“How could they when they’re dead ringers for their beautiful mother?” Willow crossed himself. “Thank fuck.”
“Don’t,” she said, but she was smiling. “You’re a Scottish prince.”
“I am. But I also know the girls are gonna be in school soon. They’ll be gone all day; then they’ll want to hang out with their mates. They won’t want a bar of us.”
“Isn’t that more of a reason to put off jobs like this until they’re older?”
“No. It’s showing them they can take up space in a healthy relationship and be a priority to their male partners.”
“Ifthey have male partners.”
She and Willow had both noticed Jupiter’s open-mouthed obsession with Jenna Ortega and her months-long insistence she would marry her when she grew up. It was too soon to draw conclusions, but they had already put rainbow stickers on their cars and started talking openly about how great it was that Andy and his longtime partner, Chase, were engaged in front of the girls.
“Ah, my sweet little potentially lesbian daughter,” Willow said comfortably. “Well, whoever the kids end up with, it’s good for them to see their mum getting support for being amazing. Even if Jenna Ortega’s too old for Jup.”
Eden laughed; that hot, ultra-warm love feeling washed over her again, and she squeezed her eyes shut to keep the tears from coming out. “How are you so perfect?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” Willow’s face grew serious. “I think I’ve been a bit of a twat lately.”
“Will…”
“Let me say it,” he said, taking her hand. “What happened with the tour bus was fucking terrifying, and it knocked me off my game. I should have gone to see someone about how much it fucked me up, but I didn’t. And I’m sorry I made you and the girls put up with me being all paranoid and uptight about everything.”
Eden wanted to say, ‘It wasn’t that bad!’ but she remembered a reel she’d seen once that said deflecting apologies could be painful for the person brave enough to offer them.
“Thank you,” she told him. “I’m sorry I didn’t talk to you about how I felt. Especially about the sex stuff.”
“Yeah, but we might have that problem sorted.” Willow squeezed her hand. “That was a hell of a time, baby.”
“One of the greatest,” Eden agreed. “So, we both know I went to a sex shop. How did you get on my level at a hotel pool?”
Willow tapped his temple. “Found a mental loophole.”
“Getting wasted?”
“Acting. The world’s greatest profession.”
Eden snorted. “What are you? Jupiter talking about Jenna Ortega?”
“Too old for her.”
They both laughed.
“I mean it,” he said. “I just pretended to be someone else, and it fucking worked. Then we got started, and I didn’t even really need to do it anymore.”
“It’s so simple,” Eden marvelled.
“Ah, well, I did take a lot of head knocks playing footy. That might have helped. So, we’ll do it? Sign the Sony thing? Hire a nanny who isn’t a nutcase and move to California?”
Eden hesitated. This was it. The moment when the decision made would be more concrete than the contract she’d be signing her name on in forty-eight hours. She decided to voice her last, greatest fear. “Won’t doing this with Quinley mean more offers? Other people who want to work with me?”
To her surprise, Willow laughed. Threw his head back andbelly laughed.
“What the fuck, bro?”
“Sorry.” Willow wiped his eyes. “I just can’t believe I’m talking to the girl who wouldn’t date me because nothing was going to stop her from becoming the biggest DJ in the world.”
“That’s exactly my point! You married her and knocked her up twice! She…changed.”
