His Assistant - Alexa Land Page 0,81
every morning, and I always want to kiss you goodnight. In between, I want to spend every day with you, so what do you say?”
“Yes. I’ll absolutely move in with you.”
He grinned and put his head on my shoulder. After a pause, he said, “I need to make some changes. It’s not just your career that separated us. If I hadn’t been so insanely busy, I could have gone with you. Also, it’s not a good thing to feel totally worn down, all the time. I want to enjoy acting again, so it doesn’t just feel like an obligation. I think that means cutting way back on the number of movies I make in a year, and choosing films that mean something to me, instead of picking the biggest blockbuster. So basically, I need to totally redefine what it means to be a success.”
“It’s funny, I think we both arrived at the same place, even though we took totally different paths to get there.”
He asked, “In what way?”
“I realized I need to broaden my definition of what it means to have a successful musical career. All I really want is a chance to make the music I love, on my terms. That doesn’t have anything to do with record deals, or superstardom, or anything else.”
“That’s right.”
“There we go,” I said with a grin. “All our problems, solved.”
He chuckled at that, and then he said, “I feel so good about you and me building a life together.”
It surprised both of us when the bedroom door opened. Buddy stuck his head in and came as close to frowning at us as a dog possibly could. Then he stepped aside for Loco, who came running into the room.
She flapped her way onto the bed, and Buddy followed. I said, “Correction—you, me, this chicken, and a bunch of truly eccentric dogs, building a life together.”
Harper nodded and put his arms around me. “Exactly.”
Epilogue
Seahorse Ranch, Catalina Island
Two Months Later
“I’ve never seen so many dicks in my life.”
“Me neither.”
Harper and I had just arrived for our friends Will and Lorenzo’s bachelor party, and the place was a wall-to-wall dick fest. There were dick balloons, dick table decorations, dick sippy bottles with straws sticking out—it just went on and on.
Since both Will and Lorenzo were actually mature adults and not a pair of frat boys, I had to ask. “What’s with all the dicks?”
Will turned to me and swept his dark hair off his forehead. “I don’t know if you’ve met the whole Dombruso clan yet. Dante Dombruso co-owns this resort, and he was really kind to accommodate our wedding, even though he’d already reserved the whole property for his family’s vacation. That’s why we’re not complaining about the fact that Dante’s grandmother, Nana Dombruso, highjacked the entire bachelor party.”
“I think it’s festive,” Lorenzo said, as he joined us while trying to carry four cocktails. Each had a pink, dick-shaped swizzle stick sticking out of it.
Harper and I took two of the drinks and thanked him, and Will took the third and grinned at his fiancé. “My mom’s having the time of her life,” Will said. “That makes it all worthwhile.”
We’d met his parents when we arrived at the resort that morning, and they were a hoot. They described themselves as “a pair of hicks from northern Louisiana,” and wow did they adore their only child and his fiancé. They’d both been sporting T-shirts with pictures of themselves and the grooms on them, along with the caption “we are family,” which I thought was the sweetest thing ever.
Harper asked, “Is she going to be at the bachelor party?”
“Oh yeah,” Will said, as he straightened the lapel of his pale gray suit jacket. “So will Nana. Normally, I’d be concerned that two women of a certain age might be shocked by some of the goings-on at a bachelor party, but in this case I think we’re the ones whose jaws will be hitting the floor.”
We were in the living room of a huge private home on the grounds of the resort, and Lorenzo led us to some seats over by the fireplace. There was music playing, and about three dozen guys were clustered in groups, chatting and enjoying some appetizers. It was probably the calm before the storm, since Nana and Will’s mom were currently nowhere to be seen.
I asked Will, “Have you managed to find a new assistant yet? I know you won’t need one until July when you start working on your next film, but it