Page 27 of Shine For Me

“Sebastian Adair,” she corrects. “He’s my Uncle Jon’s son.” That name triggers a memory—she’d mentioned her Uncle Jon changing his last name at the grad party last weekend.

“I feel like I’m missing some good gossip here.”

She laughs as she finishes up her text message and slips the phone back into her pocket. “You have no idea.” She points over to Sebastian’s retreating back. “So Bash is my Uncle Jon’s youngest. Uncle Jon started his production company about twelve, God, maybe fifteen years ago now?”

“And you said your grandfather didn’t like that?”

She laughs. “Understatement of the year. He lost it. Said Jon was betraying him, throwing all his hard work to make something for the family back in his face.” She rolls her eyes. “You can tell why my grandfather went into the movie business. The man is the biggest drama queen I’ve ever met.”

“So there was a rift?”

“Ahugerift. He basically disowned Jon. So Jon changed his last name—which nearly caused Jimmy to have a heart attack—and they’ve barely spoken since. All of my cousins on that side of the family have been cut off.”

“Uh, that’s pretty fucked up,” I offer. “To cut off your grandkids because you don’t like the actions of their parent?”

She shrugs. “That’s Jimmy for you.”

I don’t like the casual, accepting tone of her voice. This woman has worked for her grandfather for the last five years. Does she think he’d do the same thing to her if she stepped out of line? What the hell kind of family operates that way?

“But you still have a relationship with your cousin?”

“We do now, but it was shaky for a while. We were all close when we were little—Bash’s older sister Ophelia was basically my best friend.”

“Wait, Ophelia Adair?” I ask. “She’s your cousin?” Ophelia Adair is huge in TV. She’s the lead in that HBO show about the suburban PTA mom drug smugglers—a prestige drama, my agent would call it.

June smiles, a fond light coming to her eyes. “Yup. Isn’t she amazing? Even if I wasn’t related to her, I would still think she’s one of the best actresses working right now.”

My mind is boggling at the fact that June is connected to even more ridiculously famous Hollywood people than I realized but I try to focus on the rest of her story. “Anyhow, when things blew up with Grandpa and Jon, my dad took Jimmy’s side.” She rolls her eyes. “Obviously. Like he’d ever stand up to the great patriarch, right? So the families stopped spending time together. When we got old enough, though, we started seeing our cousins on our own. We had to hide it from our parents, but…” she shrugs. “At least we got to talk to them again.”

I have the sudden urge to find Jimmy Cain and punch his stupid face. And then find her father, who went along with this shit. Granted, my cousins and my siblings are closer than most families, but just the thought of not being allowed to see one of them because of shit our parents had between them makes me feel sick. Especially something as stupid as ego. Jesus. Maybe June’s family is even more messed up than I already thought.

“Anyhow,” she says, like none of what she just said is a very big deal. “Bash taking a role in one of Grandpa’s movies is going to be major drama. His dad will freak out.”

“I’m surprised Jimmy would cast him if things between the families are so tense.”

She snorts with derision. “Are you kidding me? Grandpa has been trying to get the Adair kids in his movies for years. He’ll consider it the biggest fuck you to Uncle Jon.” She groans a little. “God, he’s going to be even more impossible than usual. Like he needed to have any more reason to be arrogant. I’m so glad I’m not in LA for the fallout.”

An alarm beeps on my phone and I grimace. “I have to go meet this new trainer. You on set for a while?”

“At least six.”

“And then you’re ditching me to have dinner with your cousin, huh?” I say, trying to sound jokey and not let on that I’m irrationally disappointed by the change in our plans.

She blinks at me in confusion. “Did you not want to come with us? When I said we’d be done by six I meant both of us.” Her cheeks get pink. “You don’t have to, though. I shouldn’t have assumed you’d want to come or—”

I put a hand on her arm to silence her. “I want to come. I’d like to get to know your cousin.”Now that I know he’s not some asshole you’re into,I think, then immediately feel startled by the direction of those thoughts. Why would I care if June is into another guy? I shake my head, trying to clear it. “So I’ll see you at six?”

Her smile looks a little shy. “Sounds good.”