“I’ll pay for the photo shoot of the Uni-fam. All with matching hats and onesie pajamas,” Beacon teases him.
“That’s a great idea,” I clap.
“Don’t encourage him,” Fisher warns me, kissing my hand.
“So, are we replicating these festivals?” Nando asks. “I can’t imagine doing this fifty-two times a year.”
“Not exactly,” Brianna, his best friend, says. “You don’t pay me enough to do something like that.”
“Are we paying you?” Beacon asks.
“We are,” Fish reminds him. “We could organize a few a year that’ll last all weekend long. They’ll be enough to attract tourists without overwhelming the town’s citizens. One of them could include a music festival. We could do something during Oktoberfest sponsored by Wicked Luna Brewery.
“You’ll have to sit down with Iskander and Siobhan to discuss it,” Nando says, tapping his phone.
“We should make Luna Harbor a place for destination weddings,” Brianna offers.
I can’t think of any place where they can organize them. “Where would you have the ceremony, or the reception?”
“They’re building a couple of event rooms in the new hotel. We’ll design a garden for the same purpose. I have plenty of time to get it ready.”
“So, you guys are planning long-term, nothing immediate?”
Fish nods. “The idea is to ensure that in a hundred years, Luna Harbor is still thriving.”
But where are we going to be in six months? I don’t ask that out loud.
Is this why Byron Langdon keeps asking what I’m going to do with the practice? He either doesn’t believe that I’m staying, or he thinks I’m not good enough. Like my therapist told me the other day, I can’t keep everyone happy. If he can’t wait until I decide, that’s his problem.
We arrive at the mansion. Everyone walks toward the patio. Fish comes to a stop and pulls me closer to him. “Hey, what are you thinking?”
“I…nothing.”
“Listen, the only way things are going to work between us is if we talk things through. That includes whatever is bothering you.”
“We’re so different.”
“Why? Because I’d rather say things out loud, and you love to keep them under a lid?”
“Among other things. You have a future already planned out. One of these days, you’ll be going back on the road and…I don’t know what’s happening with my life.”
He hugs me awkwardly since he has Keaghan in his carrier. “Everything will fall into place. We don’t know when we’ll go back on the road. There’s no point in worrying about something that might not happen for years.”
“I hate when you’re right.”
He kisses the top of my head. “No, you love when I remind you that even though the future is important, you have to enjoy the present.” He starts laughing. “Is that your phone, or did you turn on your unicorn horn? It’s vibrating against my crotch, and it’s getting hard to resist it.”
I laugh, disentangling myself from his hold. I pull out my phone. It’s Amber, who I bet is bored.
Amber: Call me now!
Amber: I thought we were friends.
Amber: I can’t believe you didn’t trust me with your secret.
Amber: You said the dude you’re dating looks like Fisher Hannigan. Not that you were dating Fisher Hannigan.
I stare at the text. “How does she know?”
“What happened, Nat?”
I show him the text.
He rolls his eyes. “May I?”
I shrug and hand him my phone. I watch him text Amber.
Nathalie: What are you talking about?
“Don’t text as if it were me.”
“Well, we need to figure this out, don’t we? Damage control and all that shit. Lang is going to kill me when I ask him to work on it.”
Amber: I’m bored, so I googled Baker’s Creek. I was going through their social media, and I saw a picture of you, Fisher, and a baby.
Nathalie: Keep a lid on it, please. I’ll explain l8r.
“That doesn’t sound like me.”
Amber: Call me.
Nathalie: I’m busy with the fam.
Amber: Who is this?
Nathalie: This is Fisher. Nat’s busy, but we’ll see you next week when we visit NYC.
“Hey.” He puts his hand on my shoulders. “Breathe.”
“What if my parents find out? I’m not ready to tell them that I don’t live in New York anymore.”
“You have to tell them at some point,” he reminds me.
“Which is why I’m going to therapy.”
“What do you want me to do? I can ask Lang to erase the picture from social media and break into Anna Tattle’s phone.”
Can he do that? It’s not worth it. I shake my head. “It’s going to be okay. No matter what happens, I can confront them.”
“Plus, I’m by your side.”
He hugs me tight. Keaghan is between us. “Our little family can take on anything,” he assures me.
We’re a family?
I smile because he’s right. We’re a family.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Fisher
“It’s like you’re an adult,” Lang says as he steps into the living room.
I know the Brooklyn brownstone belongs to all of us, but would it hurt him to knock on the door?
He looks at me and crosses his arms. “Dress shirt? Are we having dinner with the Queen?”
“Nah. If you recall, the time we had dinner with her I wore a t-shirt.”
He slams his palm against his forehead. “Ugh, don’t remind me about it. It was like taking savages to see…well, the Queen.”
“And yet, she liked us a lot more than she liked you.”
His jaw sets. “So why the shirt? I thought it was dinner among friends.”
“Her friends,” I remind him. “I’d like to make a good impression.”
He shakes his head. “You’re whipped.”
“Probably. I’m also happy.”
“Where’s little Fish?”
“With Nathalie in the nursery. Thank you for setting it up.”
He shrugs. “It’s nothing. Teddy did it for me. She’s finally setting up her business. She took pictures, and she’s adding it to her website.”
“What kind of business?”
“It’s a concierge for the wealthy.”
Teddy St. James is energetic and bubbly. Though she’s the opposite of Lang, they’re like yin and yang. I do not doubt that the business will grow fast if he’s going to be a part of it.
“Wasn’t she working for her dad?”
“It’s a long story. In any case, I thought setting the nursery up now would help us in the future when the guys decide to procreate.”
I rub the back of my neck. “I can’t believe I was the first one.”
“No one can, but you’re kicking ass at being a dad.”
I don’t know if I’m kicking ass as he says. I’m trying my best, and according to most books that’s what counts. After confessing my brother’s death to Nat, I followed her advice and sought a therapist.