Page 78 of Reality With You (Arden Beach #1)

Lennon smiled at the message, confused by its context.

Probably something to do with the music they’d been working on before her break—maybe a voice memo hadn’t come through yet.

Dozens of other texts poured in, too fast for her to read them all.

Amid the chaos, she tapped Erin’s thread to read messages she must have sent last night or that morning after returning from her retreat.

Erin: Call me as soon as you get this!

Erin: Not an emergency but WE NEED TO TALK ASAP!

“I’m gonna call Erin,” Lennon said, but as she went to tap on the button, her phone began ringing. “Ugh. Maeve.”

After Harold’s bombshell article was published three weeks before Arden Elite’s planned release date, three separate lawsuits were filed against Huey Donaldson, and an investigation was opened into his potential involvement with the spiked drinks at the party.

He was promptly fired from High Wave Productions, putting Maeve in charge and leaving a big question mark over whether the show would still air.

Versal ultimately chose to move forward with it.

But instead of the weekly drip they’d planned, they decided to dump all eight episodes at once last week.

It had been easy to avoid all the media chatter leading up to the show’s release while on the road, driving in and out of cellular service.

They could mostly forget about it and live in their little bubble.

Staying in a quiet, secluded cabin with no access to the internet or cellular service had been even more blissful.

Of course, they knew they couldn’t stay there forever. Bubble, officially burst.

“I’m just gonna get it over with,” Lennon said. She reluctantly tapped the green button and put the call on speakerphone. “Hey, Maeve.”

“Lennon, dear! How are you doing?”

“Great. Here with Dylan, you’re on speakerphone.”

“Hey, Maeve.”

“Hi, handsome,” she cooed back. “I’m so glad I got you two on the phone. None of my calls have been going through all week.”

“We’ve been traveling,” Lennon explained. “We’re going in and out of dead zones, so we may lose you.” She mimicked to Dylan how she could accidentally press the “end call” button with a silent “oops!” He stifled a laugh, shaking his head.

“Oh, no! OK, I’ll make this quick, then. People are going nuts over the show. It’s all over social media.”

“It’s only been out for a week,” Lennon said.

“People are binging it,” Maeve explained. “Everyone’s been waiting for it. It’s all anyone can talk about.”

Lennon gave Dylan a wary look. “I don’t know if that’s a good thing …”

“It is. Everyone’s obsessed with your love story. I want to talk to you about doing another—”

“Maeve, we already told you, that was it for us,” Lennon said. “We’re not doing another season.”

“No, a different show—about you and Dylan.” Maeve spoke fast, pausing for half a beat.

“We want to follow your music career. You’d have complete control over the narrative.

We could even put it in your contract that you have to sign off on all the editing, any other cast members, or whatever you want.

I’ll do whatever it takes to make it happen.

I know lightning in a bottle like this doesn’t happen often, and I don’t want to waste any time not taking full advantage of it. ”

“We’re not working under Nolan,” Dylan stated firmly.

“You wouldn’t be. I’m going to pitch the show to other networks.

I’ve already put out some feelers, and there is a lot of interest.” Maeve lowered her voice, almost conspiratorially, like she was about to say something she shouldn’t.

“ Arden Elite will likely be dead without you two signing on, and Versal knows it. If you sign with a different network with a new show … that’s going to sting. A lot.”

Lennon looked at Dylan, unsure how to respond.

They’d agreed to close that chapter. They didn’t regard the reality show as a success or failure, simply an experience.

One they were done with. But the idea of having complete control over a wide-reaching platform was enticing.

And sticking it to Nolan? That would be a nice little bonus.

By the look Dylan gave her, he was thinking the same thing.

One mistake she wouldn’t repeat—jumping in without thinking about every possible angle first.

“We need to talk about it,” Lennon told her. “We’ll get back to you.”

“Yes, yes, talk about it! I’ll stand by for any questions. Enjoy your trip. Oh—and if you haven’t yet, check out the show. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised by the final product.”

After they hung up, Lennon and Dylan exchanged a “what the hell was that” look.

“Are we seriously entertaining this?” Lennon watched him, the wind blowing through his hair as shops and restaurants passed in a blur of color beyond the open window.

“I don’t know, are we?”

Lennon snorted, shaking her head. “The last one was such a clusterfuck.”

“We survived it, though. I’d say it turned out pretty OK.” Dylan lifted her hand to his lips, planting a kiss on her knuckles. She smiled.

“I’m scared to look at the comments online.” Lennon grimaced.

“May as well rip off the bandage.”

Lennon heaved a jagged sigh, her stomach coiling in knots.

Still gripping his hand, she maneuvered her phone with the other to see what people were saying about the show.

The top comments and articles about Arden Elite popped up on the first page of her search.

First, she flipped through some of the social media comments, reading them aloud over the wind.

“Watching the downfall of Evil Incarnate, Kelsey McCroy, is satisfying to my core.”

“The socialites on Arden Elite made me want to move to Arden Beach, if only I were social and elite.”

“Who isn’t in love with Dylan Strickland after watching Arden Elite ? The guy’s comeback is an inspiration. And he’s hot.”

Then, Lennon tapped on the most recent article from the pop culture news website PopSphere titled “Why Everyone in Your Office is Crying Today (You Can Blame a Reality Show).” She read the article to him.

After two big scandals this year involving Dylan Strickland, everyone has been waiting to watch Arden Elite , and boy, it did not disappoint.

It’s packed with all the juicy drama you’d hope for from a reality show with a bunch of hot people, but it’s the relationship between baseball star Dylan Strickland and his ex-wife, Lennon Young, that has everyone talking.

The will-they-won’t-they back and forth has us in a chokehold.

We’re all Dylennon shippers now, wondering if (read: hoping) they’ll get back together.

Judging by the way he stood up for her at the wedding, we’re thinking yes.

And we’re also still sobbing over his speech defending her to the show’s resident villain, Kelsey McCroy.

We’ve reached out for a comment from their teams. No word yet to confirm, but sources say they’ve been spotted together since then.

Lennon glanced at Dylan, her lips lifting in a smirk. “Guess we’ll have to tell them at some point.” Then, she went back to reading the article and nearly stumbled over the next part.

We’re all wondering when we’re going to get an album from Lennon Young, the aspiring, down-on-her-luck musician.

She loosed a small exhale, that pit in her stomach twisting every time she thought about it.

Everyone has been invested in her journey, wondering when we’d get to hear a song from her, and the finale finally gifted us with an original song over the credits that has us all in tears.

Lennon stopped and stared at the article, assuming she’d read it wrong. “Wait—” She reread it, this time more slowly. “That doesn’t make any sense. Carol Anne said they couldn’t use it because the record company had to sign off on it and it’d cost a fortune.”

Dylan’s attention jumped between the road and her. She continued scrolling through the article, which included other people’s comments embedded from social media:

“I need an entire album from Lennon Young like, yesterday.”

“Told my boss I can’t come into work today because of emotional damage from Reality With You .”

“My therapist and I cried over Reality With You together and I think we both consider Lennon OUR therapist now.”

She could barely breathe.

“Lennon …” Dylan’s voice practically hummed with excitement; his lips parted in a surprised smile.

“I don’t understand. That’s impossible—”

“Ask Maeve. Call her.”

Lennon’s hands shook as she called Maeve back, who answered before the first ring even finished.

“Thought I’d hear back from you pretty quick,” Maeve answered through what sounded like a grin.

“What are they talking about with the song?” Lennon asked.

“That was my little surprise. It cost me an arm and a leg to get Goldrush to sign off on it because they’re a bunch of dicks, but I knew people would love it. Consider it my peace offering.”

“Holy shit. Maeve …” Lennon’s heart hammered against her ribcage. She couldn’t think straight. “I—I don’t know what to say. Thank you.”

After they hung up, Lennon read through more social media comments, trying to process them. She wiped the moisture from her cheeks, sniffling, and finally put her phone down, needing a moment to soak it all in. To process the feeling of another dream turning into reality.

Dylan caressed her hand, beaming with pride beside her. She looked out the window as the crisp autumn air blew through her hair, her chin pressed into her palm, overwhelmed.

“Wait, is that?” Dylan turned up the volume on the radio.

“—so here it is again,” a radio DJ said, “the most requested song today and the viral hit everyone on the internet is talking about, Reality With You by Lennon Young.”

Lennon dropped her hand, her mouth falling open as her song began to play on the radio.

The actual fucking radio.

“Oh, my God. Oh, my God! ”

“Lennon, you’re on the radio!”

“OH, MY GOD.”

Dylan cranked it up as loud as it would go and opened the rest of the windows as they both shouted in excitement. He honked the horn at passersby, screaming, “Hey, her song is on the radio!”

The moment wasn’t exactly how she’d envisioned it, but it was somehow better—because it was real.