Shawn moved the dolly backward, a living god with his camera, and I called cut.
It was…somber, the mood on the set. We had some scenes left to shoot in Paris, and the second unit was working around the clock with inserts and coverage, but this still felt like the end. It would be the end once the film was finished.
"Last scene!" I announced.
"Ugh, don't say that." Lucia pouted. "I'm not ready for this to end."
I frowned and looked behind me, seeking out Julian. And there he was. It wiped the frown from my face, and his smile made me smile, too. Nah, this wasn’t the end at all.
We were only getting started.Epilogue One
The following year
We'd found our beach house not too far away from Daniel and Zane's around the same time I turned forty-two in February. But since we'd been buried in post-production work, we'd only managed to make the downstairs feel like home.
This time, I gave a fuck. No matter how much I loved our loft, this house was ours from the beginning, and copying a couple pages from a Pottery Barn catalogue wasn’t enough.
Julian took care of most of the furniture. I wasn’t picky, though I liked what he did with Sophie's help, mixing old with new, sorta like in our loft. But I focused on keepsakes and pictures. I had Julian's script from Catching Stars framed, 'cause it had his sheet music doodled across the pages. He'd bought some souvenirs in Paris too that I found spots for in our living room. Combined with photos from our sightseeing and from work, it was beginning to feel a lot like we'd stay here more than at the loft.
I was sure as fuck okay with that.
Now, with Catching Stars finished, we had time to tend to the upstairs of our house, too. Asher, Daniel, and Zane were on their way over to help us put together some shit we'd had delivered.
Breakfast was served on the deck outside, and I watched in amusement as Julian laid out a rubber mat in the living room. He was protective of our hardwood floors and said the smallest scratch would shine like a beacon since the wood was dark. It was cute as fuck, seeing him fretting.
One day he'd almost panicked because we didn’t have a cover for the pool yet, and he worried Blue was gonna jump in. Snowball's chance in hell; she hated water.
"Isn't it easier if we assemble the furniture upstairs?" I asked.
He replied as the doorbell rang. "Not the desks for our study."
He had a point. We had a study and our bedroom down here; guest rooms and ultimate man cave would be upstairs.
Heading to the hallway, I let the guys in and assured them we'd stocked up plenty on beer and that breakfast was ready.
"Cheers for helping out, guys," I said.
"No problem." Daniel slapped my shoulder on the way to the living room. "This daddy's not gonna drive today! Hey there, Julian."
I grinned and turned to Zane, who was rolling his eyes.
"The kids are with his folks. God knows what's going to happen today," he drawled. "He's complaining that we don’t get out as much anymore, yet he's the one canceling plans and refusing to let anyone watch our children unless it's our parents."
And their parents lived out here, so when they were in New York…they were shit outta luck?
Asher chuckled. "So basically, either he's gonna get shit-faced, or he's going to worry himself sick about the kids."
"Pretty much," Zane laughed. "Let the party begin."
We all went outside to get some grub, and it was nice to have a day for just us guys. Shame Tennyson couldn’t make it, but he was living his own daddy life up in Mendocino now. They both tried to be there as much as possible when Kayden and Ivy had school, though sometimes it was impossible.
"I don't think you want that one." Julian smiled slyly at the sandwich I'd grabbed for myself.
I unwrapped it and saw bacon everywhere, to which I grimaced. "Yeah, no shit. Thanks, baby."
He handed me one with mozzarella, pesto, and sundried tomatoes instead, and then we dove into a conversation about Asher being disgruntled because his eldest had just gotten a job in modeling. But she'd graduated from college with good grades; I didn’t see what was so wrong with testing it out. Zane, being a former model, had a lot to say.
"Noah," Julian whispered.
I didn’t know why he was keeping his voice so low, but I leaned in and asked what was up.
He showed me his phone. "I just got this. Should I open it?"
I squinted at the display and saw it was an email. Shit. From his grandparents.
"That’s up to you," I murmured.
We hadn't heard from the Hartleys even once. To be honest, I had hoped to get some kind of reaction after our interview had been published last Christmas. We'd even debated sending them an advanced copy but had eventually decided against it, mainly because Julian and I had made the cover along with another Hollywood couple. We'd been kinda hard to miss that month.