of getting up and going into the gym. I needed to be ready to walk into the office and leave for a meeting as soon as we got there. Pops had let me know he had our meeting with Marty scheduled so that I could get the legal process of shutting down the gossip blogs’ story rolling. Harry talked me into burning the anxious energy before getting in the car this morning. Plus it meant I was getting ready this morning without the distraction of the three other parts of my daily life asking questions about how yesterday with Pops and Jessica went.

“Thanks babe.” My heels clicked across the floor as I walked towards him. He handed me the smoothie he’d made me before bending down to kiss me. My hand rested on his bare chest, still warm and a bit sweaty from his workout.

“Call me after your meeting to let me know how it went. Okay?”

“I will. Thanks for breakfast.”

“I wish I had time to make you actual breakfast instead of just a smoothie but I’ll do what I can.” He smiled and I felt my stomach somersault. God he was hot. I wasn't ever going to get used to it. He leaned in for another kiss, his hand sliding down to my ass. “You do really wear a suit well.”

“Thanks. I always feel like I need to wear one when I meet with lawyers. Though this is perhaps a bit sexier than Marty is used to seeing.” My suit was skinny black pants, a black jacket and a black shirt that was slightly low cut. With a pair of stilettos I felt like I could rule the world in, I was ready to take on my day which I knew would be far from easy.

“It’s gonna be a great day. Do you want me to go to the meeting with you and James?”

“No, I want you to work on your stuff. Start prepping for meetings. Get yourself ready to pitch what your album will sound like. Work on what you want it to sound like. This shit today, the crappy part of our relationship, I can handle it. Plus I’ve got my Pops with me.”

“But this stuff is my fault.” He pulled me back into him, his arms wrapping around my body. I felt him start to twist the bottom of my hair in his hands. “If you weren’t with me you wouldn’t be facing this.” His face had this look I hadn’t seen. It was a mixture of sadness and guilt.

“You want to know something?” I asked. He nodded. “If I was told I needed to face a lifetime of being written about and followed by photographers because of you or a lifetime without you, I would pick the photographers and the terrible articles. Because the reality is, this shit can happen to me because of my job and I know that. It's happened before and would happen again even if I wasn’t with you. But being with you, makes it all worth it. You are worth all of this crap.” He bent down to kiss me and before I realized what was happening picked me up and sat me on the counter.

“You are worth it too. I love you so fuckin’ much.” His goofy smile was back, the dimples at least a mile deep.

“I love you so fuckin’ much too.” His hand slid up into my jacket pushing it off. "I'm supposed to be leaving for work. Traffic and everything.”

“I know you are but I don’t want to let you to. I just want a little me time.”

“You appear to want more than a little you time.” I pointed down at his boxer shorts which caused his laugh to become slightly uncomfortable and his cheeks to start to turn pink.

“You were the one begging for sex all weekend.”

“And you pointed out that sex wasn’t everything. Which I agree, it’s not. And on a Monday morning when I have a meeting with my father and legal team in an hour, it’s not even top five most important things.” He had started to move my shirt up but stopped to pout.

“So rude.”

“I know. Tonight. After dinner. We will have a little we time.” At that moment my phone started to vibrate on the counter. I picked it up, slid to answer the call. “This is Everlee.”

“Hey kiddo,” my father said. “Have you left yet?”

“I haven’t. My boyfriend is being slightly whiny and thinks he should be coming with to this meeting.”

“I actually think that’s a good idea, that’s what I was calling about. How about I pick you both up at your house and we can leave from there? You’ll have Sam drive you to dinner. Just makes sense to leave your car at home.”

“Okay. I’ll have Harry get ready and we will see you shortly.”

“Probably a half hour. Tell him to be quick.”

“I will, thanks Pops.” I hung up the phone. “Looks like you get to come to the meeting this morning. Pops thinks it makes sense to have you there. He also thinks that because we will have Sam drive us to dinner with Ed after I’m done at the office so I should just leave my car at home. I can have a driver bring you back here after the meeting or Pops and I can swing back and drop you off.”

“I need to shower. I smell disgusting,” he said.

“I know you do. So go shower. Pops says be quick.” He leaned forward and kissed me.

“Thank you for letting me come with."

“Thank my father. Now go get showered.” He kissed me again before taking off and running up the stairs. Watching his long limbs flail a bit made me laugh. I picked up my phone again sent a text to Eliza, Ty, and Kammi letting them know I’d be in the office later.

SME Squad
ES: I’ll be in late today.
TK: Morning quickie with your boytoy?
ES: No, legal meeting. Though he’s tagging along.
KM: What for?
ES: Someone from my neuro's office sold a story to Celeb Weekly that included some of my private medical records. Pops thinks that H should be there with us when we talk to Marty and his team.
KM: Shit. That’s rough. Jimmy thinks H should be there?
ES: Yup. He’s part of this.
ER: That’s true love, sitting through a meeting with Marty. I don’t even love you enough to do that.
TK: Neither do I.
KM: Even I don’t really like meetings with Marty.
ES: None of us do. And this one is super unpleasant. I am likely going to have to go after not only the magazine but the neurology clinic. The fucking nurse sold my story and the shitty thing, she’s the reason I was a mess in that visit. She didn’t read my charts properly. And then the bitch sells the story without mentioning that she elevated my BP and nearly made me rip an IV out of my arm because she was too busy batting her eyelashes at my boyfriend.
ER: It makes me wish he’d let me take you. There wouldn’t have been a story if it was me who took you.
ES: It's okay something like this was bound to happen eventually and he’s worth it. If I have to deal with this crap every day and I get him it’s worth it.
TK: E gettin’ all mushy.
ES: I know it’s gross. OK, I’ll see you guys at some point. I have to pick Ed up at the airport at like 11 which means I’m pretty sure I’ve got two Brits on my hands all day or perhaps most of the week. Alright, time to head out to my meeting.

“You haven’t moved off of the counter,” Harry said as he walked down the stairs. His hair wet and starting to curl a bit.

“Yeah, texting with Kam, Ty and EJ. Letting them know I’d be late and that I have a sneaking suspicion I will have two British boys in my office all day.”

“It’s a possibility. You did mention that you were picking Ed up at the airport. I haven’t seen him in quite a while. But if you have actual work stuff to do I can find a way to keep myself busy.”

“Work stuff with Ed is usually difficult to accomplish. My father tends to weasel his way into the meetings and then I watch the two of them drink and get chummy while I try to make them work.”

“If you want to force Ed to work you can. If not I would love a day with my love and one of my best mates.” He leaned forward to kiss me. “I rather like you sitting on the counter. You’re much taller.” He grabbed my right left breast as I moaned against his lips. The gate buzzed. “That’s reality’s alarm reminding us it’s time to face the day.” I pouted at him causing him to return the pout before putting his hands on my waist and helping me off the counter. I grabbed my bags off of the floor, Harry had buzzed the gate. He opened the door.

“Let’s do this,” I said as I put my sunglasses on.

“Let’s do this.” He smiled before sliding his on and high-fiving me. We headed out to where my father’s car was now parked. Harry opened the front door for me and I climbed in.

“Good morning, Pops,” I greeted him.

“Good morning, kiddo.” He leaned forward to kiss my cheek. “Hey Harry, sorry about the late notice on having you come along.”

“It’s fine. I had suggested it to her and she said she had it handled.”

“I did have it handled.”

“You always have it handled, kiddo. But sometimes you need to let people help you handle stuff, especially the big stuff.”

“Don’t even start back there,” I said as I held my hand up. I’d sensed Harry moving forward towards me as my father drove down the road.

“No, you have to listen to me.” I almost jumped a little at the tone of his voice. “We’ve talked about this. You are not doing this stuff alone anymore. This isn’t you against the world. I am here. I am going to stand by your side as you go through things, you don’t have to do this alone anymore. So just put on your big girl panties and deal with the fact that you’re stuck with me being supportive.”

“You’re the absolute worst.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I said it.

“Oh don’t I know it.”

“Boy am I glad I’m not the only person in this city who is here to put you in your place.” I glared at my father. Of course he would side with Harry. I was pretty sure I was going to always be alone in any disagreement because my entire family was bound to side with Harry. It wasn’t long before Pops parked the car at the office of the law firm we used. Marty handled all of the legal matters for the agency. He was an interesting guy, to put it nicely. We sat down in the waiting room of the firm and Harry reached for my hand. He squeezed it in his causing me to turn and look at him.

“Hi,” he whispered.

“Hi,” I replied quietly. My smile grew as I looked at him, as he usually was he was in tight black jeans and a bright floral patterned silk shirt. He looked so cool and calm in comparison to me. I had a bouncing leg and fidgeting hands until he had grabbed one of them. I was confident in a board room. I was beyond confident pitching to or for a client. But when it came to dealing with shit in my own life, I was a mess. Legal matters were the ones I was the worst at dealing with. It wasn’t long before Marty’s secretary came to get us and led us down the hall to his office.

“James,” he said standing from his desk to shake my father’s hand.

“Hey Marty, how are you?”

“I’m great. Hello Everlee.” He shook my hand as well. He was a short man with short hair that was sort of fuzzy. He looked a bit weasle-like when you looked at him and thought about it, which I had over the years. He was a bit awkward socially but extremely good at what he did. He was usually in suits that looked a little too large for him, it sort of reminded me of a kid who was forced to wear a hand-me-down suit from their older brother.

“Hi Marty, thanks for meeting with us on such short notice I appreciate it a lot.”

“Anything for you.”

“This is my boyfriend, Harry. Harry this is Marty.”

“Nice to meet you,” Harry greeted as he stuck his hand out to shake Marty’s hand.

“You as well. Alright everyone, what brings you all in this morning,” he asked as we sat down on the couches in his office.

“Well, Harry and I have a bit of a problem when it comes to an article that was printed about us in gossip papers. One of the nurses at my doctor’s office appears to have sold a story to Celeb Weekly that detailed some of my personal medical information. I have no interest in going after publications that print stories about us, but this nurse released my private information.”

“Can you give me the contact information for your neurologist’s office?” Marty questioned. I nodded and he handed me a legal pad to write the information down on.

“She may not want to go after the publication, but I do,” my father interjected. “Celeb Weekly should’ve known better than to publish her private medical history and treatment plan. They knew what they were getting into when they did that. I want to go after them for that.”

“I agree with James.” Harry was speaking calmly, which was incredibly surprising considering he had been ranting about it all morning. The poor punching bag in his gym got a beating today. “While normally I’m on Everlee’s side about this and don’t want to go after individual publications about stories they print, I do in this circumstance. Its part of the territory with my career but this isn’t right. Everlee’s health is our business, not something that should be printed.” My health is our business? OUR business? Internally I was freaking out. Here he was again rambling on with these phrases that coupled us up all the time. I needed to stop the internal excited freak out in my mind because I was in the middle of a very important meeting. Evie Mae, take a deep breath. Calm the fuck down, girl.

“Everlee, if I go after the publication will you be on board with it?” Marty looked at me over his glasses. I really didn’t want to do it. It made me look weak to go after a publication but my father and Harry were right. They should’ve known not to publish private medical information. The only thing they could’ve done worse than what they did was include actual copies of the notes from my appointment.

“I have their support, so yes. In this case I am happy to go up to bat against the magazine for this. I want to show them that while I don’t care if someone prints a picture of us shopping in the grocery story or steals a photo from my Instagram, I do care if they purchase and print my medical records.”

“Then let’s get to it,” he said. Marty might visually look like a weasel but in a court room he was an absolute shark. He called in a junior partner to help with what we were doing. He was concerned that if it went to court he would need to have a team with him. The junior partner, Patrick, was the opposite of Marty. Young, handsome, and a well-fitted suit. He didn’t stumble over his words the way that Marty sometimes did and he carried himself like he knew he was better than most people he would go up against. I liked him already. He reminded me of myself when I walked into a negotiation or board room full of men who doubted my skills strictly based on the fact that I had boobs and wore heels.

“Well, I think you'll get pushback from the lawyers at Celeb Weekly but they should eventually settle and I’d imagine for a pretty penny,” Patrick said.

“It’s not about the money to me. I just want them to know not to do this to anyone else.”

“As do I,” Harry said agreeing with me.

“The money is just an added bonus,” Pops added. He was always worried about making sure I had money for things despite the fact that I had a well paying job and trust fund, but money had always been a worry of his. He was a father, it came with the territory.

“A definite added bonus,” Patrick said. “Part of what will make them never do this again is having to pay out a large settlement. They will know not to come after you two and think again before they do this to someone else.”

“Okay,” I replied. I was hesitant. I didn’t want to do this but I knew what the four men in this room were telling me was right. It wasn’t much longer and we were back in the morning sun and headed to the car. “So Harry are you going to just hang out at the office with me today?”

“If you are okay with it,” he said.

“It’s just Ed day so it should be fine. Just don’t get all jealous when I’ve got a list of like 8 billion people who want to work with him.”

“You can be a bitch sometimes, you know that?” I nodded. “You’re lucky I love you.”

“I know I am. Oh and Pops, any chance I can borrow the car? I need to pick Ed up at the airport this morning?”

“Not happening. Last time you borrowed one of my cars I got a speeding ticket in the mail. I’ll drop you off at your condo and you can get your own car. You’ve got enough. Or you can have Sam drive you to the airport to get him.”

“I pick Sam,” Harry said. “The LAX parking lot is obnoxious to drive in.”

“Fine. But when Ed gives me shit and tells me I’m becoming too Hollywood for not driving myself I’m blaming both of you.” Pops and Harry both laughed at me. They both knew Ed well enough to know that he would give me shit for not driving myself. Pops expertly navigated the busy streets of LA before pulling up to where our company valet came to get his car. It wasn’t often he used the valet to park his car, usually just to get it but we were coming into the office late. We got out of the car and Harry handed me my bag that had been in the backseat. He grabbed my hand as we walked into the building.

“You two headed upstairs right away?” Pops asked.

“No, I need coffee,” I replied. "Want me to grab you anything?”

“Yeah, grab me a double espresso and I will see you both upstairs.” Harry and I headed to the coffee shop and ordered all of the drinks before getting in the elevator and heading up. I sent a quick text to Sam to tell him to be ready shortly because I needed a ride. I stopped to drop Eliza’s normal mid-morning coffee on her desk, she looked up at me and smiled.

“Well hell froze over, E is in the office,” Eliza said. I flipped her off.

“You should be nice, I come with caffeine this morning.”

“You look hot in the pant suit,” she immediately replied before taking a drink of her coffee. I laughed as I walked over to Ty’s desk dropping his coffee off as well as Kammi’s.

“Take her coffee into her. We’ve got one for Jimmy too.”

“Oh of course send me in when she’s on a rampage,” Ty replied.

“What about?”

“Just getting close to the NFL draft. You know how she gets. She’s talking nervous clients and their extremely nervous parents through all of the potential things coming up. She’s bound to be stuck in there all day.”

“I’ll make sure to go in there in a little bit and free her from the phone.”

“Good plan,” Ty said. We continued across the hall and into my father’s office. He had taken his blazer off and had it hanging on the back of his chair with his feet up on the desk. He’d put his glasses on and was reading on his iPad.

“Your double espresso.” I placed the cup on his desk as he looked over his glasses at me and smiled.

“Have a seat you two,” Pops said gesturing to the two seats in front of his desk. Two seconds. That was the time it took for me to go from feeling like this morning had gone great to feeling like I’d just been called into the principal’s office. “You both did great this morning.”

“Thanks,” I replied. And there was the sigh of relief. We weren’t in trouble. We did both manage to act like adults in the meeting this morning. Something my father often knew was hard to get me to do, I didn’t enjoy doing serious well when it was about the shit that went on in my life. I was serious as could be in business meetings but this morning was uncomfortable which meant I would normally hide my anxiety about the situation with humor.

“I just want to be supportive of her. So whatever I can do I will do,” Harry said as he reached for my hand and laced our fingers together.

“Well, from this point forward it should just be Marty and Patrick handling things. They will do whatever they can to allow you both to live your normal lives.”

“Thank god,” I sighed out loud this time. “Well, I guess whatever our normal life is now.”

“The new normal,” Harry joked.

“Yes, your new normal. You both seem well prepared to take it on and I’m here for you for whatever you need.”

“Thanks, Pops,” I replied. “Now I need to go pick up the Ginger Kid.”

“Let me know when you’re back and I’ll come say hi. We are all on for lunch, right?”

“Of course, Harry and Ed have decided dinner is not business so lunch gets to be.” I stood up and looked to Harry who followed my lead. I quickly dropped my bags off in my office as I got the notification that Sam had arrived to pick us up. We headed back down to the lobby and got into the back of the car.

“Good morning, Miss Scarcello,” Sam said.

“Good morning, Sam,” I replied.

“What are we headed to LAX for?”

“We are picking up Ed Sheeran so it will be International Arrivals.”

“Alright.” He was out on the road and navigating through the city. I slid in the seat closer to Harry and rested my head on his shoulder.

“You tired?" he whispered in my ear.

“A little bit.”

“You've been through a lot in the last few days. You’re allowed to be a little tired.”

“I know. I might just need another coffee when we get back. Or an IV of caffeine. Do you think I could convince someone to do that for me?”

“Probably not. I’m pretty sure it would stop your heart.”

“Do you need me to run through a Starbucks, Miss Scarcello?” Sam asked.

“No, we need to get to the airport.” Harry glanced down at his watch.

“We have time. Let’s get you another coffee.”

“Fine.”

“Sam, let’s go get some coffee,” Harry said.

“Okay, Mr. Styles,” he replied. I opened my phone and went to the app and clicked for my regular order.

“What do you want?” I asked Harry. I handed him the phone and he added his order to it. I clicked submit and leaned my head back against him. We pulled into the Starbucks parking lot and without a word Harry jumped out of the back of the car and headed into the coffee shop.

“Are you feeling better today, E?” Sam asked.

“I am, Sam. Thank you for asking. How was your weekend? Hell last few weeks, I’ve been gone too much. I miss out on all of our normal gossip.”

“It’s been great. I took a few days off with you out of town the last couple of weeks and then had a light but unusual schedule since I wasn’t driving you around to meetings.” Pops insisted that during the day I take Sam between meetings rather than drive myself. I think if he could convince me to not love cars he’d make me use a driver all of the time. But he knew I loved driving, it was something I had gotten to do so rarely growing up that I took every opportunity to drive. But sometimes, on days like today where I was tired and didn’t want to focus in LA traffic, let alone LAX, I really enjoyed that if I needed Sam he was there to drive me wherever I needed, plus it usually meant I could read through emails in traffic. It was also super helpful when we all decided to go out. Best way to avoid making headlines for doing something stupid was to have a driver that was loyal enough to pick me up anywhere in the city or in the rare case more than an hour outside of the city. Sam would come pick me up at the drop of a hat. He’d worked for my father for a long time, he started when he was 18 and was basically just hired to drive me around because I was only 15 at the time. Pops knew I didn’t need a nanny but he also knew that he couldn’t drive me to a lot of the activities I need.

“I'm glad you got some time off. How are things going with that new girl, the one I set you up with that is an assistant in my department?” I asked. I leaned forward to stick my head between the seats.

“Things are going well. We managed to have a weekend away while you were out of town. It was her roommate’s birthday so it was a group trip to Vegas. It was pretty fun.”

“She’s cute, I’m glad it’s working.”

“Me too. Thanks, E,” he said as the door opened and Harry climbed in.

“For you, love.” He handed me my coffee. “Sam, Evie snuck an order in for you too.” Harry handed a coffee forward.

“Thank you, Miss Scarcello.”

“Alright, Sam. You don’t have to call me Miss Scarcello in front of Harry. You called me E as soon as he was out of the car. We’ve been friends since we were kids, the formalities creep me out and you know it.”

“I do know it. It’s half the reason I do it. You turn from E to Evil as soon as I call you Miss Scarcello for too long.”

“How long have you known each other?” Harry asked. Sam had pulled away and was back on the road.

“I don’t know. Like 18 years.”

“I actually think it’s almost 20,” Sam responded.

“Well, Pops hired him when he was 18 to drive me around. I was 15 and didn’t have a license but needed to get to and from the office when I worked, to and from the mall when I wasn’t and driven around LA for just about everything imaginable. Even when I could drive Sam usually drove me because Pops was terrified for a while.”

“I basically drove she and Rachel around town to do whatever they wanted. And then Eliza and Kammi added to it when they were in town. Rough job at 18, driving a bunch of hot girls around town. I was who taught her how to drive in LA traffic though. Pretty sure her father wanted to fire me for that one.”

“You were only 18 when you started working for SME?”

“Yeah, my Dad has been Mr. Scarcello’s personal driver for a very long time, thus why we’ve known each other so long. We both often got stuck hanging around with our fathers while they worked. So when I was 18 he hired me to take care of E. He knew that I could deal with her smartassed attitude as well as she and her friends demanding that I drive them between every mall you could imagine.”

“Sounds like a fun job for a teenage boy,” Harry said. “Did you date her friends?”

“A few,” Sam responded laughing. “But for the most part they were too young when I was driving her, well until she got to college. Although she did set me up with my current girlfriend.”

“Really?” Harry raised an eyebrow as he looked at me.

“Yeah, she’s an assistant in my department. I thought they would work well together. Clearly, I was right, as I always am.”

“She’s also completely modest,” Sam replied. His sense of humor was sarcastic and dry which was part of why we’d gotten along so easily.

“Oh fuck off.” I flipped him off in the rearview mirror making him laugh.

“I like that I’m getting to see the real relationship you two have rather that the formal nonsense I’ve seen,” Harry said.

“Yeah, he always does that when I have people in the car with me because he's not sure how they will react to my driver calling me Evil.”

“You are Evil, most people would completely understand why I called you that. Especially if they work for you.” He leaned forward knowing I was going to try hitting him in the back of the head. “I would’ve stopped being so formal around you earlier but I wasn’t quite sure if I was supposed to treat you like her boyfriend or her client. And you’re still new in both of those relationships. Sometimes we get a bit mouthy with each other.”

“I am noticing that.” Harry laughed a bit uncomfortably. I knew I’d need to explain this relationship as soon as we were alone. Drew had disliked that Sam was my driver. He was determined that Sam and I were having an affair. Guess it was one of those situations where your actions in a relationship create the insecurities you have with your partner.

“Don’t worry, man. I’ve never been interested in your girl. She’s always basically been my obnoxious little sister. Now her little sister Rachel, I’m still disappointed she got away from me.” I started to laugh loudly.

“Rachel was never going to date you. She and Luke have been together since they were practically babies. Shit speaking of babies I need to text her. We are supposed to be getting together. I’m a terrible sister.”

“You’re calling her your sister, you said you saw her as a friend.”

“I said that on our first date. I wasn’t sure I was overly interested in getting into the fucked up history of my life with step-parents, step-siblings, and the fake families that were created because my father is a bit of a manwhore. Rachel and I still are like family though.”

“So send her a text and make plans with her. Maybe we can double date before we leave for England so I can get to know her too.”

“Maybe.” I grabbed my phone and sent a quick text.

Message to Rachel Shepard
ES: What is your schedule like tomorrow? I suck and was out of town or sick for like two weeks and we need to catch up.
RS: I’ve got some fittings in the morning with Demi Lovato, thank you for sending her to me by the way. She is a blast to work with. I’m free after that. Well sort of free. Mom is claiming that we need to start shopping for nursery decor. You know how she is.
ES: Oh yes I do. She nearly gave Pops a heart attack with how frequently she had me shopping to decorate the condo. I’m pretty sure the bill she sent him was more than I made in a month at that point.
RS: I remember that. That was the summer she tried to make me intern with her. Remember when we purposely picked shit she wouldn’t go for so that she would get that my design degree was going towards fashion and not interior.
ES: Best plan we ever hatched. Want to grab lunch in between?
RS: Sounds perfect! I’ve been craving the weirdest things with this baby business. That diner we used to go to in high school is being craved by the baby. Sound like a plan?
ES: Sounds like one my personal trainer will hate me for so I’m in. Sam and I will pick you up at 12:30?
RS: PERFECT! I am so excited for tomorrow now.
ES: Me too! I’ll see you at 12:30. You still doing all of your styling out of your Mom’s offices?
RS: Nope! I have a studio now. It was my wedding present. Mom and Luke went in on it together. You’ll love it! It’s not far from you actually. I’ll send you a pin.
ES: Perfect! See you at 12:30.

“Sam you get to deal with me and Rach tomorrow. We are picking her up and she and I are having lunch.”

“My backseat will be filled with giggles.”

“You’ll get a malt out of it so don’t complain.”

“That’s what I like to hear,” Sam replied laughing.

“A malt?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, there is this diner that Rachel and I have been going to since we were kids. She claims the baby is craving it.”

“I’m glad you’re getting together with her. She seems very sweet.”

“She is,” I responded. “And I normally don’t go several months without seeing her so I needed to do this. I have this sneaking suspicion though that I will end up out of the office all afternoon.”

“Why?” Harry asked.

“Well, Rachel is a stylist. She works with a ton of my clients. Ty works with her on occasion when she needs additional help leading up to events. So sometimes we end up talking business so that she understands what my goal is for a look for a client, she’s meeting with one of them in the morning. She’s also going nursery shopping with her mother after we have lunch. If Cynthia figures out I’m with Rachel I have a feeling I will get drug along on this shopping trip where they are picking out the decor for Rachel’s nursery.”

“Rachel is pregnant already?” Sam asked.

“Does this surprise you?”

“No, I’ve always thought she was going to be a great Mom someday. She nannied a lot when we were growing up.”

“That she did. She actually nannied for step-mom #2’s kids when Pops was married to her. Talk about awkward but he knew Rachel was responsible so he hired her. Just sort of left our the whole ‘daughter of his ex-wife bit’ for the first summer.” Harry started to laugh.

“Your Pops is funny,” he said.

“That he is.” We finally pulled up to the airport and International Arrivals. The traffic had been nuts as we got closer so we were arriving a little after Ed’s flight would’ve landed. I saw him standing on the sidewalk with a ball cap on, his glasses, a suitcase and his guitar. Sam stopped right in front of him and I opened the door to hop out. “Teddy!”

“Tiny!” He hugged me tightly. “I’ve missed you, crazy girl.”

“I’ve missed you more, crazy boy.”

“Do I get no love here?” Harry asked.

“Get your ass over here, buddy,” Ed said as he opened the hug to let Harry in. All three of us stood hugging tightly before the window rolled down in the car.

“Hug much longer and I’m gonna get a ticket, Evil. Get the boys in the car.” The tailgate of the car was open so we threw Ed’s bags in and climbed into the car. Normally I’d sit in the front seat if we had two clients in the car and I didn’t feel like making one of them climb into the third row. But today I sat in the middle so I could be with Ed and Harry. I had my head on Ed’s shoulder and my fingers laced between Harry’s as we held hands.

“Jimmy wants to join us for lunch. Claims you need to tell him about your travels.”

“Sounds good. And if I get to hear you call him Jimmy a few times it will make up for having spent so much time away.”

“I’ll do it a few times just for you, Teddy.”

“I would like to point out that my girlfriend is using your shoulder as a pillow right now instead of mine,” Harry said.

“Someone jealous that the pretty girl is more excited to see me? I mean this never happens. The pretty girl is never more excited about me than you.”

“Evidently this one is.”

“He’s one of my best friends. I’ve seen you nearly every day for the last three weeks.” I turned to look at Ed. “He moved me into his house without telling me.”

“That’s a bit presumptuous, mate.”

“She’s slept in my bed every night since the night I met her. Well, not exactly my bed, but the same bed. Except when she was in New York. Her shit was taking over my house, so I just organized it and brought a little more in while she was passed out from the medication for her migraines." Ed started to laugh hysterically.

“You moved her in while she was under the influence of narcotics? You are absolutely mental, Harry.”

“I am mental. But I love the girl and I didn’t want to start going crazy on her because her shoes were strewn across the closet.”

“I don’t know how I didn’t see this coming,” Ed said. “Wait, I do know why. He typically dates models who don’t often form complete sentences and she doesn’t ever make it past a first date, well other than the asshole and that baseball player guy.”

“Yeah, we are sort of the being crazy and out of our normal routine with each other,” Harry replied.

“Sort of? I got drunk at a business dinner and went home with you. I woke up naked in your bed with you that morning. That’s so far out of my normal that I don’t even know what to say about it.”

“Everlee! You are crazy. He could’ve been a serial killer.” Ed had his pretend shocked face on while he was trying to hide his laughter. Harry and Sam were both laughing.

“He’s your friend. The worst thing he could do is collect teddy bears.” Ed flipped me off as he pushed me off of his shoulder. Harry wrapped his arm around me and pulled me into him.

“You know that isn’t true,” Harry whispered in my ear. “I can do a lot worse than collect teddy bears.” I felt his hand sneak down and grab my ass. I jumped a little bit.

“Watch it,” I whispered back. It wasn’t much longer and we were at the office and in the elevator headed upstairs. The boys got comfortable on the couches in my office catching up while I sat down to call my father and go through some of my emails.

“Hey kiddo,” Pops answered.

“Hey Pops. The boys are in here. Want to just order in lunch so we can all have more time to catch up?”

“Sounds perfect. I’ll be over in a few minutes.”

“Alright. Later.”

“Bye kid.” I hung up the phone and noticed I’d missed a few messages on our internal IM and replied to them. The boys didn’t even notice when I stood up and went into the bathroom to change clothes. I started to flip through the outfits that were in there. I didn’t need to be as formal anymore. Lawyer meeting done, suit could come off. I put on a pair of tight jeans and a loose fitting grey top that was just barely a crop top. I found a pair of leopard print tennis shoes and went back into my office.

“Hi,” Harry said as I sat down next to him on the couch leaning into him and tucking my feet under me.

“Hi.” I smiled at him before giving him a short kiss. My father was now sitting in the chair opposite Ed having a conversation.

“You changed.”

“I did. The suit wasn’t necessary for the rest of the day. Especially considering I’m going to be spending time with you crazy boys all afternoon. I should be comfortable, right?”

“Right.” He kissed me again. “You did great this morning, I forgot to tell you that.”

“Thanks and I’m actually sort of glad that Jimmy made you come with. I would never have felt okay going after the publication if you hadn’t been there with me. So thank you.”

“We are partners, love. I’m going to be beside you for everything from now on. Any big thing life throws our way, it’s going to be you and me taking it on. Together.”

“I’m so lucky to have you.”

“Nah, I’m the lucky one.”

“Alright, you two. Stop your yapping so we can order lunch.” I pulled up the menu on my iPad and handed it to Ed so he could decide what he wanted. The door from the bathroom opened and Kammi came walking in, her heels clicking across the concrete floor.

“How on Earth was I not your first stop to say hi?” she said as Ed stood up to hug her.

“I had to quiz this guy down about dating the crazy girl.”

“Yeah, it’s weird, right? You would’ve known sooner if you didn’t avoid all communication from us. We’ve missed you around here.” Ed sat back down and Kammi sat next to me on the couch. “How did this morning go?” she asked.

“It went decently. Marty has a new junior partner that is helping him, he’s attractive,” I answered.

“What the hell? You were checking out the lawyer?” Harry seemed a bit shocked but was laughing.

“You’re telling me you didn’t notice that the barista in the coffee shop this morning was cute and totally making eyes at you?”

“Of course I didn’t, I was with my beautiful girlfriend.”

“Well, then you are a better person than I am. The new junior partner is hot.” Kammi laughed.

“Perhaps I will have a reason to sue someone soon so I can meet him. But other than the hot new junior partner, it went well?”

“Yeah, more than I want to do but it’s fine.”

“She’s afraid to sue the publication,” Pops jumped in. “Harry and I talked her into it. They need to know that we won’t stand for someone going after her private medical records. It’s absurd that someone at her doctor’s office sold her story. Marty is getting in contact with the head of the practice to see what they have done in regards to the leak.”

“Good. Go at ‘em. Guns blazing, girl.” Kammi turned to look at me. “You take nothing lying down, why would you do that with this? It’s a good thing Jimmy and Harry convinced you to go further than you wanted. You are not only standing up for yourself but other people in your position who have had their privacy violated by a gossip magazine.” Kammi hated the fact that just because of our clients, friends, and significant others that we often ended up in gossip magazines and blogs. I’d always taken it in stride, it was part of the territory, she'd always gotten angry. In all fairness, she had barely told her family she and Nick were dating when photos of them together hit the papers. They took away her ability to progress in her relationship naturally.

“I guess I’m glad they are making me too. It’s one thing to print a picture or act like I don’t deserve him. It’s another to turn my health struggles into headlines.” Harry kissed the top of my head. “So do you want to join the four of us for lunch today?”

“I can’t. My call list today is insane. I think every mother of every young athlete in the draft is calling me paranoid. I’m ready for it to be over. The last few weeks before a draft are always the worst. Thankfully Mexico isn’t far after it and I can relax. Hopefully everyone we represent will have contracts signed by then and be getting themselves ready to relocate to their new homes.”

“That’s always the hope. If you need me to take on some of the mothers let me know. I may not be their rep but I can talk down a crazy mother, I mean you’ve met mine.” Kammi laughed and smiled at me.

“I can take some on too,” Pops added. “No sense in you having to deal with them all if we can help.”

“I should be fine, but I will let you know,” she replied. “I know that there’s a lot of work to do with Ed today so I don’t want to bug E. If I need help I’ll tag you in, Jimmy.”

“Just let me know,” he said.

“Now to go eat my lunch while I figure out which calls are my priority. What are you guys doing for dinner?” she asked. “Maybe we can all do that and you can force me to leave the office tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said.

“We hadn’t decided where to eat yet but we could also eat at the house,” Harry said.

“You guys are all here. No sense in you trying to host at your house. How about I have you all over to my house? Harry can see the place and I can have Linda prepare something for all of us to eat.” My father’s housekeeper was an incredible cook.

“That sounds great,” Ed said. “I haven’t been to the house in a while. Always fun to see the old pictures of E that you keep around.”

“Then it’s settled. Kammi, please bring Nick. Invite Eliza and Ty too. Oh and Joe. I know that Ty had that date this weekend but I don’t know if he’s ready to have him meet the family so tell him it’s his choice. I’ll get in touch with Jessica.” Pops loved hosting people at his house so this made perfect sense.

“Sounds great, thanks Jimmy.” Kammi hugged Ed once more before leaving my office. This time exiting through the main door so she could fill in Eliza and Ty.

“Alright, Ed. Work time now while we wait for lunch,” I said. I pulled up the list I’d been saving on my iPad and handed it to him. “Here’s the list of artists who would like to work with you.”

“Well, shit, this is a huge list.”

“You’re kind of a popular guy. I included a name on the list that I wanted on there.” I glanced at Harry. “I think it could be fun to have you two write together for your album when you’re ready.”

“I would like that,” Harry replied.

“Always,” Ed added. He was looking through the list and making comments on a few of them. “Looks like you’re gonna keep me busy now that I’m back in the real world.”

“That's always my goal. And now that you’ve bought the house back home I’m prepared to help you get a studio set up so you can be at home.”

“You’re prepared to help?” he asked.

“Yeah, Jax has put together a list of the equipment he thinks you need and is prepared to submit the order and travel to England to get it all set up for you.”

“You take such good care of me.”

“That's why you hired me, Teddy.” Our lunch was delivered and the conversation got deeper into working on scheduling with his day-to-day representation when he’d start working with artists. Some would be done out of LA, some New York and the majority of it in London. Ed had about a million and a half demos to play for me, which would normally be something we do just ourselves. He was happy to let Harry stay with us even though he’d offered to go make himself busy somewhere else. “Well, I think we made good progress today.”

“Me too. And I think you’ve successfully planned the next six months of my life. Remind me next time I take some time off to keep a phone so she doesn’t kill me when I reappear in reality.”

“I’ll make sure,” Harry said laughing. “So do we want to have Sam take us home so we can get a car to take to your Pops’?”

“Nah, we can probably hitch a ride with Pops there and then whoever is on call will come get us, or Sam,” I replied laughing. “He takes care of me.”

“I’m learning that.” Harry looked to Ed. “I didn’t know her driver had been her driver since she was 15. I also didn’t realize 15 year-olds had drivers.”

“Your girl wasn’t a normal 15 year-old. Fuck, she isn’t a normal 25 year-old.”

“I’m not kidding. If Pops could convince me to never drive again he’d make Sam drive me everywhere. It’s convenient having a driver. I can’t tell you how much work I can get done in the back seat of the car while I sit in traffic between meetings. You’ve seen me in this weird phase of not having a lot of meetings out of the office. All of that is going to change soon.”

“Why?” Harry asked.

“Because my top priority won’t be you anymore. Starting tomorrow I return to my normal life where I’ll be in meetings a lot. Well, sort of. I’ve got a packed morning, but the afternoon is more open so I can get work done in the office. Some of the meetings will be with you but a lot will be getting stuff finalized for summer tours, radio tours, summer singles and the race to have the song of the summer for my artists. It’s a busy time for me.”

“I can see that now,” he replied. “Well, let’s get ourselves ready to head to your father’s.” We all stood up and I started to gather my things. I watched as Harry picked up some of the stuff that was on the coffee table where we’d been sitting all day that he knew I’d want when I inevitably worked from home tonight. He brought them over to me and handed them to me to put in my bag.

“Thanks, babe.”

“No problem. I figure I’m gonna have to watch you work at home for a while tonight since you weren’t on your computer most of the day.”

“Correct. You aren’t going to be upset are you?” I asked looking up into his eyes.

“No, I’ll even stay up with you so you can work and not do it in the bedroom.” He bent down to kiss me. “I love you.”

“I love you too. Today has been fun. Thanks for dealing with Ed and I working.”

“It’s nice to see how you work with other clients so I know whether I’m getting preferential treatment or not.” I laughed. “I see that I'm clearly not, Ed gets the preferential treatment.”

“He sort of does. You will too once you’re working. Right now, your preferential treatment comes in a different way.” He smiled down at me again before kissing me. It wasn’t long before we were downstairs and in Sam’s car heading to my father’s as he had already left for home to prepare for his guests. Kammi and Eliza were headed to go get Nick and Joe along with Ty as he’d decided it was too soon to bring Eli to a work dinner party. Rather than sit in the back between both of the boys on the way to my father’s I sat in the front going through emails on my phone. My morning would be busy and I needed to be ready for all of the meetings I’d have.

I listened to the boys chatting back and forth from the backseat. It was amazing the way Harry altered the way he spoke. He used American slang on most occasions when he was talking in my group of friends, when it was just me it was slightly less. But today with Ed, and over the weekend with his friends at dinner, his British slang came out and his accent got thicker. It made me smile and feel the butterflies in my stomach. He sounded so happy reconnecting with one of his close friends. It continued to amaze me how connected our individual worlds are. How many friends we have in common.

I have always been overly rational when it came to everything, especially romance. Things with my life were always based on the logic behind them until I met Harry. And here I was living with him and in love with him when I was still getting to know things about him. I didn’t know all of his quirks, but I was learning them. Like I knew that he shook his leg in situations that made him nervous along with constantly playing with his hair as a distraction for his tiny bit of anxiety. That he loved turning on Netflix before we went to bed. That he always used pink toothbrushes because he’d traveled so much with groups of guys that he always knew which toothbrush was his because he was the only guy using a pink toothbrush. I knew that as much as I thought the resting bitch face phenomenon could never be topped by mine that Harry had one that gave me a run for my money. I knew that he got cold easily and kept blankets around the house, sometimes even tucking his feet under me when we sat on the couch so I could keep them warm. I knew the way his face looked when he first woke up and right before he fell asleep. And every little thing I learned about him I loved, it was crazy. It was irrational and completely unlike me. But it appeared that this was the new me and that my entire family and all of my friends enjoyed the new me.

We pulled up to my father’s house and Sam punched in the gate code. He stopped in the driveway to let us out and told me to just give him a warning text of when he needed to head back this way to pick us up. I’d tried to convince him to stay for dinner but he declined saying that he was going to try and sneak in a quick dinner with his girlfriend while we were at my father’s.

“Okay, this isn’t a house. This is an estate,” Harry said quietly to me as we walked up to the house.

“Yeah, I know. It has quite a bit of land too. You’ll like it.” I held his hand as we walked into the house. “Pops,” I called when I opened the door.

“In the living room,” he replied. I lead both of the guys through the house to the living room. Pops was at his rollaway bar pouring himself a drink when we walked in. “I’m glad we all decided to do this. Evie, Linda is making her bolognese since she knows you love it so much. She’s also preparing that Tuscan shrimp pasta thing she made the last time Ed was in town.”

“That was amazing,” Ed moaned. “But her bolognese is also good. Harry here probably needs some kale.” I watched as Harry flipped Ed off before accepting the glass of scotch from my father and taking a second to hand it to me.

“I’ve started eating a lot more pasta now that I’m dating Evie. I think she’s trying to fatten me up so that I’m unappealing to other women.” Now was my turn to laugh and get good use out of the middle finger.

“Linda always has some insanely fresh salad with vegetables that she grows at her house,” I said. “If he needs vegetables and no pasta he can do it.”

“We will do steak on Sunday,” Pops added. It made me smile to think about the fact that my father was already thinking about what to plan for our dinner on Sunday. Jessica appeared in the living room just a few minutes before Kammi, Nick, Eliza, Joe and Ty arrived. We all had drinks and went out onto the deck.

“Oh my god. This view is gorgeous,” Harry said.

“I know. Now do you know why I said that I’d take the house if he ever tried to move.”

“I do. The view sort of reminds me of the one from my old house. I had a midcentury modern house that looked out over a canyon. It was a gorgeous house and the view was unbelievable.”

“Then why did you move?”

“Felt like it. Plus I don’t stay in one house in LA for too long. People tend to find out where I live and make it difficult to have privacy. London no one really cares. I’ve had the same place since I was a teenager. When I stay in New York people don’t seem to care as much either.”

“LA is a city obsessed with celebrity. I can see why you move a lot. You basically need a fortress wall around you to get people not to see your home. Your place actually isn’t too bad. And my father has clearly figured out how to have the fortress between here and Malibu.”

“That he has. He might have to teach me his ways.” Harry laughed a little. He put his arm around and pulled me in closer to him on the outdoor loveseat we were sharing. The conversation between everyone flowed so easily tonight. We ate by candlelight on the patio and went through several bottles of wine that just encouraged the conversation to go late into the evening. I finally looked at my watch and it was nearly 9:30.

“Pops, I have an early morning of meetings. I’m gonna have Sam come get Harry and I.”

“We should probably go as well,” Eliza said. “Joe has to be in the studio tomorrow.”

“We need to do this again sometime. I like having all of you kids over,” Pops said. “It just reminds me how happy I am to know that my Evie has such great people in her life.”

“We are lucky to have her too, Jimmy,” Kammi said. “And you know we will always come over. Linda’s cooking is almost better than being back home in New York.”

“Well we will plan something soon. Maybe on a weekend so that none of us have to get up early for meetings,” Pops replied. As Sam arrived and Kammi’s driver arrived we all said our goodbyes. “This was wonderful and I’m so proud of you. You look happy.”

“I am happy, Pops. Incredibly happy.”

“You work on staying that way. I like seeing you happy.”

“I will and you do that too. I like when you’re happy.” I kissed his cheek before I climbed into the back seat of the car. Sam was going to drop Ed off at his hotel after he dropped Harry and I off at home.

The Circus
KM: Tonight was fun. I’m so full and probably going to have a hangover tomorrow.
ER: Same.
TK: Same.
ES: I’m trying not to fall asleep from the food coma in the backseat as Sam drives.
HS: She’s really close actually. Disappointing E. So disappointing.
KM: Someone isn’t getting laid tonight.
ES: Oh no, he is. He has now put up with dinner with Jimmy and Jessica two nights in a row. He deserves a reward.
JJ: So gross.
NJ: I don’t need to know these things.
ER: Get it girl.
HS: She loses her filter when she drinks red wine. Remind me to buy more red wine.
ER: I’ll text you her favorites.
ES: Yay! We are home! BYE!!!!

Harry opened the door and his arms were around my waist and lips on my neck almost immediately. His hand slid up beneath the crop top I was still wearing and grabbed my breast. I moaned and listened to the sound echo in the otherwise quiet room.

“Can I tell you that watching you work all day was so fucking sexy?”

“You can,” I replied as I turned to look at him. His hand now finding my ass.

“You are so smart and in control and confident and it is so fucking sexy. I wanted to kick Ed out and fuck you on your desk by 2:00.”

“I probably would’ve let you,” I replied as I started to unbutton the shirt he’d been wearing all day. As soon as I had the last button undone I took one of his nipples in my mouth. I felt the island hit my back before Harry’s hands found my ass the way they had this morning and he quickly put me down on the counter. He pulled my t-shirt over my head and within seconds had my bra off. His hands made their way to my jeans, unbuttoning them.

“I knew you would’ve let me. There were a few times I could hear it in your voice that you were desperate for me to touch you. I was so close to you on the couch all day.”

“Oh, I know,” I replied as he pulled my jeans and panties off of me in one motion. He started to kick off his boots and undo his pants. “You thought you were being sly touching my arm or the exposed skin on my back or hip, you weren’t. Ed might not have noticed but I definitely did.”

“Your body gave away that you wanted me. Your skin covered in goosebumps.” Before I could even realize what was happening he laid me down on the island and lifted himself so he was on top of me. I moaned loudly again as our bodies connected and developed the rhythm we had all but perfected over the last few weeks. My ankles hooked behind him and I heard him groan as it pushed him in deeper. “I’ve wanted to take you on this counter since this morning.”

“I’ve been daydreaming of it all day too.”

“Is it as good as the daydream?” His hips moved smoothly against mine.

“Be-be-better.” I barely managed to speak. My release came quickly and Harry shortly after mine. He rested his head on my chest as we laid on the island.

“Have you ever had sex on a kitchen counter?” he asked laughing.

“Nope.”

“Me either. It was definitely fun. Do you still need to work tonight?” he asked.

“I mean I should but right now the only thing I want to do is go upstairs and crawl in bed next to my sexy boyfriend and get some snuggles.”

“I will allow you to work all night tomorrow night. I’ll be in charge of dinner, you can work.”

“You’ve twisted my arm. To bed we go.” I pointed towards the stairs. Harry climbed down off of the island before helping me. We both picked up our clothes and hurried upstairs. Neither of us bothered to put clothes on before climbing in bed. He pulled me tightly into his arms, my head resting on his chest. “I love you, Evie.”

“I love you, Harry.” He played with my hair just enough to coax me to sleep. This wonderful and fun day coming to an end with the two of us laying together in each other’s arms. It was perfect. Absolutely perfect.

My alarm went off entirely too early for how much wine we’d consumed at my father’s house. Harry groaned, pulled a pillow over his head and fell back sleep. I jumped in the shower and got ready for my day. I’d planned with Sam that he would pick me up today and just take me between meetings because none of my time would be spent in the office, at least until the afternoon. Once I was dressed I gave Harry a quick kiss and was out the door. Meeting one was a breakfast meeting with an A&R rep that I did a lot of work with. Meeting two was with TV producers and a client who was going to be getting a reality show. Meeting three was coffee with Patrick, the junior partner from the law firm giving me an update on how the first day of the process had gone. As soon as we were done it was a stop at Rachel’s studio to pick her up. I went inside and found her finishing up her appointment with Demi.

“Hey boss lady,” she said hugging me.

“Hey Demi, I was hoping I’d make it here before you were done. Tour styling?”

“Of course. Your friend Rachel here is helping make sure that I look hot but don’t get too hot,” she replied laughing. Rachel came back in and I looked at her. She was so tiny normally that even now when she was just able to start sharing publicly that she was pregnant you could see the tiny bump she was forming. “She’s also officially going to be the cutest pregnant person ever.”

“She is. Hey sis,” I said hugging Rachel.

“Hey! I’m so happy to see you.” She hugged me tightly. “Demi and I were just finishing up so that we could go to lunch. Baby wants french fries.”

“Well I don’t have a baby to blame but french fries sound amazing.” Demi started to laugh. They finished their meeting quickly and we were in the car headed to the diner.

“Sam, how are things?” Rachel asked.

“Good, really good. Evie’s keeping me busy and I’ve got a new girlfriend who helps out in keeping me busy too.”

“A girlfriend? And she doesn’t hate that you sometimes leave in the middle of the night because E here drinks too much.”

“She does not, she knows it’s my job and that I make good money because of those calls. She also happens to be an assistant in Everlee’s department so she gets how demanding Evil can be.”

“You still call her Evil? Awww,” Rachel said laughing. “The pet name from hell.”

“He likes to push the limits. Although finally yesterday he stopped calling me Miss Scarcello in front of Harry.”

“I was trying to see how long it would take for her to kill me. I made it nearly a month.”

“I’m so happy you’ve got someone, Ev. We need a double date soon so that Luke and I can get to know him better. Does the family like him?”

“They love him. It took a while for Pops but he even loves him at this point. I think they are going golfing today because I was so busy. You know that if he can golf with my father he’s probably in.”

“Unless he beats him,” Rachel replied. “Mom did that once and it was quite the uncomfortable dinner at home that night.”

“I think I remember you calling me after dinner to tell me.”

“Oh, by the way, Mom says you’re shopping with us today.”

“I figured that was going to happen.” Sam pulled into the diner and we went in and got our normal table. We’d tried to convince Sam to come eat with us but he refused. He said we needed sister time, he’d been privy to the problems I’d been having with my father during the start of my relationship with Harry and I’m assuming that was why. “So how is the pregnancy going?”

“Well now that I’m out of the first trimester the morning sickness is a little bit less present. Mom is beyond excited about it, which is weird. I didn’t actually think she’d want to be a grandmother this young. But when I told her she started crying and hugging me and when Luke has to travel for work she insists that I come stay at home with her in case I need anything.”

“That's sweet. How is she?”

“She’s great. Her business is doing insanely well, she’s hired a few more people to help. She’s been single for coming up on a year. She made a decision that she needed to be alone and she’s stuck with it. I’m unbelievably impressed by her with that.”

“I am too. Your Mom has never needed a man from my outside opinion but she always had one.”

“Not currently, I don’t know what her thought was behind it but she told me that she wanted to just be alone.”

“I wish my father would think that way.”

“Not a fan of his current girlfriend?”

“That’s the understatement of the century,” I said. “She hits on my boyfriend. I wanted to kill her the first time they met. And then I was pissed because the whole feeling jealous thing is so foreign to me that it made me feel terrible.”

“That had to be funny. You clearly like him if you’re willing to go to jealous bitch mode for him. You’ve never done that.”

“It feels so wrong.” I laid my head on the back of the booth behind me. “I don’t like being jealous but it’s this thing about him. I don’t want someone else to touch him or look at him the way I do. I’m a lovesick puppy. I’m living with him.”

“What?!" She dropped the malt covered french fry in her hand onto her plate. “You’re living with him.”

“Yeah, he moved me in. Totally freaks me out. But at the same time I don’t mind it. I like being there with him. And being around him and just sharing his air. I am a fucking lovesick puppy.” Rachel was laughing at me hard enough that her face was turning red. “I’m glad you find humor in my pain.”

“Love isn’t pain. You’re happy. I like seeing this. You’re my sister, I always want to see you happy, Evie.”

“Thanks, Pops was an ass about it at first. Grace almost flew out from Chicago to whoop his ass about it.”

“You're his only child, his little baby girl. He’s a protective father. I almost miss that.” Because of how long our parents dated prior to marrying my father had always been close with Rachel and her sisters. Everyone was devastated when the relationship didn’t work.

“I will offer him up for trade. I’d take a second malt and you can have him.”

“You don’t mean that. You’re lucky. You have two incredible men who work to raise you and take care of you. Most days I wish I’d just had one, I mean I had your father for a long time and then there’s my own, though we all know how that worked out.” I frowned.

“Have you heard anything from him recently?”

“He sent me a card apologizing for not making it to the wedding. Wished me luck but signed the card with his name and not Dad or anything. Hell I got a nicer card from your Mom and Dad. Which by the way also included an amazing gift and an invitation to come visit Chicago soon.”

“They always have loved you and were disappointed that they couldn’t make it to the wedding. Jonny’s so busy in school that they are never out of Chicago during the school year. Mexico is going to be nice. Everyone will be together.”

“Man, I miss Mexico trips. Can you adopt me back into the fold so I can go? Although maybe not this year.” Her hand on her belly again made me smile. She was going to be an incredible mother. We finished our lunch, got two malts to go for us and lunch for Sam since he’d refused to come inside. He drove us across town to the store Rachel was meeting her mother at and we walked up arm-in-arm giggling like we usually did.

“There’s my girls,” Cynthia said embracing us both in a hug. “I’m glad you were able to clear your schedule and join us Evie.”

“When you request my presence I always come,” I replied as I hugged her tightly. “And how could I miss our on Grandma getting to decorate a nursery.”

“Grandma still seems so formal for me,” she answered. “I am trying to decide what I want to be called. Your father has clearly enjoyed the Grandma thing. I think he has resorted to calling me that full-time.”

“That’s funny. When did you last talk?”

“Earlier this morning. We still keep tabs on each other. He was telling me all about how in love our little Evie is.”

“Ugh, I’m gonna need a third malt.” Rachel laughed at me.

“She’s in love and he’s wonderful. I met him once but we are planning a double date soon so I can get to know him.”

“Maybe I’ll get to meet him someday,” Cynthia said looking at me with that look that she did that always made me answer yes.

“Of course,” I replied.

“Alright, now let’s get to designing this little muffin’s nursery.” And with that we were off and shopping. It was fun spending time with Rachel and Cynthia and reminded me just how much I missed having them in my life as much as they used to be. I needed to make a better effort to spend time with Rachel. I felt my watch buzz and looked down.

New Text Message from Harry Styles
I’m done golfing with your father and should be home shortly. Let’s stay in tonight. I want a little alone time with my girl. Hope you’re having fun with Rachel and Cynthia. See you in a few.

“I know what the smile means,” Cynthia said as she put her arm around me. “I like seeing you this happy. You’re in love aren’t you?”

“In a way I never dreamed was possible to be.”

“Then run with it and never let that feeling go away.” She kissed my temple as she hugged me close to her.

“I don't want to know what it would feel like to have lose it so I don’t intend to let the feeling stop. Ever.”

Notes

ED! We have Ed! And we have Evie admitting to SO much stuff with Rachel. I’m glad that this chapter was a chance to introduce the importance of the relationship with not only Rachel, but her Mother and with Sam. These people are part of Evie’s life and are important to her. Harry learning that is great. Also a chance for everyone to join together at Jimmy’s because he has not only learned to accept the relationship with Harry but be happy about it and he has a new golfing buddy.

The lawsuit should add some interesting complications in the coming weeks and months for Evie and Harry. Him supporting her to go further than she wanted to is both good and could put stress on her because she wasn’t sure about it. We will have to wait and see.
The next chapter will be a little bit of a time jump. Rather than including their daily lives as Evie is going between meetings we will be advancing to England so that Evie can meet Harry’s family! It should be an exciting and slightly unnerving experience for her. Harry may be great with families but Evie and her internal monologue will be a bit hilarious I’m sure.

I can’t wait to hear what you think of this chapter. I hope you’re still enjoying ITHOLA as much as I am. And I have some news for fans of my previous fic, London Calling. Requests are open! Yup, you read that right. The standalone series that I started, Always In My Head, is returning. I miss the world I created. Harry and Annie and the gang at O’Brien’s. So I’m going to be doing some London Calling drabbles for all of you. And I want to know what you want to read. It can be absolutely anything! Harry proposing, the first time Harry and Annie met, whatever you think you want to know share that idea with me. My plan for the first one is the story of Niall and Lyla. I’ve also posted London Calling and Always in my Head on wattpad for anyone who reads my stories there as well.

Alright, now I need to do some writing for work, start planning chapter twenty one and working on AIMH!

Thank you for reading!
xx AM.