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“Thank you!” I blow her a kiss and head downstairs and outside into the garden before I take it off mute. “Hi, sorry about that. I’m here.”

“Not a problem,” Mel says in that loud, grand voice of his. “We wanted to check in with you on a few things. First, how arethings going for you there on the island? You’re near Key West, right?”

“Yes, and things are great here,” I tell him as I walk toward the back of the island near the orchards.

“Excellent. Have you been to town yet? There’s an excellent restaurant in an old two-story house right on Duvall. I think it was titled after the street number, but I can’t remember exactly what it is. It has some of the best food I’ve ever had.”

“Oh, good to know. We haven’t done that yet, but we’re planning to today, so thank you for the tip.”

“Not at all. You should while you’re there. Speaking of, when do you think you’ll be returning to Boston?”

That makes me pause. “I thought we said I needed to return by the twentieth for table reads and costume fittings.”

“Yes, but there’s been a change.” That voice. I know that voice. Tommy Hardgrave, and what is he doing there and on this call?

“Tommy? That you, mate?”

“Hey, yeah, man. Sorry to throw you on the spot like this, but I got this call too.”

“What’s that?” I try to keep my voice light, but it’s tough when it feels like once again everything is about to change.

“The studio in LA is getting antsy on timelines and budget mapping for this,” Mel explains.

“And I know I’m not the only one with projects that start immediately following this one and can’t be delayed. I think you’re on that timeline too, right?”

“Yes,” I answer Tommy. “I am. I’m scheduled to be in Toronto by the beginning of June,” I state, though the thought of going back, of leaving here early, of possibly leaving Keegan behind has my stomach dropping to my feet. “What date do you need me there to begin?”

“Let’s say the twelfth,” Mel suggests.

That’s the middle of next week. And if they want to start that day, that means I need to be back before that. And have Mum there to watch Fen in a new place for us all to live. Fuck. That gives me no more than a few days left here at most.

“Absolutely. I’ll be there,” I agree, even though I practically have to force the words out. I knew this holiday would come to an end. I knew this bubble of perfection would eventually burst, and we’d be forced to go back to reality.

I’ll have to talk to Keegan about that.

And about keeping up our fake relationship.Is it even still fake?I can’t stop the voice in my head. We haven’t discussed it at all. To her, I think, this is a fling. I have no idea how long she’s willing to do this with me.

And what happens when we go back to Boston?

Will what we have end?

23

Itexted Mum with the new dates, followed by my assistant to get Mum a first-class plane ticket because my mother would never do that for herself. After that, I texted Tinsley to tell her the plan, and she told me she knew of something that might help and would get back to me later on it. I didn’t press it. My head was too full.

It’s not every day your mother tells you something that rewrites how you’ve always operated.

I didn’t linger on it, though. We were moving in fast motion. It was breakfast and packing everything up—babies have so much crap—before getting on the boat. We’ve driven it around the island a few times to get used to it, and it’s not that difficult to manage. Keegan once had a boating license Stone made her get, but that was years ago. Still, since it’s her uncle’s boat and she has the most experience, we’ve put her in charge. Both of us are a little nervous now that we’re actually doing this.

“Maybe this wasn’t such a brilliant idea,” I muse as we crawl along at a snail’s pace, the boat slicing through the water as the sun already burns the morning sky and sparkles the water witha million diamonds. “At this point, we’ll reach Key West in two days.”

“No one appreciates your sarcasm.”

“This isn’t sarcasm, love. It’s a fact.”

“It’ll be fine,” she assures me.

I haven’t told her about my call with the studio this morning. I need to, and I will, but I want today and tonight to be special. I want it to be us, and I don’t want to drown it in conversations neither of us is quite ready to have or put a sour note on things.