The car pulled up in front of Paisley’s building and there were a few photographers out front. But for once, he didn’t brush past them. He smiled and waved, then called for them to get tickets to see his movie before he went inside and up the stairs to her apartment.
He knocked on the door, seeing the wreath that they’d made together with Daisey—Nolan’s six-year-old daughter. She’d learned how to make it in school by weaving together cutouts of their hands out of red and green construction paper. Paisley had then used her Instax printer to put pictures of all of them on the wreath. This was the family he’d never had and had secretly always wanted, he thought as he looked at those faces.
And he’d only found them through Paisley.
He knocked on the door and heard her call out that she was coming. Then the door opened and his breath caught in his chest as he looked at her in the slim-fitting velvet dress trimmed with pearls at the neck. Her hair was up, with tendrils that framed her heart-shaped face, and she smiled at him.
And the world stopped.
He loved her.
That was why he was so nervous about this night. Why it needed to be perfect. He loved her and he knew it was at once the most fabulous and the scariest thing he’d ever felt.
“You’re gorgeous.”
She winked at him. “You too. I mean, I knew you cleaned up well, but—”
He leaned in and kissed her, not because he didn’t want the compliment, but because he felt the urge to blurt out that he loved her and he wasn’t sure he was ready for her to know.
Sean kissing her in the doorway had set the tone of the night. He’d swept her down the stairs to the car and waiting driver, yet when they arrived at the premiere, she pushed aside all swoony thoughts about her smoking-hot date and gone to work. She had a list of the reporters who would be on the red carpet.
“Ready for this?”
The red carpet had been set up under arches, which made for a winter-wonderland vibe. They had trees spaced down the length to give each interview some privacy.
“Yeah, I actually don’t mind this bit,” he said with a wink. “But areyouready?”
“I’ve got the easy part. Pointing you at the reporters,” she replied.
The door opened and the driver offered her his hand as she stepped out onto the red carpet. The crowds were waiting and as soon as Sean climbed out behind her, there was a burst of flashbulbs and calls of his name, and some applause. He waved to them all and put his hand on the small of her back, but instead of just walking past the fans who’d lined up—probably for hours—to see him, he stopped and shook their hands and posed for photos.
Paisley acted as photographer for a few of them. She was impressed by his willingness to talk to all of the fans that were there. He didn’t rush them or brush them off—it was, to her, a mark of the man. It reinforced what she had been starting to believe about him.
For as much as Sean was a big Hollywood star, he was a genuine man. He might be used to luxury houses, hired drivers and just asking for something and expecting it to get delivered to him, but there was also something about him that was very down-to-earth.
“The first reporter is from our local Chicago news outlet,” she told him. “I think she might be the source behind Wend-Z, so she’s going to probably ask you some of the more salacious questions. I’ll stay close and signal me if you need me to interrupt.”
Wend-Z was a local gossip site that had was the bane of Delaney’s existence and hadn’t made Sean’s life too easy since his cover had been blown. She just seemed to always have a tantalizing bit of gossip.
“I can handle her. I’ve been asked more inappropriate questions than you’d believe,” he said. He squeezed her hand and then put on what she thought of as his I’m-a-megastar smile and walked over to the reporter.
Paisley kept her distance, trying to keep her focus on the evening, but it was impossible not to think of the baby and the fact that she hadn’t told Sean about it yet. Seeing him in his element, working the crowd, made her very aware that as different as their lives were, this wasn’t a situation that she wasn’t going to be able to handle.
And as they moved down the red carpet, she could easily envision the two of them working together at future premieres. The last few weeks had been magical. The kind of Christmas that she hadn’t known was possible. They’d done press events and stuff with her found family and even Mrs. B had invited them over to watch her favorite film,Miracle on 34th Street.
After that, it had been impossible for Paisley not to acknowledge that she had no real fears about Sean faking it with her. He was more real than her father had ever been. But still she kept quiet about the pregnancy.
Being sure of Sean as a man was one thing. But being sure of him as a father, that was something else entirely.
They’d never even talked about staying together after the holidays. What if he went back to LA after the New Year? But she didn’t think he’d just disappear.
He’d gotten a script just two days ago and told her he’d be filming in Vancouver from February until May. Almost as an aside, he’d suggested she come visit him, but his eyes had been serious. Which indicated he was as unsure about the two of them as she was.
She’d told him she’d come visit, hoping he’d say he wanted them to be a couple. But he hadn’t. So she wasn’t sure where he saw their relationship going.
It was ridiculous to let fear take so much control over her life with him, but there it was. She was afraid to say she cared for him, afraid to admit how much she wanted him in her life because she was terrified of his reaction when she told him she was pregnant.
Now she wished she’d blurted it out on the same night that he’d found out his real identity. But, of course, she hadn’t, and she couldn’t go back in time or even call for a do-over.