Page 29 of Happily Ever After

“Thank you.”

He kissed her temple and they fell quiet again, the kind of perfect quiet that suited the moment and made it feel like something truly special. Blaise watched the sun sink lower, the reflection on the water shattering into shards of light and color as the boat drifted.

Then her phone vibrated against the bench beside her.

Blaise ignored it. She’d check it later.

“You need to get that?”

“It’s probably Cece letting us know the interview is live.”

He grunted. “Yours was good.”

She smiled. “Thanks.”

“How’s the book coming?”

“All right. I’m making progress. Can’t ask for much more than that.”

They sank back into silence, but her phone vibrated again.

Blaise glanced down this time. Evan’s name filled the screen. She exhaled and turned the phone face-down on the bench. “I can’t right now. Well, I could, but I don’t want to.”

Brick kept his eyes on the water, the colors shifting as the sun dropped lower. “You probably should.”

Blaise gave him a sideways look. “You don’t even know what he wants.”

Brick turned. His expression was calm, but there was no mistaking the conviction behind it. “Doesn’t matter. When they reach out, you answer. Even when it’s inconvenient.”

She knew where that was coming from. Holland and the phone call that had ended up with them in the ER, praying he was all right.

“Okay.” Blaise picked the phone up and stared at the screen, wondering if her son might just send a text instead. When none appeared, she called him back, getting up to move a few steps toward the bow.

“Hey,” she said when Evan answered. “What’s going on?”

“Hey, Mom. Um, is there something you haven’t told me?”

Blaise’s shoulders tightened before she could stop them. “What do you mean?” she asked, keeping her voice even. “Something like what?”

There was a pause on the other end. “Have you gotten a modeling job?” he asked. “In Miami?”

That did it.

Blaise closed her eyes briefly and let out a slow breath. Of course. He’d never turned off the Google alerts. Hadn’t he said he was going to? Apparently, he’d forgotten about that. Or set new ones. Or flat-out ignored it.

“Did you set alerts for my name again?” she asked.

“Sorry, I, uh…I never turned them off,” he said. “An alert popped up this afternoon for some designer in Miami?”

Blaise leaned one forearm on the railing and looked out at the water, the sun halfway gone. “Evan, this is really not okay.”

“I wasn’t spying,” he said quickly. “I just⁠—”

“You were monitoring me,” she said. “Which is the same thing. And what’s worse is you told me you were turning them off.”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Another pause. Shorter this time. “So…is it true?” he asked.

“Yes,” Blaise said. “It is.”