Stephanie
“You bitch!”
With a scream that hurt her own ears, Stephanie Starz hurled the glass she was holding in Bella Burton’s direction. It shattered against the wall next to her but Bella didn’t even flinch.
Damn. She was good.
“And…cut!” the director yelled. “That’s a wrap, ladies! You nailed it.”
Bella’s pretty face split into a smile, and she crossed the distance to Steph. “Holy crap! I thought you were going to hit me with it that time.”
Steph laughed. They’d already taken four takes of that scene. One where she didn’t scream loud enough. One where the glass didn’t shatter properly on the wall. One where the director didn’t think Bella looked angry enough. And one where the glass had slipped from her fingers.
“Are you kidding? I would never hit you.” Steph hugged her friend. “Besides, they had me practicing my aim earlier. And I used to play softball in school.”
“You did not.”
Steph laughed. “Okay, I didn’t. But still.”
Together, they walked toward their trailers. Steph knew Bella still had another scene to shoot before she wrapped for the day. But she could head home, just as soon as hair and makeup relieved her of her wig and the layers of caked-on makeup that made her look like the washed-up singer she was playing in the movie Bombshell alongside Bella, who had the lead as an up-and-coming star dethroning Stephanie’s character as the queen of pop.
It had been a lot of fun to shoot the movie, and Steph had enjoyed it the way she always did when she was filming. But this movie was different because she was excited to get back home to Glacier Falls and her new project, Lynx Creek.
Four days left, and she’d be done and back home in the mountains.
Her new home.
She hadn’t lived in Glacier Falls long, but it already felt more like home than any other place she’d ever lived. Especially now that she had the cabins at Lynx Creek. What had once been an old, abandoned fishing village was being transformed into beautiful log cabins tucked along the river, ready for a romantic retreat center.
Steph planned to live in one of them for now, but she was already starting to think about having her dream home built on the property as well. It was something she hoped to talk to Travis Bishop about when she got back to town.
Her entire body heated at the thought of the sexy, frustratingly aloof contractor who’d been working on her cabins. She’d never been so attracted to a man while at the same time being so frustrated and annoyed. It was an interesting combination, and she was still working out the balance.
Steph sat in the makeup chair and let her team go to work while she flipped her cell phone on.
Two missed calls from Nick.
She’d call him back in the morning; it was already late and Amelia would likely be sleeping.
A text from her mom.
Miss you. Hope to see you soon.
She couldn’t help but feel a twinge of guilt at her mother’s text. Steph missed her parents, too. It had been far too long since she’d gone home to the small town up North where she’d grown up, but she’d been even busier than usual lately with both the movie project and the cabins. And when she did have time off, she wanted to be in Glacier Falls with her new friends and her half-sisters she’d only recently reunited with. Never mind her brand-new baby nephew. There were so many draws to Glacier Falls, she’d tried to convince her parents to come visit her, even offered to have her private jet fly up and get them, but so far they’d been reluctant.
She couldn’t help but feel that they were feeling displaced and maybe a bit jealous of the new family she’d found completely by accident and it hurt her heart to think that they might feel that way. She needed to make a stronger effort to show them that’s not how she felt. No one could replace them. She loved them both fiercely, and she did want to share her new life with them, too. Surely they would come to see her new project at Lynx Creek; she just needed to make sure the cabins were ready.
“All done, Ms. Starz.” Her makeup artist unfastened the cape and Steph was free to go, her face clean and fresh, and signature bright-red hair free of the wig she’d worn all day.
“Thank you, Missy.” She hopped out of the chair. “Nothing feels as good as getting all that stuff off.” She grinned. “See you tomorrow.”
Her assistant was waiting outside her trailer to fill her in on the details for the next day. When Terri was finished running through the schedule, she added, “Oh. I got a call from Nick Newton.”
Steph perked up.
“He insisted you call him immediately when you were free.”
“He texted,” Steph told her. “I’ll give him a call in the morning.”
Terri shook her head. “He insisted you call right away,” she repeated. “Regardless of the time. He said something about it being urgent.”
“Urgent? Or an emergency?”
“Urgent,” she confirmed. “But between you and me, he sounded pretty panicked.”
“Thank you.”
Maybe it was Amelia? But if something was wrong with the baby, he would have said that. Still, it wasn’t like Nick to be over-dramatic. Steph dialed his number as she got into the back of her waiting town car for the ride to her rented home.
Nick answered before the first ring was finished. “Finally. I need your help.”
They’d been on the phone for over an hour and Steph was still trying to process all the things Nick was telling her.
Adoption.
A wife.
Birth mother.
A wife.
“Please don’t say no.”
Steph closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the couch. “You know I have to, Nick.” From the moment he’d asked her, she’d known what her answer had to be. She couldn’t marry Nick, or fake marry him, or even have a relationship with him. Real or otherwise. It wouldn’t work. But it pained her to actually say it out loud.
“I was really hoping you wouldn’t say that.” Nick groaned. “But I knew you would.”
“Nick, you know I would help you in a heartbeat.” She sat up and rolled her shoulders. “It would be a giant PR mess and you know it. The press would have a field day with it all. It literally would be the news story of the year, and that would only hurt Amelia.”
She knew Nick had to see the truth in that. The paparazzi went crazy over any story that Stephanie was involved in. And something as juicy as a marriage to a self-made billionaire that came out of nowhere would be like chum in a shark tank. Within days, they’d have the whole story figured out and they’d be exposed. It probably wouldn’t damage Stephanie’s career, but it would damage Nick’s bid at adoption. One hundred percent. It wasn’t a risk they could take, and sure enough, Nick agreed the way she knew he would.
“I knew it was a long shot,” he said after a moment. “And you’re right. You’re just too famous, which is really too bad, because you’re the best actress I know and if anyone could pretend to be madly in love with me, it would be you.”
She laughed a little. “Don’t sell yourself short, buddy. The right woman isn’t going to have to pretend anything. You’re an amazing catch and you know it.”
Nick’s sigh was deep and long. “The problem is, I don’t have time to wait for the right woman. I need to find her now. Well, yesterday, according to my lawyer.”
She felt for him, she really did. No one was more devoted to that baby than Nick. He deserved to be her father. No matter what. But Steph also knew that a judge wouldn’t see it quite that simply. “I think your best bet will be to ask someone who likes you. Someone you know already. And someone who’s good with—I know!” The idea hit her so hard and fast she jumped up out of the chair. “Jeremy Davis’s sister! She was at the showcase and then I saw you with her at my nephew’s welcoming party last time I was in town. Charlotte!”
Why hadn’t she thought of it before? It was perfect. Every time she’d seen Nick and Charlotte Davis together, there seemed to be a little something between them. A flirtation. An interest. Maybe they didn’t even realize it yet, but it was obvious that they liked each other. “Yes,” Steph continued. “She’s cute and you obviously like her and—”
“No.”
“No?” Confused, she shook her head. “No, you don’t like her?”
“No. I do like her. I actually, really like her. If things were different and I didn’t have…well, things aren’t different. But no, I can’t ask her.”
“That’s stupid. She’s the perfect choice.”
“I can’t, Steph. Remember why she’s back in town?”
“Oh.”
“Right.”
“Right,” Steph agreed. She’d forgotten about that little detail. “How’s she doing?”
“Not good enough for me to ask her to marry me.” He groaned and Steph couldn’t help but smile a little. “I mean, I think that’s a pretty big jump, don’t you?”
She had to agree. “I’m sorry, Nick. But you’ll think of something.”
He didn’t sound as though he agreed, but after they chatted for a few more minutes, at least he didn’t sound quite so defeated. She was confident that although the answers weren’t presenting themselves to Nick right now, they would. He was a resourceful guy.
“And I’ll be in town in a few days,” she said before they hung up. “I promise I’ll help you out as much as I can, okay? It’ll be okay, Nick. I promise.”
Too bad it was a promise Stephanie had no idea whether she’d be able to keep.