‘I know you do,’ she said, kissing me lightly back. ‘I was there the day you made man-Dylan turn it on so you could press your ear against it, remember? I saw the expression on your face.’
‘That actually leads me pretty neatly to the second reason,’ I said, kissing the tip of her nose and then leaning my forehead against hers. ‘You know how I feel about this car, right?’
‘Of course I do.’
‘Dylan Gilchrist,’ I said, ‘I love you more than I love this car.’
She started laughing, her nose knocking against mine almost painfully as her body shook. ‘You are so adorable,’ she said. ‘God, I love you so much.’
‘I’m glad,’ I said, ‘because I’m hoping you’ll help me out with the third reason I wanted you to get in the car with me.’
‘I’m sure we can come to some kind of arrangement,’ she said, still laughing.
‘Have I ever told you –’ I let my lips brush gently against hers, ‘about the calendars all the dudes at my work have? Hot women draped over cars?’
‘Babe,’ she said, her thumb feathering over the spot behind my ear, ‘if you want me to lie on the hood, all you have to do is ask.’
‘No,’ I said. ‘That’s not what I want. I have too much respect for the paint job.’
I kissed her again. ‘It turns out my fantasy is a little different,’ I said. ‘They fantasise about hot womenoncars. I fantasise about hot womenincars.’
‘Is that so?’ she said, smiling against my mouth. ‘You’re in luck, Mandie Mitchell, because I think I can help you out with that.’
‘Really?’ I said, reaching behind her neck and untying the halter of her dress.
‘Really,’ she said, her fingers slipping under my shirt. ‘I’d be delighted to. You look so hot in the driver’s seat.’
Epilogue
The network didn’t sue Dylan in the end, thank God. Partly because Romeo-Dylan was as good as his word and paid back his full appearance fee. Partly because we were very cooperative when it came to all the reshoots Murray insisted on so he could re-edit the story for the season. (We, apparently, were much easier to deal with than Cece, who’d never quite got over all her camera issues. We refrained from telling Murray that he’d probably dodged a bullet in not having her as the lead onWherefore Art Thou Romeo?.)
They even paid my Dylan the full fee she’d been promised when she signed the Dylan + Dylan = True Love contract, as well as a (smaller, but not small) bonus to me. ‘If you sign this, then your love story is officially part of this season,’ Murray said gruffly, handing me a pen. ‘You sure you want to be out on TV?’
I didn’t hesitate. ‘Yes,’ I said, and signed.
I might not have been quite so hasty if I’d read the small print. I couldn’t tell you the legalese, but it basically saidin return for this sum of money, Amanda Mitchell will go to any and every damn event we tell her to.
Which was how Dylan and I ended up here, hosting the officialMarry Me, Julietfinale watch party event along with Lily and Kumiko at a massive city bar.
The bar wasn’t even close to full. We might have been out of Stage Four restrictions, but there were still pretty strict rules about how many people you could have in a space at one time. They’d picked such a huge place because they were only allowed something like twenty-five per cent capacity.
Itfeltfull, though. People followed me wherever I went, and despite security guards constantly reminding them, they weren’t even trying to social distance. ‘Please tell me you and Dylan G end up together,’ someone begged me. ‘Please.’
‘You’ll just have to wait and see,’ I said, smiling and signing the shirt they’d thrust at me. ‘You know I’m not allowed to give any spoilers.’
‘If you two don’t end up together, I’m giving up all faith in love. I mean it.’
I only realised as I handed the shirt back to them that it had mine and Dylan’s faces on it.BICONIC,it read, in huge capital letters.
The four of us had to do a countdown to the start of the finale like it was New Year’s Eve. We were standing on a little stage in front of banners for Ties Out For The Boys (Romeo-Dylan’s charity) and SweetHearts (the women’s heart health foundation my Dylan had become the spokeswoman for).‘For fuck’s sake, you two can’t stand together, it’ll give away the ending,’ Murray ordered Dylan and I gruffly. ‘Kumiko, Lily, you’re in the middle.’
‘So you’re speaking to me now?’ Lily said.
Murray growled.
‘Of course it’s just to tell me what to do,’ she muttered.
Things got a little less chaotic after the countdown. There was still a buzz of chatter, but people quietened down to watch the episode, and the throngs crushing in around us got less throngy.
