The Reunion by Kayla Olson(52)
The sky is turning lighter by the minute, pale lavender now, bright enough that I can see all the distinct shades in Ransom’s eyes. “We don’t have a lot of time, but I figured we could start this day off right, and start it together.” He twists open the lid to my flat white and hands it to me, along with the biscotti, remembering from years ago how much I love to dip them in before taking a bite.
“It’s perfect,” I say, and I mean it—I couldn’t have asked for a more thoughtful start to this day, a more romantic place to watch the sunrise together. He slips his arm around me, a warm shield from the early-morning chill. We sip our coffees in silence, taking in the view as golden light overtakes the sky.
I could live in this moment forever.
It won’t be long before it ends, but neither of us breaks the magic by saying so. We linger as long as we can, soaking up the silence and stillness before things turns intense with the day’s shoot. Eventually, his phone alarm vibrates in his pocket—I feel it, too, pressed up this close against him.
He turns to face me, dips his forehead to rest against mine. “We should probably go,” he says quietly.
I bite my lip, not ready for this to end. He’s right, of course. “Yeah. We probably should.”
He leans in, presses a soft, slow kiss to my lips. When he pulls away, I could swear he’s taken a part of me with him. “Come to my place tonight, since last night didn’t work out? I’ll make you dinner, and I want to hear all about Vienna.”
“Yes,” I say immediately, with one more quick kiss for emphasis. “But only because dinner’s involved, obviously.”
“Obviously,” he says, with a lopsided grin I’ll be thinking about all day.
He gathers our empty coffee tumblers, shoves them along with the plate into the depths of his backpack, the same one he brought to our hangout on the beach. A few minutes later, he disappears into the stairwell, promising to text me an all clear so we aren’t seen leaving the terrace together.
When I slip back in to reception, Ransom’s long gone. No one seems to notice me, as the few people in the room are over at the window, eyeing the crowd that’s doubled outside the studio gate.
“Millie must be on her way, then?” I comment to anyone within listening distance. At the moment, that includes a couple of interns and Gretchen, my makeup artist. If they’re surprised to see me, they don’t show it.
“She dropped another new single overnight,” one of the interns says. “It’s already stuck in my head.”
Our barista, who’ll get his own line in the credits for keeping us caffeinated, appears from the opposite hallway, a fresh flat white in hand. “Made it a triple this morning,” he whispers conspiratorially, “to make up for Bryan punishing you yesterday.” His eye roll is over-the-top dramatic, and I can’t help but laugh.
“You’re the best,” I say, not about to tell him I’ve already had an entire flat white courtesy of Ransom.
“Ready when you are,” Gretchen says. “Didn’t see you slip in this morning—how’d you manage that?”
“Got here extra early today,” I say, hoping she doesn’t notice the heat blooming in my cheeks. “Couldn’t risk being late again.”
She laughs. “Yeah, good call.”
A little over an hour later, when she and Emilio have turned me into a very fashion-forward version of Honor for the brunch scene we’ll be shooting, I head out to the golf cart that will deliver me to our outdoor set on the far side of the lot. It’s been done up to look like a cute little café; Sasha-Kate and Millie are already there when I arrive, waiting on its patio.
It doesn’t take long to tell a storm is brewing. Sasha-Kate is seated at an iron table on the patio, scowling, absently toying with prop packets of sugar. Upon closer glance I see her iPhone jammed up between her ear and her shoulder. Meanwhile, Millie’s chatting with the actress who’ll be playing our server—just close enough that Sasha-Kate can most definitely hear every word—eating up the actress’s effusive praise about her latest single.
This should be fun.
“Liv, so nice of you to join us on time today,” Bryan says pointedly, breaking away from the director of photography and a handful of lighting guys. I suppress an eye roll. “Sasha-Kate, end it now, please!”
She glances over at him and holds up a single Just a sec finger. Clearly, she’s forgotten about the time Bryan threw Ford’s phone in a koi pond when he took too long to put it away.
Bryan stares at her, arms crossed. When she still makes no move to end the call, he walks over to the table and pulls up a seat. He leans back, watching her as she continues to listen to whoever’s on the other end.
“Yeah, I’ve gotta go,” she finally says, not breaking eye contact with Bryan. “Talk soon.”
A gust of wind blows a packet of sugar off the table—Bryan catches it in midair. He crumples it and tucks it into his pocket.
“Now,” he says, clapping his hands together, “are we ready?”
The shoot gets off to a smooth-enough start: it’s a sister brunch put together by Sasha-Kate’s character, Bianca, to celebrate Honor’s unexpected visit to Aurora Cove after traveling the world for so long—but in typical Bianca fashion, she talks more than she listens, so she has no idea Honor’s thinking of quitting her job.