Page 51 of Cherishing Happily Ever After

It’s not that she didn’t like doing press and promotion; she did. Truthfully, she enjoyed all aspects of her career. Some actresses she knew hated doing the promotional tours. They complained and whined and did everything they could to get out of them, but Steph liked it. She always had. It was part of what made her such a fan favorite. She genuinely liked what she did, and had deep appreciation for all of her fans. And it showed.

“I promise I’ll be all in as soon as the bridge is fixed.” The idea of jumping on a plane and leaving Travis in a few days made her sad, but she brushed it away. What they were building together at Lynx Creek would last long after the bridge was repaired and life returned to normal. Because—using Travis’s own analogy—the foundation of their house was strong.

She couldn’t help but giggle remembering their conversation about theirhouseand the blush as the memory of what they did on the mountaintop together after that conversation took over.

“Stephanie!”

Once again, Lewis’s voice snapped her back to the present.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was daydreaming.”

“No kidding.”

She could practically see him rolling his eyes and shaking his head.

“Look,” Lewis continued. “There’s another reason I’m calling. Were you aware that the press has picked up your story?”

“The press?” She swallowed past the lump that had instantly formed in her throat. “Mystory?What are you talking about?” But even as she asked the question, she knew the answer. Her mother.The Pulse.She’d totally forgotten about that. “Shit.”

“Not shit, Steph. It’s a good thing. Well…” He trailed off because Lewis knew all too well how Steph felt about her privacy in Glacier Falls.

It was true, she loved her fans and she’d never shied away from the press. In fact, she had a surprisingly good relationship with them. They’d reported fairly-ish about her life and she didn’t make it excessively hard for them to take pictures. She knew she was lucky. The media had painted her in a positive light. As asweetheart. Not like some of her costars who’d been painted with a much darker brush by the very same reporters. Their stories always had anedge. Something that could hurt their reputation, which only fueled their fire to stay away from the paparazzi, and a vicious cycle started that was very different from what Stephanie had experienced.

Still. Glacier Falls had been her sanctuary.

“I didn’t call them, Steph,” Lewis said. “You know that even if we needed the—”

“I know.” She stopped him. “It was my parents.” She clenched her teeth. Maybe she should have touched base with them again on the topic, but she’d been so busy…shit.

“Your parents? But—”

“They were worried about their little girl.” She rolled her eyes even though she knew her parents’ actions came from a place of love. Still, they could have just demonstrated their love by coming to visit when they said they would, and then they would know firsthand that there was nothing for them to be worried about with Stephanie stuck on the other side of the bridge. She sighed audibly.

“But since the press is already there,” Lewis was saying, “we might need to use them to our advantage with some promotion. Bella is in the city right now, but we can get her—”

“You’re not serious, are you?”

But she knew he was. Lewis was on her side, always was. But he also knew what was best for their projects and for getting just the right amount of publicity. He was a big reason that she was a star, and Stephanie knew that he’d help her friend, Bella Burton, become that huge star, too.

“Look, we might as well control the narrative, right, Steph?”

She nodded. He wasn’t wrong.

“I know you’d rather they weren’t going to be in Glacier Falls at all, but we need to decide how to approach it. Is there anything else you need to tell me? Who are you with?”

Stephanie swallowed hard.

“Look, can we discuss this later? I’m not really sure I…” She’d known Lewis forever. He’d helped to build her career. Still, she wasn’t ready to tell him about Travis, or what it would mean in the press. She’d have to figure it out, and soon. But not quite yet. “I’ll touch base before the bridge is finished, okay?”

She could tell Lewis didn’t like it. He was a man who liked a plan. But he reluctantly agreed, as she knew he would. “We’ll talk soon.”

They ended the call and even though she knew she shouldn’t do it while she was worked up, she immediately pressed the button to call her mom.

She answered on the first ring.

“Honey, are you okay? Is everything—”

“Fine.” She interrupted. “Everything is fine, Mom. I told you not to call the press and—”

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