So Teddy was now contracted to produce the first-everHope After Darkmovie—not that he had a script yet or an idea of who should direct it. Maybe Pearl and Gretchen would be available again...
“I’m glad it all worked out,” Teddy said to Nolan, and he meant it. Not just for himself and his lowered blood pressure whenever Angel’s tuition bills landed in his inbox, but also forNolan and Bee and Gretchen and Pearl and for everyone else involved with the movie.
“Me too,” Nolan said, huffing out a breath as he scanned the patio. He must have found what he was looking for; his entire face lit up and he looked like he’d just unwrapped a present he’d been waiting for all year. Teddy followed his gaze and saw that Nolan was looking at Bee herself, dressed in a white peasant shirt and jeans, her septum piercing back where it belonged and winking in the sun. She was talking to an older woman and a teenager whom Teddy didn’t recognize. Just beyond them, both Bee’s mothers stood with Sunny, huddled around her phone as she likely force-fed them videos of her cat, Mr.Tumnus, whom she’d gotten in the habit of bringing on set with her. Sunny had also dubbed Teddy the godfather, a role he had yet to accept, though he had been wrangled into cat-sitting two and a half times.
“I should go make sure everything’s okay with the party,” Nolan said in the dreamy voice of the newly besotted and wandered over to Bee without even saying a proper goodbye to Teddy.
Ah, young love. Teddy remembered it well, may it rest in peace. At least he had the two best kids in the world to remember it by.
One of those kids came up to him now, a defeated look on his face. “I should have put cantaloupe in the fruit salad,” Angel said. “It’s gone already.”
“Isn’t that better than taking home a bowl of soggy fruit?” Teddy asked.
“I guess. Oh, I didn’t know Nolan’s mom was here,” Angelsaid, looking over at where Nolan was currently twining his fingers through Bee’s and pulling her hand up for a kiss. The older woman was looking on fondly while the teenager made a gagging face. “And that must be his sister. She’s starting at Pepperdine this fall.”
“How do you know all this?” Teddy asked, genuinely confused.
“I pay attention, Dad. Plus Bee keeps me up to date on everything. Like that Nolan’s mom decided she wanted to move out here too, so she’s living in the casita behind the pool and is starting a custom wreath-making business. And that Kallum Lieberman now has a rabid sex tape fandom. And that Isaac Kelly won’t be here today because he’s too sad and broody. And that—shit.”
Teddy glanced over at his son, who was now casting desperate glances around the backyard, as if looking for an exit. When Teddy looked around, he didn’t see anything, except Luca the costume designer standing in the doorway leading to the patio from the kitchen, slowly putting on his sunglasses and plainly having some kind of main-character moment for himself. Which was standard Luca behavior.
But when Teddy looked back to Angel to ask his son what was wrong, Angel was gone. Teddy thought he caught a glimpse of a thrifted cardigan and cuffed jeans disappearing around a corner but couldn’t be sure.
Oh well.
Angel wouldn’t Uber home without the fruit salad bowl. He (rightly) believed that Teddy didn’t care enough for vintage tableware to take proper care of it and had appointedhimself the guardian of all Fletcher serving bowls and platters, candy dishes, taco holders, et cetera.
“So you got roped into this too,” came a sharp voice from behind him. Teddy wheeled around to see someone he hadn’t spoken to since the day after Christmas.
Steph D’Arezzo had her eyes narrowed as she scanned the backyard. She held a plastic clamshell of grocery-store cookies in one hand, and she wore a tailored pantsuit that made Teddy suck in a breath. It was a mystery to him how Steph’s pantsuits could make him weak in the knees when he’d spent the last twenty years watching beautiful people smash, but there it was.
“Hi,” Teddy said faintly as Steph deposited the cookies on the seat of a lawn chair with the wary expression of someone releasing a spider they’d captured.
“Let’s not play coy,” Steph said. “I’m here for you.”
Teddy wasn’t sure he’d heard correctly. “You are?”
“Well, let’s say you’re fifty percent of the reason. I had a meeting nearby about my new client, Kallum, and I wasn’t ready to fight the traffic to get back downtown yet.”
“Kallum? The sex tape guy?” Now Teddy was sure he was hearing things. Steph was famous for turning careers around, and all Kallum had to his name right now was an admittedly impressive sex tape and a regional pizza chain, which was hardly the stuff of a lucrative celebrity career.
“Turns out,” Steph said with a sniff, “that there’s some money to be made with scandalous celebrities. So I’m now taking on clients who are a little more”—she waved a hand—“sticky.”
“Literally in the case of Kallum Lieberman,” Teddy said,but he did so with admiration. Kallum’s stickiness was some of the best Teddy had ever seen. “You know, if he ever wants to license that sex tape . . .”
Steph gave him a shrewd look. “I’ll talk to him about it. And on that note, if you’re on the lookout for moreHope After Darktalent, I would be happy to take your call.”
Hmm. Teddy hadn’t thought about Kallum for his new venture, but it made a certain kind of sense. Another INK member might fuel the fire Nolan had started withDuke the Halls.“I haven’t really settled on a casting direction for the new movie yet, but that’s good to know,” he said.
“Well, you better settle soon,” Steph told him. “Otherwise the Hope Channel is going to have you cast Winnie Baker or some shit.”
They both laughed at that.
“So...” Teddy started hopefully. “You mentioned you were here for me? At least fifty percent here for me?”
“Oh yes,” Steph replied in a brisk tone. “I have thirty minutes before I have a call. Do you want to have sex?”
Teddy blinked.
