Page 161 of Score
“I know this is love.” I place her hand over my heart, letting her feel how it races under her touch and at the possibility of her keeping it. “Knowing things won’t always be easy and still wanting to be there for all of it. You say I want to do what my parents weren’t able to. You’re right because I want us tolast, and they didn’t. That piece of paper didn’t save their relationship. They left each other, but I want to stay.”
“With me?” she asks tearfully.
“Yeah, with you. Be mine. Let me be yours. Let me love you. I don’t need the paper or the ceremony. Just you. Just this. Can you give me that?”
“It might get hard. There could be times when you want to leave or wish things were different.”
“So like any other committed relationship where you don’t know what the future holds, but you know you want it with this one person? Kinda like that?”
She narrows her eyes in a half-hearted glare, but her lips twitch. “I hate you.”
“You actually love me.”
“Yeah, I do.” She sniffles and cups my face, pressing a sweet kiss to my lips. “I think as hard as I tried to stop, maybe I always have.”
FIFTY-FOUR
Verity
“Verity, you’re here.” Canon stands from the director’s chair in the video village tent that came to feel like a second home over the course of the film. “Thanks for coming.”
“I wouldn’t miss shooting the final scene.” I imitate him stroking his beard in that way the cast and crew tease him about. “So will you cut that beard now that we’ll be wrapped?”
“I think this is the longest shoot of my career.” He strokes the beard thoughtfully. “The end of the road. Well, we still have postproduction and edits.”
“And the score,” I offer softly.
“Ahhh, yes. The score.” Canon quirks one thick brow. “Is Monk keeping you up at night banging on that piano, or is he using that massive studio he built underground?”
My cheeks burn at his assumption that I’m living with Monk, which, of course, I am. For the month I spent in New York with Tessa and Mel, he stayed, too, only returning to LA when absolutely necessary for any work onDessihe couldn’t do remotely. We’ve been back in LA for two months, and when my lease ended a few weeks ago, it seemed ridiculous to renew, since I’ve spent so much time at his place.
“He’s doing a little of both.” I answer Canon with a laugh and a shrug. “Some in the studio and some on the piano upstairs. Listening to one of the greatest musicians of this generation play piano isn’t exactly a hardship.”
“Unless it disturbs my sleep,” Canon grumbles. “That must be love.”
I shove my hands in the pockets of my jeans and look at him directly. “It is.”
“About damn time.” Canon laughs at the exasperated look I give him. “Hey, I’m happy for you. And for that asshole, too. I guess he deserves to be happy.”
“If you do, then he does,” I lob back, but gentle my voice. “I’m happy for you and Neevah, too. Thank God her sister was a match.”
“Yeah.” Canon blows out a long, relieved sigh. “Her body’s responded really well to the new kidney, and her doctor finally cleared her to come back so we can shoot this last little bit.”
“Props to you for keeping Galaxy at bay so she could heal and we could still get this done.”
“It was certainly not out of compassion on their part,” he says dryly. “I had to use every threat in the book to keep them off our backs while she recovered. This town is a den of vipers, but you know that.”
“Agreed, but every once in a while, someone will surprise you.” I bite my lip. “We got a series order from United for my new show.”
“Holy shit.” Canon extends his fist for a bump. “That’s fantastic. What’s the show?”
“Um, it’s calledBlack Pearl.” I hesitate before going on. “I’m the showrunner.”
“Wow. That’s great.”
“Because of my diagnosis, I wasn’t sure I’d ever get to run a show, but when they offered it to me, I decided to tell them I have bipolar.”
“Frankly, after seeing the way Galaxy tried to treat Neevah when they found out about her lupus, I can’t blame you for being careful about who knew.”
