In The Heat of Los Angeles

“Evie, are you really going to work the whole drive?” Harry asked. We had been in the car for maybe 20 minutes and I’d been on my iPad reading and replying to emails.

“Umm…no?” I replied. This was the moment I was wishing we’d taken one car instead of Emma driving she and Eliza up separately. Or perhaps just wishing Eliza had decided to ride with us. She decided last night after we had dinner with Emma that she was going to ride with her, said she wanted to give us some alone time since we wouldn’t get much of it on this trip.

“We are only 20 minutes in the drive. It really is a beautiful drive. So put your iPad away, settle in with the coffee we bought you that is probably cold already, and let’s talk."

“About?”

“Whatever you want to talk about.”

"Did you just want to hear my voice? I can read you the emails I have in here.”

“No, no emails.” He reached over and took my iPad away from me and put it in his door.

“Hey!”

“Nope. Your father text me yesterday and told me that I needed to make you enjoy the trip in England and focus on being the girlfriend meeting my Mum, not my manager. Emma and Eliza have everything under control. You can work during the shoot but your email can wait.”

“I dislike that you and Pops are getting along now. You’re sabotaging my plan to have three peaceful hours of time to work in the car while you drive.”

“Based on traffic getting out of London we are actually looking more like three and a half hours.”

“And I can’t work?”

“Nope.”

“At all?”

“Nope.”

“You are the absolute worst.”

“Not what you said last night.” I started to blush. “Last night you perhaps told me I was amazing repeatedly for like 10 minutes and then again for another 25 when I was done with you."

“I fucking hate you.”

“You are such a liar.”

“Fine. I’m not going to look at my email. What are we talking about on this road trip?” I picked up my coffee to take a drink. He was right, it was sort of cold by now.

“I say we talk about how you should move in with me.”

“You moved me in with you already.”

“No, I mean everything. Like pack up everything in boxes and move in with me for real. Permanently.” I choked on the coffee. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it was just…hot.”

“Lies.”

“Okay, I’m shocked. Move in with you? Permanently?”

“You’ve stayed at your condo once since we got together and I was with you. I think we should make it a real thing. That way you aren’t having to stop at home for shit that you need or buying doubles of stuff.”

“You really want me to live with you?”

“No, I’m asking you so that you’ll move in with me and then I can hate my life for living with you. Yes, I want to live with you. I want to know that when I’m home that every morning I wake up next to you or at least next to where you slept if you’re at work already. And that I know if I’m not home that I know you’re in my bed and in my house and making it feel like home. It’s always just felt like a house, you are what makes it feel like home.” He glanced over at me. “Are you crying?”

“Umm.” I wiped my cheeks and felt tears. “I guess I am.”

“Why?”

“I have no fucking clue. I guess I am emotional at you telling me that I am what makes your house feel like home.” He pulled his car over to the side of the road and put it in park before leaning over to me and wiping the tears off my cheeks.

“So will you move in with me? Harold and I would like to have you there.”

“Of course I’ll move in with you.”

“I’m glad you answered with that or the rest of this trip would’ve been really awkward.” I started to laugh before I leaned forward to kiss him. As our lips broke I heard the voice in my head that would normally be filled with panic, instead it was trying to decide if I put the condo on the market or if I kept it and let Ty and Eliza keep living there. “You're thinking about something that has you making the crazy face.”

“I’m not doubting my decisions…our decision. Just trying to decide if I sell the condo.”

“Would you really consider that?”

“Yeah, I would.”

“What about Ty and Eliza?” Harry asked as he put the car in drive again and pulled back onto the road.

“Well, they can find somewhere else to live. I mean I will probably talk it through with Pops and Mom first.”

“Would you need to do that?”

“Technically speaking the downpayment on the condo was a gift from them. So I feel like they should be okay with me selling.”

“Which do you think you should do?”

“I don’t know. I mean having real estate is a good investment but also it’s a pain in the ass if it’s friends that are living there. I’d need them to find two roommates to cover the difference in the mortgage payment because currently I’m eating the cost of Kammi’s rent now that she’s moved out. I of course always paid more than everyone else because it’s my condo and I had the master bedroom. But what they pay me won’t even half of the mortgage. Kammi and I both paid more because we made more, we just never told Ty and Eliza.”

“That’s a lot of stress for you to have. If you want to sell it I’m okay with that.”

“You realize me living with you, especially if I sell, means that you need to start letting me help around the house with stuff.”

“I do realize that. I also think I’m finally okay with you helping with that and not feeling like I need to do some super manly caveman dance about paying for everything.”

“Well, fuck me, I’m so proud of you for that.” He started to laugh. “You’ve had a caveman reaction to me buying you fucking coffee. Letting me help pay for shit at the house, that’s a big step.”

“I know. I’m trying to be a grown up.”

“You’re doing great. I will likely sell. It’s just gonna be difficult to explain that to Eliza and Ty. I mean if worse came to worse and it sold fast they could stay with me while you’re gone until they find a new place.”

“I sort of predicted that thought out of your head.” I laughed. “I would be okay with that but when I come home after the movie they need to be out. I want us to have our own place. Hell, we could look for and buy a house together rather than just live in my place if you wanted. I just want somewhere that is ours and not you plus multiple roommates. We are adults in a serious, committed relationship and we shouldn’t have a bunch of other people around all of the time. We need a place where we can be us without everyone else.”

“I agree with that. I’d rather have them not ever live with us but I also don’t want to kick them out on the street without somewhere to live.”

“I get that and obviously we have the space. But when we are living there together they need to have somewhere else to stay. I’m being an asshole for saying that aren’t I? I mean I lived with Ben and Meredith for almost two years.”

“You were also like 17 or 18 when you lived with them. They are both almost 25 years old. They need to be grown ups.”

“So you’ll talk to Jimmy about it?” Harry asked.

“Yeah, Mom will be so excited we are living together that she’ll tell me to sell and save the money. Pops however might want me to keep the place and use it for SME.” I opened my text messages and pulled one up to send to Pops. We’d left early enough today that we could make it to Holmes Chapel to have lunch with Harry’s Mum. Clearly in LA it would be the middle of the night and Pops would be sleeping. But he’d read the text when he woke up so that would be okay.

Hey Pops. So…awkward to ask this over text so call me and we’ll discuss. But…I’m thinking of selling the condo. Yes, that obviously means moving. I'm sure you can guess it means moving in with Harry. But it doesn’t make sense for me to spend as much money on my mortgage when I’m going to be helping with a house. You and Mom paid my downpayment as a graduation present so I wanted to discuss with you what I should do. Should I keep or sell? Call me when you’re awake. Oh and if you are SUPER pissed that we are talking about legitimately moving in with each other you should probably take some time to breathe and adjust before calling me. I’m headed to meet his Mother so I don’t need you to yell at me before hand and make me act like a freak, which is how I normally act I know. Okay, now I’m rambling. Call me when you wake up.

“You rambled in your text to him, didn’t you?”

“I did. I’m pretty sure I sound like a fucking loon. But he loves me and is used to it.”

“We all are by now, love.” I glared at him which he caught it in his peripheral vision and made him start to laugh at me.

“The phrase ‘I hate you’ is going to be the most common thing out of my mouth for the rest of this trip. I can feel it.”

“And I will respond by informing you that you’re a liar.”

“I know.” I shifted the way I was sitting in the car and put my legs across the center console and across Harry’s lap.

“Comfortable?”

“Eh, not really. I’m considering climbing in the back and taking a nap.”

“Not allowed.”

“I figured that. So you get my feet instead.” He dropped a hand from the steering wheel and reached across the car to rest it on my thigh. “So living together.”

“Living together.”

“Are we out of our minds?”

“I don’t think so,” he said. “I think that we have both been through a lot in life and know what we want. We’ve found it in each other. What is the point of waiting to live together just so we can fit into the socially acceptable ideas that other people have about us? There’s no reason for us to wait until we’ve been together for a year or two years just because it will make someone else comfortable.”

“I guess when you look at it that way it makes sense.”

“The only reason I hesitated it because you’re extremely close with your roommates. I didn’t want to disrupt the life you have with them but I also don’t want to delay the life we could have together just so you can have a couple more months living with them.”

“Also makes sense. So what made you decide now was the time to ask?”

“Well, I heard you and Gemma talking about it the other night. She was being honest, my family doesn’t care that we are living together sort of and won’t care that we are actually living together either. And your family doesn’t care either.”

“Doesn’t care instead of won’t care implies that you know for a fact that they don’t care. Do you know for a fact that they don’t care?”

“Maybe…” He was trying to play coy. I hated when he did this because it was usually just to annoy the shit out of me. He knew how to push my buttons and did it often. I kicked at his stomach. “Okay, yes I know for sure.”

“How?”

“Men discuss things when golfing,” he replied.

“Not usually anything intimate when their golf partner is their girlfriend’s father.”

“Well, he asked.”

“Asked what?”

“What my intentions were.”

“Oh?”

“Yeah, he wanted to know what we were planning on doing with me being away for summer and that after the movie I’m off to record an album and that I don’t consider Los Angeles home. He wanted to know what my intentions were with our relationship considering there will or could be distance between us for an extended period of time. He wanted to make sure that I was serious about you.”

“And you told him you were going to ask me to move in with you?”

“Ummm…yes?”

“Harry!”

“What? He said he knew it was coming and not just me covertly moving your stuff in but actually moving you and everything in. That when I head back to London for long periods of time I’m going to want you to come with me. I told him that by no means do I expect you to uproot your life to follow mine but that I want to know that my home is yours, no matter the city I’m in.”

“And Jimmy didn’t hit you with a golf club?”

“Nope. I mean did he appear to love the idea of me moving you not only out of Los Angeles but out of the country, not really. But he also didn’t threaten to hit me with a club or the golf cart, I chose to take that as a good sign.”

“You can’t have only discussed this with Jimmy.” I knew how he was. There were multiple times I’d come home to him on the phone with my Mom or Dad. He and my Dad had developed some weird friendship since the visit to Chicago where they talked…more than I talked to my Dad.

“I didn’t.”

“What does my Dad have to say about this?”

“That he likes seeing someone make his little girl happy. Also that us moving in together is a step towards marriage which is a step towards babies and he wants grandchildren. Your Mom was doing her cackle laugh in the background at that. I think they enjoy terrifying me.”

“They do. They also enjoy terrifying me and they want grandchildren.”

“Oh I know. I told them to give us time. We hadn’t been together long. Having children now would be irresponsible. Moving in together wasn’t too bad.”

“I am sorry that they are so crazy. But also not sorry that finally someone else has to listen to my Dad ask for babies. It’s gotten old over the years.”

“It’s cute. Your Dad is excited for you to be happy, in love, and with a family.”

“He also is crazy and wants babies around. He doesn’t even think about the fact that he could scare you off.”

“He won’t scare me off though.”

“Well, duh, I’m awesome. Of course you won’t be scared off. But if you weren’t so head over heels in love with me he could scare you off.”

“Help! I’m choking! Your ego is suffocating me in the car.”

“Welcome to my world. Normally it’s your ego that is doing the suffocating.” I finished my coffee and put the empty cup in the bag that had held the pastry I inhaled while reading my email. “So you aren’t letting me work so we can talk. What are we talking about?”

“Whatever you want that isn’t work related.”

“What if I wanted to ask you how your writing sessions went this week? Like as a girlfriend who is excited about the fact that her boyfriend is writing music.”

“Writing sessions went well. I really like Mitch a lot. I can’t wait for you to get to know him better. We have like two nights in LA before we leave for Mexico. I told him we'd all go out and get drinks or something.”

“That would be nice. I only met him briefly when I stopped at the house between meetings this week. He seems shy.”

“He is at first. But he’s awesome and he’s a god on guitar. Like if I had the talent in his pinky I’d feel lucky.”

“You’re a great guitar player.”

“Thanks but you’re required to say that.”

“Actually no, managers are required to be honest when it’s not convenient.”

“Girlfriends however are supposed to encourage their boyfriends to follow their dreams.”

“Umm…okay?”

“You don’t think you are supposed to encourage me?” he asked.

“If you were absolutely terrible at something and I encouraged you to pursue it I’d be a horrendous girlfriend. You’re a good guitar player. Mitch probably emerged from the womb playing a guitar solo. You did not. So don’t compare yourself, you’re great.”

“So are you.”

“Thanks. I know I’m pretty awesome.”

“I meant at guitar.” I rolled my eyes. This had become a normal thing for him. He wanted me to play music with him, he wanted my input on what he was writing. “Don’t roll your eyes at me. You are good. You are also a great piano player. Why don’t you play more often?”

“I’m too busy and it isn’t really something I need to do for my work.”

“But it’s not about work. It’s about having fun. Why don’t you do it?”

“I don’t know. I just don’t. It stopped being fun for a while. It was a constant thing. Recitals and lessons and a band and pressure everywhere about me being a musician when I grew up. I didn’t want that. I wanted to be behind the scenes.”

“Did something happen that made you feel that way?” I hated him for this. His ability to read me when I didn’t want to talk about something.

“Uh…no?”

“You phrased that like a question. So what happened?”

“I had done the band thing in high school and had fun with it. In college most of them had moved away to go to some party school somewhere. I tried playing shows by myself which was fucking terrifying because I was used to having the guys in my band with me. So, I dated a guy who told me that my music wasn’t good and that I sucked onstage. Needless to say, I stuck to the backstage stuff.”

“Was it Drew?”

“What do you think?”

“He’s the worst,” Harry said. I started laughing. He was picking up on the way that I talked to my roommates. It was so funny to listen to him when he talked like us. His accent made it sound like it was trying to be proper which usually made me laugh harder. “You’re laughing at me.”

“Always.”

“I love the way you laugh. Sometimes it’s just your little high pitched giggled but other times when something is really funny you stop making noise all together. Then you stop breathing which is perhaps less cute because I worry about that.” He scrunched his face up.

“I’ve not died from my laugh yet and I made it to 25, so I think we are good. Speaking of laughs, you look like the crying laughing emoji when you’re laughing really hard. My roommates all pretty much love that.”

“You are all mean.”

“It’s cute.” I reached for where his hand was resting on my legs and wrapped my fingers between his. “So tell me what I should expect from your hometown and meeting your family.”

“Well, my family will love you. Gemma already does. Mum is one of the kindest people in the world. I’ve told her everything about you and she claims that she’s just so happy that I’m happy that nothing else matters. My step-dad will love you, I sometimes wonder if you’ve already met him and become friends because you both give me so much shit.”

“This makes me excited to meet him. Someone with ammo on you that is willing to share it so I can always keep you in line is bound to be my new best friend.”

“I know. It’s slightly terrifying.” He laughed a little. “I’m still not sure if we will see my Dad while we are here. I’m trying.”

“It’s okay babe. Don’t worry. I will be back to England with you again.”

“It’s just that I’ve met all of your family and I really want you to meet at least my immediate family. I mean I’ve met a good portion of your cousins even.”

“I know. My family is just psychotically close. That isn’t everyone’s family. And you’re home to work, not just hang out and have fun. But I would love to meet your Dad while we are here. We can make it happen.”

“Thank you. We will hopefully be able to but it might just mean we have a cramped schedule when it happens.”

“Have you ever looked at my calendar when we are in LA?” He started to laugh. “Cramped schedule is my middle name.”

“Your middle name is kicks her boyfriend in her sleep.”

“No, that’s my superhero super power.” He started to laugh loudly. “Although, I think surviving cramped schedules are another super power of mine.”

“I would agree with that. I would also add your skills in bed to that list.”

“Not a superhero power, that’s just luck.” He started to laugh again. “I mean really it’s not a super power.” I started to click through my phone to look at the schedule that Eliza had plugged in for the next few days. “We shoot tomorrow and part of the next day. If your Dad is available on day two there might be time to drive to Manchester and meet him for dinner. We don’t even need to bring Eliza. We can tell she and Emma to have a night off.”

“That would be nice. Though spending time at home with my Mum and Robin is the most important part other than work.”

He was somber talking about this. It was a trip home he wasn’t 100% prepared for. Robin was sick. He had finally decided it was time to open up about it and talk about how he was processing it rather than saying he was fine and Robin was going to be fine. He knew that there was a long road ahead of his step-dad. Having a chance to spend some time at home with them was something he desperately needed. I’d tried to convince him that we were skipping Mexico and staying in England so he could be home. He evidently told his mother my idea and I received an email from her, which let me tell you was terrifying when you hadn’t realized she knew your email address, and she told me that I was sweet but Harry needed to have fun in Mexico before he had to work.

“You make the call on if we go visit your Dad. If you want to spend time with your Mum and Robin he will understand completely.”

“You said Mum.” He giggled. “You always say Mom. The Chicago accent comes out when you say it too.”

“You're rubbing off on me. Though I swear if I call Grace Mum I will never live it down. She’ll ask me when I became British.”

“If I have my way someday you’ll have more British slang in your vocabulary and spend a lot more time here.”

“You might want to find a magic genie to grant you some wishes, buddy.”

“It will happen someday. You’ll eventually have to slow down a bit.”

“Ha! Don’t hold your breath.”

“It will happen. I know it.”

“You’re so confident. It’s almost cute how wrong you are.” He flipped me off before I moved my legs and sat up. I leaned over to him and kissed his cheek softly. “I love you and I love our somedays.”

“I love our somedays, too. And you.” The drive was beautiful, he was right that I needed to enjoy it and not just read my email. He stopped a few times along the way to show me little places he’d discovered over the years on his drives home. As we pulled in to Holmes Chapel I could tell he was excited as he was pointing out places that he intended on taking me while we were here. As we pulled up the drive to the house I felt myself get nervous. I bent forward and rested my head in my hands which were propped up by my elbows resting on my knees. I took a deep breath. “Are you okay?” he asked as he reached his hand across the car to rub my back.

“Fine, just nervous.”

“About?”

“Meeting your mother!” I looked at him and I knew he must’ve sensed the panic. I was starting to hyperventilate and felt tears stinging my eyes. “What if she hates me?”

“Evie, she’s going to love you. You’re an amazing person and so easy to love.” He stopped the car despite the fact that we weren’t completely up the driveway yet, unbuckled my seatbelt and pulled me into his lap. “Everlee Mae Scarcello, there is nothing to worry about. She is going to love you but you know what the most important thing is?”

“That you love me?”

“Yes, that I love you. Also that you love me. When she sees that nothing else will matter.” He hugged me tightly before giving me a kiss. He held me tight for a few moments before breaking our silence. “You okay, babe?” I nodded.

“I’m gonna need your help getting back to my seat, this is super uncomfortable.” He started to laugh before giving me another sweet kiss. I was finally situated in the car and we made it up the last bit of the driveway.

“You’re going to do great,” he said before he opened the door and got out. I took a deep breath before I got out of the car as well. I followed him to the back where we grabbed our bags, he handed me my iPad which I slide into a bag quickly. He shut the tailgate of the Range Rover just as the front door of the house opened. The happy shouts of a mother who hadn’t seen her son in a long time filled the air as she practically ran to us.

“Harry! You’re home!” she engulfed him in a hug that made me smile.

“Hi Mum.”

“Did you have a safe trip?”

“We did.”

“We…yes, of course.” She turned around and smiled at me. “Everlee it’s so wonderful to finally meet you.” Before I knew it she had me in a hug. “Sorry was the hug presumptuous? We are huggers.”

“I heard that from your daughter yesterday, the hug was fine. It’s also wonderful to finally meet you.” Harry smiled at me from behind his Mom and gave me a thumbs up.

“You’re doing great!” he mouthed out behind her.

“So did you both have a good trip up here?” she asked as she took a bag from my arms and put an arm around each of us as we walked up to the house.

“Yeah, the drive up here is gorgeous. I love England so it was nice to have a chance to see a bit of it outside of London. The trips I’ve taken here over the last maybe 18 months have kept me stuck in London the entire time.”

“You travel to London a lot?”

“Yeah, my company has an office in London so I’m here for meetings quarterly and sometimes more often than that.”

“That’s nice that you get to spend time here.” She looked at Harry who just rolled his eyes.

“Mum, you don’t need to pretend this is like meeting any normal girl for the first time. Evie travels for her job, a lot. She will be back when I’m gone in France filming the movie for her quarterly meetings. You’re also doing pretty terribly at pretending I haven’t already told you all of these things.”

“Well I didn’t want to make you look overly eager about having a more serious relationship with the woman by pointing out that you’ve told me everything about her down to…” Harry put his arm over his mother’s mouth. The nerves took over and I started to laugh, uncontrollably. I got to the point where I couldn’t breathe.

“She knows I tell you things, that doesn’t mean you need to retell them.” Harry looked me straight in the eyes. “You know that point where your laugh stops being cute and starts freaking me out?”

“Where I stop breathing?” I asked as I was trying to catch my breath.

“Yeah, that point. You’re there so you need to stop and breathe.”

“Sorry,” I said sheepishly. “But your face was too perfect. Your eyes went GIANT as you became terrified of what she was going to say. Like you told her about my secret tattoo or something.”

“You have a secret tattoo?” Anne asked. I gave Harry a wicked grin as he rolled his eyes at me.

“No, she doesn’t, Mum. She’s just a smartass who is trying to annoy the fuck out of me right now.”

“I love you,” I whispered.

“And I love you…most of the time.” We finally got everything in the house and Anne decided to start by giving me a tour of the house and get our bags settled in our room.

“You can stay in Gemma’s room since she won’t be home and then Harry you can stay in your room.”

“Mum, we live together. She doesn’t need to sleep in Gem’s room.” He looked a bit embarrassed about having to talk about this.

“If you would feel more comfortable with me staying in Gemma’s room I’d be happy to do that.”

“Oh it’s not necessary. I just wanted to join the fun of annoying Harry today. His bedroom and bathroom are set up so you can both stay in there. I’ll give you both a few minutes to get things settled and have tea ready downstairs in the kitchen.”

“Thanks, Mum.”

“Thank you so much, Anne.” She shut the door and he fell onto his bed.

“I’m sorry,” he mumbled into the pillow.

“About what?” I asked as I climbed onto the bed next to him and burrowed my way into his arms.

“She’s doing things to embarrass me.”

“You met my Dad right?” He laughed a bit. “So you know that I’m well aware of how parents behave. My Dad is the worst.”

“I usually expect that behavior from my step-dad, my Mum is normally the calm one.”

“You have a calm one? Jealous.”

“You really don’t have a calm one. Have you ever?”

“Umm, no?” I thought a little harder. “I take that back. Cynthia was always creepily calm when things are chaotic. Even after she and Pops split. Rachel and I were together enough that when things happened, it was usually to both of us or we were at least together when it happened. She was usually the one that reminded him that we were kids and that accidents happen.”

“Major accidents?”

“No, like breaking an ankle during cheer camp, normal things for a 14 year old girl.”

“Cheer camp, huh? Any chance you still have a cheerleading uniform around?”

“I might have one from high school somewhere. I mean Mom is a hoarder so she probably has it somewhere at home in storage or something.”

“You should bring that home the next time you visit Chicago.” I started to laugh as he snuck his hand up the back of my shirt.

“Harry, we need to go downstairs to be with your Mom. No making out in your bedroom.”

“Fine,” he whined. We got out of bed and headed down to the kitchen where his Mom not only had tea but lunch ready.

“Anne, you really didn’t need to go to this much trouble,” I said as we sat down at the table.

“It’s no trouble really.” She clearly understood how her son ate, it was stuff to make salad. I loved the random times I’d get text messages from him asking if we could go out for burgers and fries. The Circus all laughed at how much healthier I’d started eating just because I was around him. I felt my phone vibrate repeatedly in my pocket but didn’t take it out. My watch lit up and caught Harry’s attention as I silenced it.

“Do you need to take it?” he asked.

“Nope, whatever it is can wait. We are having lunch with you Mum.” He smiled at me before handing me a plate.

“So Evie,” she started. “Wait…is it okay that I call you Evie?” Was I okay with it?

For so long Evie had been something that was limited to family. Growing up I’d never had a problem with Eliza or Kammi calling me Evie but as we got older it had become E or Ev instead of Evie or Everlee. I don’t even remember at what point of my life where calling me Evie became a thing that no one could do without being my family. But it happened. I hated being called Evie unless it was my siblings or parents. It was probably some traumatic experience with a girlfriend or stepmother that made me never want someone who wasn’t either a blood relative or my Dad to call me Evie.

Then Harry happened.

And when he called me Evie it was like every endorphin decided to do a dance that made me happy. Was I okay with someone else calling me Evie?

“Evie is perfect.” I smiled at her and I saw Harry’s reaction.

“So, Evie, tell me about yourself. Not the stuff my son would highlight about you when telling me about his girlfriend who moonlights at his manager. Something about you that you like talking about.”

“Well that’s tough because your son has probably blurted out every detail about my life to you. But I’m the oldest of four, sort of.”

“Harry has told me a bit about your family. But tell me more.”

“Well, my Mom and Pops got divorced when I was a little kid. She married my Dad when I was 7. I’ve got three little brothers; Jonathan, Christopher and Mason. They are my Mom and Dad’s kids so technically they are half brothers but I don’t see it that way. They are my favorite guys in the world and thank god they love your son almost as much as I do. They keep asking when I’m coming home next and bringing Harry. I don’t know that they care about me making the visit anymore if I’m not bringing him.”

“Her brothers are awesome. Her whole family is,” Harry added.

“Yeah, he and my Dad are practically best friends.”

“Your Dad is your mother’s husband, right?” Anne asked.

“Yeah, my biological father is my Pops. I’ve always called him that. It’s what he and my uncles all call their father and because I was so often around he and his brothers I picked up on it quickly. I think I was two when I started calling him Pops. When my Mom and my stepfather, Marco, got married I declared I was calling him Dad during the rehearsal dinner. He was petrified until my Pops started laughing and said it seemed right. I know it’s weird, my whole family gets along.”

“I think that’s wonderful. I wish that Harry’s father and I could be that way for our kids.”

“It’s not for everyone. I wouldn’t recommend it to every family, it’s just always what worked for ours. I got flown around the country and world to be with my Pops for stuff. It usually meant that Mom or Dad had to go with me until I was old enough to travel alone.”

“Sounds like an interesting way to spend a childhood.”

“Your son tells me I wasn’t ever really a kid, just a tiny adult.”

“She was, Mum. Her father was taking her to business meetings with him when I would’ve still been stealing Gemma’s dolls.”

“Gemma told me you did that until you were a teenager,” I said without even missing a beat. Anne started to laugh despite the look on her son’s face which was slowly morphing from surprised to slightly embarrassed.

“I hate you."

“Aww, you stole my catchphrase.” He glared at me for a second. “He’s not kidding though. Since my Pops moved to Los Angeles when I was 5 I basically got to be his shadow when I visited. I didn’t get along with babysitters very well or the women my father chose for that matter. So he couldn’t really leave me alone. But when I was old enough to work I just started working there. So he’s technically right, I was never really a kid, just a tiny adult.” Anne laughed a little but it was the laugh I often saw from parents who thought it was sad that I’d missed out on my childhood to hang out at my father’s office and then started working there as soon as I was legally old enough.

“Well it clearly helped you learn a skill that has taken you far in your career. Harry sent me the article that was written about you for that magazine recently.” The LA Mag article, it wasn’t great but it did give a pretty honest portrayal of me while also speculating on my relationship status with her son which I found incredibly unfortunate. Especially considering it was mentioning the lawsuit that had been filed regarding the leak of my medical records. I wanted to hide from it but Harry wanted to celebrate it. The magazine was all over the house because it was my first cover and he wanted to show it off so he had it on every possible table a person might logically leave a magazine on. He kept telling me how proud he was of me for it. I was uncomfortable by that behavior until I realized he was being honest, he was just proud of me. Drew would’ve been insecure and jealous of my success and likely told me that it was a superficial article that I shouldn’t have participated in. “I enjoyed the article, the author clearly did a good job of portraying your personality. It makes me excited for the first time I get to see you with your friends. The relationship you have with ‘The Circus’ seems fun.”

“They are my support system. I’d be lost without them. All of them,” I said as I looked at Harry. He was part of that support system and The Circus whether he wanted us or not. Joe had tried to convince him that there was an initiation process last weekend which didn’t really go far because we all basically laughed uncontrollably at how serious Joe looked. They told him that because he’d survived a month with me that he could skip the initiation process Joe had created.

The remainder of our lunch with Harry’s Mom was nice. I was able to learn more about her and he stayed relatively quiet allowing us a chance to talk. I’d told him that all of the downtime we had when we were in Holmes Chapel was his to plan and I’d promised not to check my email the entire time which should’ve gotten me an award of some sort. After lunch he decided that he wanted to show me around town so we were back in the car, this time with Anne tagging along so she could spend the time with us as well. We had dinner plans with Eliza and Emma tonight so that Eliza could also meet Harry’s Mom and Robin.

Holmes Chapel was a cute town. Seeing the way Harry was able to sort of act normal was also nice. So often in LA he was stopped, even if we were just stopping for coffee. Here people said hello and a few young girls asked for photos when we were in and out of a few shops but no one was aggressive or rude, which unfortunately happened sometimes. We stopped by to make sure the girls arrived safely. I was so used to living in big cities, to me I was imagining a hotel but it was a small cozy inn and looked like the setting to some old novel that I would’ve been forced to read in high school.

Anne was insistent upon preparing dinner for everyone at the house tonight instead of us going out to eat. You could tell she was happy to have Harry home and wanted to have him at her dinner table as much as possible. She had told me all of the meals she’d planned for the few days we were home. I was pretty sure we were gonna need rolled out of England if we managed to eat it all, it was clearly why she decided a healthy lunch was a good option. We made it back to the house shortly before Anne expected Robin home from work. She wanted to get started on dinner so I went into the kitchen to keep her company while Harry made some phone calls.

“So are you excited for your trip to Mexico?” Anne asked.

“I am. It’s always a fun trip and it will be nice to get a chance to spend some time with my family. I miss my brothers, Mom and Dad like crazy so it will be awesome to spend a bunch of time with them.”

“Harry seems excited about it.”

“He does.”

“I do want you to know how grateful I am to have a woman in my son’s life that puts him first and his family. It was sweet of you to offer to cancel the trip so that you could both stay here with us longer.”

“There is nothing in the world more important than family. I wanted him to be with his if that is what he needed to do.”

“He was with us for quite a while before he left for Los Angeles and met you. He nearly cancelled that trip because he wanted to stay longer, he thought I needed him. My son is wonderful and is always concerned about taking care of me. I am unbelievably lucky because of that but I am so glad he didn’t cancel that meeting he scheduled with your father. If he had he would’ve just stayed here following me around the house and he wouldn’t have you.” I felt a lump grow in my throat. “He seems more like himself. He’s working again, he has a new challenge or two on the horizon and he has you. You make him so happy, Evie. That’s the only thing a mother ever wants for her children. I’ve never seen him smile the way he does when he looks at you. So I want him to be with you as much as he can. The amazing kind of love you two have for each other doesn’t come along often in life. He should enjoy it.” She smiled at me before turning to the stove that was behind her. It was that moment that I dropped my head and tried to take a deep breath without crying.

“How are my two favorite women?” Harry asked as he walked into the kitchen. I’d felt a tear slide down my cheek so I quickly wiped it away hoping he wouldn’t notice for the second time today I’d cried as a reaction to the way he or someone else talked about how he loved me. He wrapped his arms around me and bent down to kiss my neck. “Hi.” He spoke in a whisper only I could hear.

“Hi,” I replied just as quietly.

“Oh I was just telling Evie how happy I am that you listened to me and got your bum on that plane to LA to meet her.”

“I am pretty happy about that too,” he said as he sat down beside me at the island in the kitchen. He smiled at me before leaning forward to kiss me softly. “I had considered seeing if I could reschedule the meeting so I could stay here. She packed my bags for me and kicked me out.”

“I am so glad she did. Though I also wish my father would’ve told me you were coming so I could’ve prepared for you to be in my office.” His Mom started to laugh. “Legitimately the only thing I could think to say was hi. I haven’t gotten starstruck since I was like 13. Yet he walked in with his stupid smile and these curls and all I could say was hi. I’m still embarrassed about it.”

“I love it,” Harry replied.

“He told me about that meeting. I don’t think you were starstruck or that he was nervous for a meeting with one of the top people in their industry. You were lovestruck.” Harry and I both started laughing. Love was definitely not what we felt in that moment, lust maybe, but love was a far off thought during that first meeting.

“Yes, Mum, lovestruck sounds good.” There was a knock at the door. “I’m sure it’s the girls.” He stood up and left the room to go check and see just as Anne’s phone started to ring.

“Hi Robin,” she answered. I took the time to look at my phone to see I had a text from Pops.

Give me a call when you have a chance.

I stood up to walk into the living room where Harry was talking to Emma and Eliza as he took their coats.

“Hey, I need to call my Pops,” I said to Harry.

“Go upstairs to the bedroom, you’ll have some privacy there.”

“I’ll be right back girls.” I took off up the stairs quickly and shut the door to the bedroom before clicking to call Pops.

“Hey kiddo.”

“Hey Pops. What’s up?”

“I woke up to your text this morning. I called you earlier.”

“I thought you might’ve but I’ve been with Harry and his Mom all day. I felt like it was rude to leave answer what could be a long conversation when I was getting to know my boyfriend’s mother.”

“You made the right decision and as always have wonderful timing I am in the car headed between meetings. So, you’re moving in with Harry for real and not just him moving your stuff in?”

“He asked me to this morning on our drive between London and Holmes Chapel. I think he’s right in his thinking and his house feels like home.”

“What is his thinking behind you moving in together now? You’ve been together just over a month. That’s rather soon.”

“Well his statement to me was that if we feel like it’s right that we should do it because it’s what we want and not wait just because we are concerned that other people might be uncomfortable with the decision. He said that he wanted to know that I shared his house with him because I’m the first thing that has made it feel like home.”

“I think he’s absolutely correct.” I was shocked but also not shocked about this. My father was someone who fell in love extremely quickly, thus the multiple stepmoms and girlfriends who had come in and out of my life over the years. The shocked part was he normally tried to do whatever he could to stop me from being like him when it came to love. “Love is a funny thing, I’ve never seen you as happy as you are with Harry. He’s a wonderful guy and will do whatever he can to make you stay as happy as you are. So if the reason you were asking was for my blessing, you’ve got it.”

“It wasn’t really the reason I asked. You, Mom and Dad gave me the money for the downpayment of the condo as a graduation present from college. If I’m moving out there is the decision of do I sell or do I keep it?”

“That’s a tough decision to make. It’s a great investment to have real estate but currently renting it to just two of your roommates might be tricky. You’d be increasing their rent by quite a bit to have them staying in it just the two of them.”

“I know so I almost think selling would be best.”

“Or you could look to rent it out as the entire condo. You know that we often search for housing for clients where their needs are met but that it would be short term. I think that keeping the property and using it as an investment property might be your best plan. In fact, I have a client that will need a place starting in June for a month film shoot.” Would I be able to break it to Ty and Eliza and have somewhere for them to go by the end of the month so that it could be ready for Pops’ client to move in? I knew I could make it happen and that this would be a great option for me to keep the property as an investment but move forward in my relationship with Harry.

“I would need to move out quickly, which I don’t think will be a huge challenge. Helping Ty and Eliza find somewhere to live might be but then again they could stay with me until they did since Harry will be gone all summer. And I can have Cynthia come in and decorate it for me so that it’s furnished.”

“I think that’s a great idea. Cynthia can help you put furnishings in there, we can have one of our property managers help you get a lease put together.”

“I like this idea. I didn’t even think of it. I just thought about selling. Eliza just got to Harry’s parents’ house so I’ll talk to her a little bit about it tonight and call Ty. That way they have a chance to decide what they wants to do next. I don’t know if they will both want to get a place together or live on their own.”

“You’re a good friend to worry about them but all you need to worry about right now is yourself and your relationship. Now go enjoy the evening with Harry’s parents.”

“Bye Pops.”

“Bye kiddo.” I hung up the phone and took a deep breath. Telling Eliza that I was moving would be hard. We’d lived together since we were 19. I’ve never lived with a boyfriend, not even short term, until Harry. And while normally I’d likely freak out instead I was imagining what it would be like to live there, if he and I would discuss redecorating parts of it so it reflected us instead of him. I took a look in the mirror and a deep breath before going back down to the kitchen. The stools at the island were filled by Emma and Eliza so Harry pulled me into his lap.

“How did the call go?” he asked quietly.

“Really well. Really, really well actually.”

“What was the phone call?” Eliza inquired, she was sitting close enough she heard Harry and I talking.

“It was with Pops. I needed to talk through a decision with him.”

“Must be big,” she replied.

“It is. It was about whether I should sell the condo or keep it. Harry asked me to move in with him permanently this morning and I’ve decided to do that. There’s actually a client that needs a temporary living space for four months so Pops thinks that rather than sell it I should turn it into an investment property. Make some cash on it while I have it.”

“Living together is a big step,” Emma said. “Congratulations!”

“Thanks.” I looked at Eliza. “You and Ty will come live with me once Harry moves out until we can find you two somewhere to live. I don’t want you two to think that I’m kicking you out or anything but moving in with Harry seems right and it wouldn’t be fair to more than double the rent that you and Ty are paying so that I can move out. And while it also might not be fair that someone wants to move in the first of June I thought that if we packed your stuff, put it in storage until you found somewhere and you could stay with me that it would be okay.”

“Don’t worry about us. We will figure out what is next for both of us. We both know that you’re paying a lot more for the place now that Kammi has moved in with Nick. It’s not a good financial decision for you to spend that much money on a place you never see.”

“Thank you for understanding,” I said as I leaned over to hug her. “We will find you a place to live. We can call Pops’ real estate broker and find you somewhere.”

“That sounds like fun.”

“Harold and I are going to be very happy to have the lady of the house permanently at the house.” Everyone laughed a bit at Harry.

“How is the cat?” Anne asked.

“Good. Rachel sent me some pictures of him when she stopped at the house this morning. I told her she only needed to stop by once a day but she no joke admitted that yesterday she only had conference calls and then spend the bulk of the day sifting through photos designers are sending her of the new stuff they want her to use so she stayed at our place on the couch all day to hang out with him. Evidently he started snuggling her and she couldn’t leave.”

“I’ve had that happen. I'm generally not a late person, the cat make me run late because he just wants to play and snuggle,” Harry confessed. The door opened and in walked a man I knew to be Robin, Harry’s stepfather. He walked over to Anne in the kitchen and embraced her in a hug and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. I stood up so Harry could greet Robin.

“Hello, Harry,” he said as he pulled his stepson into a tight embrace.

“Hi, Robin,” Harry replied. Their hug lasted quite a while, it had been hard for Harry to be gone and I knew seeing his stepfather in person made him feel better.

“Alright, alright Harry. Now introduced me to the lovely lady you had in your lap when I got home.” Everyone laughed a bit.

“Robin, this is my girlfriend Everlee Scarcello. Evie, my stepfather, Robin Twist.”

“It’s nice to meet you, Robin. I’ve heard so much about you.” Just as Anne and Gemma had he pulled me into a big bear hug.

“It’s nice to finally meet you too, Evie.” I saw Eliza out of the corner of my eye prepare herself for my reaction to the use of Evie and when what she saw was me smile and hug him a bit tighter she relaxed.

“Robin, this is my assistant, Eliza Richards." Eliza stood up and hugged Robin quickly before sitting back down.

“Well it’s nice to have all of you in the house and whatever Anne is making for dinner smells delicious.”

“It really does,” Eliza said.

“It’s almost at the point where I put it in the oven. Why don’t you all go get comfortable and I’ll be in to chat in a few minutes,” Anne suggested. We all moved towards the living room and sat down. There was an oversized chair that Harry picked before grabbing me and pulling me into the chair with him.

“I’m excited your father had ideas and is supportive,” he whispered in my ear.

“Me too. I’m now anxious to be home and move.”

“Do you really want to do it all on your own?”

“Oh I won’t be physically lifting the boxes but I’ll likely do all of the packing. Though having someone pack me wouldn’t be terrible. Though it will mean a bit of time at home with my roommates.”

“We do only have like three days at home before we leave for Mexico so let’s look at having some help. I mean I can help you pack too but I’d like to try and figure out how to get you there before we leave for Mexico since we get back and I have just under 48 hours before I leave you for the summer.”

“I know,” I said.

“And I want it to be our home for that short time we have together. So maybe you have someone pack your stuff for you. You have Ty at home, he can help oversee it, then that way you can help them pack their stuff but we can get you moved.”

“Okay, I’ll talk to Ty later about it,” I replied. He kissed my cheek softly. The conversation between all of us flowed easily. There was a lot of questions about me and Eliza since we were the new ones to this little group. Our dinner was wonderful, Anne was an amazing cook. There had been quite a bit of wine for all of us and we managed to drink it all. Harry was trying desperately to be good so that he didn’t have a hangover the next day but broke down and had a few glasses with us. We were all around the fire when we decided it was time for me to call Ty.

“Cheerio,” Ty answered. I started to giggle. I had him on speakerphone on the deck with just Harry and Eliza with me.

“Hello, Tyberius.”

“How is jolly old England?”

“Wonderful,” Harry asked.

“It’s a bit chilly right now,” Eliza added.

“Oh I get all of you.”

“You do,” I said. “It’s an important call.”

“Oh?”

“Yes,” I took a deep breathe and felt Harry squeeze my hand. “So Harry and I are moving in together…for real.”

“I figured this was coming soon,” he said. “How long do EJ and I have to find a new place to live?”

“Well here’s the idea,” Harry added. “You two can stay with Evie this summer while I’m on set in France and England. I only ask that the three of you figure out where two of you will go by the time I get home.”

“That’s easy enough,” Eliza said.

“I don’t want to live with both of you so trust me I’ll be gone by the time you get home.” I laughed at Ty. “I’m really happy for you two though. Ev, all we have all wanted is for you to find someone who makes you realize there’s a life outside of your email inbox. Harry was perfect for the job.”

“Thanks, Ty,” Harry replied.

“Ty, I miss your face,” I added.

“I miss all three of you. Get home soon, the condo is super quiet and I want all of you here. We can figure out what we are all doing next. So are you selling?”

“Actually, I’m gonna keep it as an investment property. Pops has a client who needs a four month rental. So I’m going to have Cynthia help me redecorate it and make some cash off of that place for a while.”

“That’s an awesome idea,” Ty said. “I’ll start getting myself packed then.”

“Ty, see if you can hire a moving company and oversee it. I don’t want the like five days we will be in Los Angeles to be spent packing her up.”

“We have a company we use for corporate relocations. I’ll contact them and see what we can have done. Eliza, do you want me to have your stuff done too?”

“Sure, although make sure that I can pack for Mexico, I haven’t done that yet.”

“I’ll make sure you both can.”

“Perfect,” I said. “We will talk to you tomorrow Ty. We miss you.”

“Miss you guys too.” We ended the phone call and Harry smiled before leaning forward and pressing his lips into mine softly.

“We are really doing this and I’m so happy about it.”

“Me too,” I responded. “Me too.”

Eliza and Emma confirmed schedules with us for tomorrow and we all made sure we were on the same page. We were meeting them in the morning and taking off for the location the shoot was scheduled. We said our goodbyes before saying goodnight to Anne and Robin and going into our room. I took my makeup off and got in bed to find Harry propped up against the bed, glasses on and reading on his iPad.

“Whatcha reading?” I asked as I grabbed my pajamas out of my suitcase.

“The emails you managed to get sent to me before I stole your iPad.”

“What happened to no work in bed?”

“It’s not like we are having sex in here tonight. Unlike your Mom’s house at mine my bedroom is down the hall, not up a flight of stairs and on the other side of a mansion.” I laughed a bit as I finally crawled in bed next to him. I grabbed my iPad and started to look through the schedule for tomorrow again before I saw the text pop up on the top of the screen.

The Circus
TK: I’m gonna break the news for them. E and Harry are moving in together. Full disclosure I’m saying this so tomorrow at work when I’m arranging a moving company that Kammi doesn't get pissed that I’m working for E.
KM: Moving in together? Wow. You two are moving fast.
HS: No point to moving slow so that others are comfortable with it. I love her and she loves me. She makes my house feel like home and I want her there.
NJ: Good for you. I’m glad you two are doing what makes you happy. I started asking Kammi to move in with me at four months. She said no until this spring.
KM: Because I liked the condo more than your house. You and Joe bought a new place, I liked it enough to move.
JJ: You selling the condo E or are Ty and EJ staying there?
ES: Keeping it as an investment property. Pops has a client moving in June 1 that will rent it for four months and I’ll make a profit off of it.
KM: Nice! That’s an awesome idea.
ES: Credit for that goes to Jimmy. He thought I should keep the investment instead of selling.
JJ: Eliza, I take it this is why you called me earlier when I couldn’t answer the phone.
ER: It is. And you just called me back but I’m in the car with Emma, rude to talk on the phone.
JJ: Call me when you’re at your hotel.
ES: Don’t worry Joey. They are moving into the house with me while we look for a more permanent living situation for them as they need to be out before Harry returns from the film set.
HS: I want it to be just us there. Is that too much to ask?
NJ: Not at all. I understand completely.
JJ: I’m not going anywhere.
NJ: Don’t I know it. I woke up to you in bed with me instead of Kammi this morning.
KM: I was at work. You were fine. Living with Joe is fine. But they are not us and Ty and Eliza are not E’s siblings.
ER: Oh in other news, Harry’s Mom and Robin both referred to Everlee as Evie.
KM: Were there any casualties?
ES: None at all.
HS: She smiled in the cutest way. I think she liked it.
ES: I did. It was sweet. Honestly, I can’t even remember why all of you nut jobs stopped calling me Evie.
TK: Girlfriend #2 post step-mom #3. She called you Evie and her voice made all of us want to stab our eardrums when she said it so we all collectively decided only family called you Evie. Honestly, I miss calling you Evie.
ER: You miss it? She’s been Evie since I was born!
KM: Same. Does this mean we can all call you Evie without fearing a finger will be cut off.
ES: I think it does mean that.
NJ: SWEET!
JJ: I feel so special, I might cry.
ES: Oh get over yourselves.
HS: Alright everyone. While we love and miss you all, it’s late here. Time for bed.
TK: He wants sex.
ES: Not gonna happen. We share a wall with his Mom’s room.
JJ: OUCH!
HS: Yup. While I love my family and being home, getting back to London can’t come soon enough.
ER: I’m so happy I have my headphones with me. Noise carries in your house, H.
ES: Eh, I don’t care. Okay goodnight everyone.

I put the iPad on the nightstand and rolled over to look at Harry. He kept reading away at something before glancing down at me and smiling. He leaned over me to put his iPad on top of mine before he moved to kiss me. I smiled.

“You look cute in your glasses. I wish you wore them more often.”

“Maybe I’ll start doing it. I like you in yours too.” I’d already taken mine off but he moved to take off his. “I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“I can’t even begin to explain how excited I am that you are moving in with Harold and I.”

“I’m excited about it too. Now we need to get some sleep. Big day tomorrow.”

I ran my fingers through his hair. The way that the shoots were set up I knew that there wasn’t much time left with this. Tomorrow was the day, the day he’d get his hair all cut off. I knew that he’d have to do it for the movie. I knew he’d decided to do it in a giant chop to donate it, but I also knew that I loved his long hair. I loved the way it curled. The way it hung in his eyes when he was writing. The cut little bun he’d put it in when he wanted it out of his way. And this was the last night I’d get to lay in bed and play with his hair.

“I’m not sure I’m ready to say goodbye to this.”

“It’ll grow back if I feel like it. But I’m honestly excited for something new. Maybe my hair won’t define me for a while.”

“I know and I think it’s great what you’re doing but I will miss it.”

“I know you will.” He kissed me again before pulling my body into his. “Having you here, it means the world to me.”

“You wanting me here does too.”

Notes