“And so what if in a few years, I realize the acting thing isn’t going to work out?”
Kyle looked confused. “I feel like you know me better than anyone, but this line of questioning is leading me to believe differently.” He paused and took my hand. “Emerson, I honestly believe the best part of life is the surprises, the reinvention of yourself. This is the best one I can think of. And when the next surprise comes, we’ll roll with it. It’s not a big deal.”
“It’s kind of a big deal,” Sloane said under her breath.
“What will that look like?” I asked.
“I’ll move into your place, and we’ll raise the baby together. Pretty simple.” He grinned at me. He was probably the most beautiful man I had ever seen in real life. I could only hope this baby looked just like him. He shrugged. “Or we get a new place. It doesn’t matter. I honestly don’t care.” He looked so excited that I felt certain he was going to burst into song.
I knew, looking at him then, that he was what I wanted, maybe what I had wanted for a long, long time. “But Kyle, I can’t be back in the same situation, with someone who doesn’t understand what I do.”
He laughed. “And that’s where you’re wrong, Em. Because I’ve lived in Hollywood, and I do understand. I know why Hollywood relationships never work out.”
“I would love to know why,” Caroline said. “I mean, I know I should be prepared, but it still breaks my heart every time.”
Sloane patted her arm in mock support.
“Because what draws you together initially is your love of the same thing, that you speak the same language, that you understand how it feels to become someone else, to become totally absorbed in another world,” Kyle said. “But the reality is that it can never work, because you both want the same thing, so there’s an underlying level of competition, not to mention that being famous doesn’t allow time for a real life. Someone has to grocery shop, someone has to take care of the kids. Someone has to be the seed, and someone has to water it.”
He pointed at me and said, “Seed.” Then he pointed back at himself. “Water.”
That was actually the most brilliant thing I’d ever heard.
“So what will you do?” Sloane asked, ever the practical one.
“I already own a coffee shop in LA. Of course, I’m going to rebrand. I won’t call it a coffee shop. I’ll call it, like, Kyle’s organic, gluten-free, non-GMO, fair trade, grass-fed, slimming, shiny hair, better skin magic tonics.”
Caroline nodded seriously. “That will do very, very well in LA.” She paused. “If you’d like to franchise to New York, I’ll be your first investor.”
“You’re too late,” he said. “I already have. And Phoenix, Atlanta, and Charlotte, too.”
“What?” I asked. “You didn’t mention any of that to me.”
Kyle shrugged. “It never came up.”
Mom put up her hand to stop everyone. “Hold on just one fat second.”
Ah, yes. This was what I had been waiting for. It was sinking in. The freak-out was coming.
“Kyle, you may not leave Peachtree Bluff.”
“Whoa,” I said. “He can’t leave, but I can?”
“I don’t care what you do. He has the coffee.”
We all laughed.
“I’m not closing down the shop. My cousin Keith and I can switch places.” Kyle shrugged. “He’d be up for it.”
Mom shook her head. “It’s not the same.”
“So?” Kyle turned and asked me.
I couldn’t help myself. I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him.
“Emerson,” Mom said. “For heaven’s sake. Control yourself.”
“You’re cool as a cucumber that she’s pregnant but don’t want her to kiss him?” Caroline asked.
