Chapter 34
Thirty-Four
ARIA
“Okay, for a Saturday morning, you look exhausted.”
I glanced up from my coffee mug as my little sister sauntered into the kitchen.
She looked beautiful and well-rested and I envied her.
“I went to bed at midnight but got up at four to video call with North. They were shooting early in the morning and then shooting a night scene, but he had a separate shoot with a whisky company he’s signed a promo deal with.
So he had an hour between noon and one …
which is four in the morning, our time.”
Allegra grinned as she moved around the kitchen, making coffee. “And you couldn’t just wait to talk to him another day?”
“That was us waiting.” I groaned, resting my cheek on my palm.
My eyelids were so heavy. “His schedule has been full out since he flew to Tokyo two weeks ago. His new brand partnership with Horus, the watch designer, started. They wanted him to do some promo in Tokyo. So did this Japanese whisky company.”
“Are they doing early promotion on the movie while he’s there?”
I shrugged. “I think he said he had a few interviews with some influencers over there. Long story short, he’s so busy, we’ve barely talked.
” And I missed him so much. It had taken a lot to be truly, truly vulnerable with North, but I knew deep down I owed him that.
He’d been nothing but genuine and loving with me.
My insecurities, my deep-seated fears, were not his fault.
I was working to be better about not letting them win.
Allegra arriving in the Highlands for summer break was a wonderful distraction.
Mamma was set to arrive in a week, and Dad even had a break in his schedule to spend a month with us.
We’d all be in the same house for the first time in years, and I was looking forward to it.
Mamma had not made one disparaging comment about my body since we’d had our honest conversation, and I answered her calls more now.
She still liked to complain to me about Allegra not wanting to spend time with her, but overall, our relationship felt healthier.
“I was thinking, once I’ve had another five million coffees, maybe we could take a trip to Aberdeen today. Do a little East Coast college wardrobe shopping?”
Allegra’s brow wrinkled as she slid into the breakfast nook beside me. “Isn’t that a long way to go for shopping?”
“We could get the train from Inverness. Stay overnight. Maybe have a cocktail or two?”
My sister nodded. “That does sound good, but I think you should see something first.” She slid her phone along the table.
I scowled. “Nope. No. Every time someone says that and passes me the phone, there’s something not good at the other end.
” I’d avoided googling anything that might bring up articles about me and North.
I didn’t have social media accounts since deleting them when I broke up with Lucas.
And North’s team ran his, so it was mostly work-related stuff they posted for him.
Now and then, he’d post something a bit more relaxed from location.
But nothing about us because he didn’t want to fire up the online storm again.
“Okay, crabby.” Allegra tapped her phone screen, and it lit up to show a paused video of North. “But I really think you’re going to want to see this one.”
I looked my sister in the eye. “You promise this won’t hurt me?”
She gave me a small, tender smile. “I promise, big sis.”
Tapping the screen, I watched as a pretty interviewer asked North something in Japanese. A voice off-screen translated it, and I tensed at the question.
“Now that you’re dating legendary film director Wesley Howard’s daughter, does that mean we can expect you to star in one of his upcoming movies?”
North looked relaxed, even though this question was like the boulder in our relationship, rolling toward us, picking up speed, readying to crush our love to death.
“No,” North answered, a smile in his voice to soften the bluntness of his answer. I sucked in a breath as he continued, “As much as I admire Wesley as a filmmaker, I don’t believe in mixing business with family. Aria is my family, and she’s Wesley’s daughter.”
“Oh my God,” I whispered, shocked.
The translator restated his response to the interviewer, who asked another question.
“Does that mean you’re saying you’ll never work with Wesley Howard?”
North shrugged casually, even though his next words most certainly were not casual. “Aria’s the one. So, no. I’ll never work with Wesley Howard.”
My eyes flew to Allegra, who grinned like a Cheshire cat while blood pounded in my ears. “Where did you find this?”
“It’s all over the internet. Western media picked it up. The headlines are SCOTS ACTOR WILL NEVER WORK WITH LEGENDARY DIRECTOR and NORTH HUNTER SAYS HE’S FOUND THE ONE.” Allegra shook her head in joyful amazement. “Boy, when he makes up his mind about something, he doesn’t hold back, huh?”
“Oh my God.”
“Is that all you’re going to say?”
Before I could respond, my phone chimed. I reached over to pick it up.
“Who is it?”
Joy filled me as I swiped the screen to see the text from our father. “It’s Dad.” He’d sent the link to North’s interview with just three words:
I like him.
“He really loves you, Ari. For real.”
I nodded, unable to control the stupid tears spilling down my cheeks. They wouldn’t stop even as I swiped at them.
Allegra scooted around the bench and pulled me into her arms. “I’m so happy for you.”
Holding tight to her, I cried with pure relief.
I’d given my heart over to North so completely, in a way I never had to anyone. That meant his love had the power to break me, and for too long, that’s what I’d focused on.
I hadn’t focused on the fact that his love had the power to heal me, too, and I was so grateful that when I truly, deeply fell in love with a man, it was with North.
He was a freaking unicorn.
And he was all mine.