Page 91 of Claim to Fame

“I’m sure they do,” Ethan grumbled.

“What’s a great idea?” Jo asked, appearing in the open door to Ethan’s office with Julie in her arms.

“Holding romance events at the vineyards. Author signings and book launch parties. Did you know there are entire romance conventions?” Gavin asked.

“Sounds fun.” Jo set Julie on the floor and watched fondly as she toddled across the room to Ethan.

“Might be fun but there’s no way they pay as well as weddings,” Baz pointed out.

Ethan swept his granddaughter up in his arms. “Hi, Jujube.”

Julie giggled, reaching her hands up to tug on his beard.

“If you’re all done talking business, I’ve been sent to fetch you,” Jo said.

Baz scowled. “Fetch us?”

“Your game night awaits,” Jo said with a wink before turning and marching down the hall, clearly expecting them all to follow.

Which, of course, they did, despite Baz’s grumbling.

When they arrived back at Ethan’s house, Sabrina and Tessa had hauled out what looked like every board game from the closet in the hall. Ethan set Julie down in front of her toybox in the corner of the room and headed back to the kitchen, leaving Baz and Gavin to help with board game selection. He hadn’t seen Hannah since she’d left for St. Anthony’s High after lunch to help with play rehearsal. It might have only been a few hours, but with each new cancellation and each new prickle of dread creeping up his spine, the need to see her increased.

Unfortunately, Caleb and Jamie were the only ones in the kitchen. Jamie had already set out a full spread of tapas on Ethan’s kitchen counter and Caleb eyed it hungrily.

“Did you make mini pizzas?” Caleb asked Jamie.

Jamie gestured to a small tray of miniature pizzas, each topped with a single pepperoni slice, chopped herbs, and a drizzle of sticky honey. “Down there, you heathen.”

“I am a man of God, sir,” Caleb said with mock offense. He took a bite of the pizza and groaned before gesturing for Ethan to join them. “Ethan, you have to try one of these.”

“In a minute. Has anyone seen Hannah?”

“Out back with Kyla and Molly,” Jamie said, barely looking up as he removed another sheet pan of empanada-looking appetizers from Ethan’s oven.

Ethan moved through the kitchen and out the back door to where the women stood talking. His steps slowed as he approached, clocking the pained look on Hannah’s face.

“What’s going on out here?” he asked.

“Rehearsal didn’t go as planned,” Kyla said.

“What does that mean?”

“Some kids did a deep dive on social media and dug up some pretty nasty opinion pieces about the whole you-her-Jackson thing,” Molly explained.

“And you let them?” Ethan snapped, stepping closer to Hannah, as though he could retroactively shield her from adolescent fuckery.

“They’re kids, Ethan. Kids who are addicted to their phones,” Molly said.

“They didn’t do anything wrong,” Hannah added. “They had questions, that’s all.”

“What kind of questions?”

“Mostly the ‘is it true’ kind. It’s fine.”

“It’s not fine,” he snapped.

Her eyes darted to his and she looked so tired he wanted nothing more than to gather her in his arms and tell everyone else to fuck right off. But it wouldn’t fix anything.

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