The Reunion by Kayla Olson(73)

“He’s livid about their plans for the reboot, that my role would be smaller,” he says. “For some reason he still thinks he can storm in there and just… argue his way into a better deal. Obviously it didn’t work. And, like, did he really think hovering over Bryan’s shoulder and putting everyone on edge would make anything better? I guess it was his backup plan to get the fandom riled up about ‘Liv and Ransom’?”—the way he twists his voice and puts us in air quotes turns my stomach—“so Fanline will realize they’re making a huge mistake. I tried to tell them not to, Liv. I told them you’d be upset, but Andrea was so dismissive—they both were. They always are. They just kept coming back to how it’d be in your best interests, too, ultimately, to get the fans on our side.”

I’m stuck on something he’s just said: I tried to tell them not to, Liv.

His father’s words from last night, the last ones he said on his way out after meeting with Ransom, resurface in my memory: Think about it.

I take a deep breath. “When, exactly, did you find out about the photo they ran today?” My voice is low, intense. Almost unrecognizable.

He bites his lip, stares at the floor.

“When did you find out about it, Ransom?” I watch him intently, but he still won’t meet my eyes.

“Last night,” he finally says quietly.

“Last night. Before I came over and spent all evening with you.”

“Yes.”

It’s like our final season on set all over again, only this time he gets to experience the aftermath right along with me: someone he deeply trusted has just sold us out to the press, as if the private details of our lives exist solely to make theirs better. First his traitor of a girlfriend—and now his own father.

“He told me he wouldn’t put it out there. He promised, Liv.” His voice catches, eyes locking on mine. “I wanted to believe him—and I didn’t want to hurt you. I hate that he lied, and I am so, so sorry. Tell me how to make this better. Please, Liv.”

“And I want to believe you—but you have to admit, the timing is questionable.”

He’s always loved the spotlight. He’s unsatisfied with his career.

He had years to make a move, and he chose now.

His brow furrows. “I’m not sure what you’re implying.”

“The timing,” I repeat. “We were best friends forever, but you suddenly have feelings for me? It’s too convenient. It feels like a setup, Ransom.” My voice cracks. “Like maybe none of it was actually real.”

I keep my gaze steady on his, barely holding it together.

“You can’t seriously think all of this was a publicity stunt,” he says with a flicker of indignation. “You can’t seriously think last night wasn’t real.”

It’s a sucker punch that knocks the wind out of me, thinking of last night when this is where we are now.

“I want more than anything for last night to have been real.” I look him dead in the eye. “I’ve loved you since we were sixteen, Ransom. Since our first on-screen kiss—and since that flight to Shanghai. You were everything to me, my very best friend. I tried so hard to tell myself that’s all we were—friends. That it didn’t mean anything when you confided in me things you never told anyone else. That all our inside jokes, all the times we spent laughing until we cried—or crying until we laughed—I told myself all of that was just what best friends did together. I didn’t want to lose you. You were my one safe place.”

I blink, hard, try to clear the tears. It doesn’t work.

“But I did love you, no matter how hard I tried to convince myself otherwise,” I go on, “and I lost you anyway, because you decided we needed to not be so close anymore, after all we’d been through. Didn’t you ever wonder why I left Hollywood for so long? Every single thing reminded me of you.”

“No, no,” he says, shaking his head. “You said you agreed.”

“Well, what was I supposed to say? You said no one would ever want to date either of us if they thought we were in love with each other—it implied you wanted space, Ransom, not for us to be even closer. You said you wanted a step back, so I gave it to you.”

“I never knew how you felt—”

“I never told you because I didn’t want to ruin it.” I’m breathless, my words half hollow. “By the time you asked for a step back, it was too late. How could I admit I was in love with you after that, when you’d all but told me you didn’t think of me that way?”

He takes it all in, his face unreadable. I don’t wait for him to respond.

“I’ve spent so many years trying to convince myself my feelings for you weren’t real—that none of it was real. That I misread myself and not your mixed signals.” I take a breath, steady myself. “But now, seeing you again after all this time, it’s like we never spent a day apart. And it truly felt real this time, like we were finally on the same page. Like you finally saw me as more than just a friend.”

I should stop, I really should. I can’t.

“But here we are—I just don’t know if I can do this, Ransom. I want to believe you’d never intentionally hurt me, that you’d never set me up. But I honestly don’t know what to think.”