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raybansandcoffee · 7 years ago

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In the Heat of Los Angeles - Chapter Nineteen: Daughters (John Mayer)

If you need to catch up on the first eighteen chapters find them here.

“Have you heard from Ty about how his date went?” Harry asked from the shower as I was putting my makeup on. We’d gotten up early this morning to go for a run in his neighborhood. He decided to lift when we got back while I took my shower.

“I haven’t.” I picked my phone up and saw nothing in our group chat so I clicked to call him.

“Hello,” Ty answered in a whisper.

“Hey, how did last night go?” I asked.

“Really well. But I can’t talk.”

“Come on Ty, we just want to hear how it went,” Harry yelled from behind me. I’d put the phone on speaker.

“I’ll text but I can’t talk. Umm…he’s still sleeping.”

“Yes!” Harry threw his arms up in the air in triumph.

“Shut up,” I called back to him. “Get off the phone. And send us a text. You know Kammi is getting pissy that she hasn’t heard anything yet either.”

“Fine. Bye.” I heard the beeps signaling the call had been disconnected.

“I win.”

“I know, babe. You win. You found Ty a man even if it was just for last night.”

“What do I get for winning?” he asked as he shut the shower off and reached for a towel.

“A cookie?”

“That’s not fun. But if it’s all I get, then I’ll take it.” He stepped out of the shower and kissed my shoulder. “What time is James coming over?”

“4:00 so that we can watch the game together. I’m sorry that I’m dominating your Sunday with my father and his girlfriend.”

“I’m actually excited about it since he didn’t try and murder me the last time he was in the house.”

“He’d hire a hitman, he wouldn’t do it himself. Too dirty.” Harry’s laugh filled the bathroom, echoing off of the tile and walls. “You laugh. I’m pretty sure my Uncle Mikey is secretly on payroll and makes things happen when we need them to.”

“Uncle Mikey?”

“Pops’ younger brother. He works out of our New York office but I’m not really sure what he does because he doesn’t have a ton of clients. Pops tells me that he heads up our security team but I’m not sure what that means. So I tell Uncle Mikey that he’s our muscle. I feel bad that I only got to see him for coffee when I was in New York and I didn’t get to see his wife or kids.”

“Do you have a big family on the Scarcello side?”

“Yeah, you think that my Mom and Dad’s family was big. Pops is the oldest of eight kids. Four boys and four girls. I’m the oldest grandchild and the only one from the oldest child so it makes me extra special, at least I claim it does.”

“I’m sure it does. Your Nonna and Papa are very proud of you. Nonna was so happy I called to get the love parm recipe. She promised she wouldn’t tell a soul that I was making it for you. I hadn’t even thought about the fact that it’s the magical love parm and that she’d know that meant I loved you. But she was so sweet about it. She even offered to give me a few other recipes.”

“Nonna is pretty funny.” I went into the closet and grabbed a pair of ripped up skinny jeans and pulled them on. “She called me and left a message the day after you made the love parm to ask me how the trip home went and how you were. It was a very thinly veiled attempt to figure out if her granddaughter was in love.”

“That’s cute.” I turned to look at Harry as he pulled his boxers on. “Do I need to wear anything special today for your father being here?”

“No? I’m gonna wear a Cubs shirt. It’s just dinner with Pops. He’ll probably be dressed a bit nicer but it’s not necessary.”

“Jeans and a t-shirt are okay?”

“Of course. Just be yourself.” He pulled on a pair of black jeans that had a few holes in them and a white t-shirt. “If you want to borrow a Cubs shirt or sweatshirt I’m sure you put some in here,” I said as I pulled on a loose fitting swing tank that was grey and white striped and with a distressed Cubs logo in the center.

“There are. Depending on the weather I might steal a sweatshirt. Thank you for the offer, love. Are you ready to go?”

“I am. Let’s head to the grocery store.” We went down to the garage and climbed into my Jeep. I’d yet to switch back to my Range Rover because Harry was enjoying the Jeep, he’d even made room in the garage so it could be parked inside so we could keep the top off. He drove while I read him the text messages from The Circus.

The Circus ES: Alright Tyberius. I need to know how last night was and why you rushed off of the phone with me this morning because ‘he’s still sleeping’? JJ: Did Ty have a sleepover last night? TK: I did. Nothing happened. We came back here for drinks at the bar in the building and then came upstairs for one last drink and I decided he shouldn’t drive so he stayed. NJ: And nothing happened? I find this hard to believe. TK: We made out for a while. He’s a really good kisser. And the first guy in a long time that I didn’t have awkward conversation with. I really like him. Thanks Harry. ES: H is driving. He says “Ya welcome mate. Jus wan you to be ’s ‘appy as I am.” He then told me to not try and type his accent out. Oops. KM: He’s driving? ES: Yes, to the grocery store. We are picking stuff up to cook Sunday dinner for Pops and Jessica. Pray for me people, I have to be nice to a girlfriend today. ER: I am too lazy to look for it so - praying hands emoji JJ: She’s currently reading the texts with one eye. She’s refusing to put her glasses on. Kammi, are you cooking breakfast? I can smell bacon. KM: Of course I am. ‘Throw some bacon on it!’ ER: We will be downstairs in a minute. TK: The weird thing is that four of you are basically together right now and texting each other about breakfast instead of paying attention to ME! KM: Sorry. ER: Sorry babes. JJ: Sorry, not sorry. Breakfast trumps everything. ES: So in an update to yesterday’s strangeness…H gave me a key. KM: What the hell? It took Nick six months to give me a key. You got one in like 6 hours. ES: Three weeks actually but time doesn’t matter. Right? Please say right? I don’t want to feel like H and I are going to screw ourselves over here. ER: You two are fine, perfect in fact. Did he make extra keys so I have one too? HS: I did not and she might have to give hers back now that I see that she did try to type my accent. I don’t actually sound like that. TK: Ya kinda do mate. ;) HS: You should be nice to me. You had a sleepover because of me. TK: I appreciate that so much. In fact we are about to head out to brunch, well we have to stop at his place so he can change clothes, then to West Hollywood for brunch. KM: Have fun! Let us know how it goes. ER: Good luck with dinner tonight E and H. Give us the lowdown on how it goes and E…don’t attack Jessica. HS: Thanks and I will make sure she doesn’t. Can’t be bailing my girl out of jail today.

“You are such a smartass. I do not sound like that when I talk.” “You kinda do though. I mean maybe not EXACTLY like that. But you definitely do not type out words the way they sound when you say them.”

“You’re lucky with texting you can make sure your filter is in check. The girl I know sometimes says things like ‘your accent is sexy’ or ‘you have a really nice ass’ in situations that are far from appropriate.”

“You like it.”

“I do, but you also like the way I talk, it's what makes my accent so sexy.”

“I mean, sorta.” We’d picked up everything we needed to make dinner and were in the wine and liquor section of the grocery store. I found the scotch Pops drank, two bottles of the red wine he loved, and two of the white wine I loved. I knew we had some of the rosé I drank at the house and Jessica had been drinking that in Malibu. It was going to be an expensive trip to the grocery store. We made our way to the aisle and I stood waiting for the total as Harry glanced through the magazines at the checkout.

“At least we look cute?” He mumbled as he showed me a tabloid with a photo of us in the bottom corner. I threw it on the belt and watched as the girl who was working the checkout looked at the magazine then up at Harry and I then back down at the magazine, repeating this same gesture a few times. She didn’t say anything as she moved it down to be put in bags. I wasn’t one to ever buy magazines with gossip about my clients but I also didn’t want to risk someone taking a picture of Harry and I in the grocery store reading an article about us. “You didn’t have to pay for the groceries,” he said as we emptied the cart into the Jeep.

“I had to stock up on booze for today, that’s expensive.”

“I noticed you bought a bottle of Johnnie Walker Blue for my house. That’s really expensive.”

“I know but you’ve moved me into your house. I need to have a bottle of Johnnie in the house in case Pops stops by. It’s just how it goes.”

“You also bought four bottles of wine.”

“Yup, depending on his mood we might need some of those.”

“And beer.”

“I’m watching baseball, that’s how that happens.”

“You spent a couple hundred dollars. I could’ve helped.”

“You’re fine. I’ve been living at your house for three weeks for free. Most boyfriends ask for rent before they ask which sink you want to use in the bathroom.”

“I don’t need your money.”

“I know you don’t and guess what? I don’t need yours either.” I started laughing while I did jazz hands at him. He laughed at me in return.

“Occasionally you will have to let me do things for you. Or you’re going to get the slightly cocky boyfriend back. You know the one that just does shit without asking.”

“I know all too well. And, I will occasionally let you do things for me. But that doesn’t have to include forking over a bunch of money for the booze that my father will drink. I’ve got this covered babe.” “Fine, but tomorrow for dinner with Ed if we go out, you and that black card need to just take a break.”

“If we go out with Ed I’m entertaining a client which means it’s a business expense.”

“If you have dinner with me it’s not a business expense.”

“Sometimes it is though and if it’s you attending a dinner with clients with me as my boyfriend, then it’s a business expense. I mean we don’t need to worry about this now but you need to know that if we are out with some of my clients or employees that we you cannot argue about me paying.”

“Okay, I’m just not used to it.”

“I know, but you can’t argue about it. And when we go out on dates, I will promise to not argue with you about paying.”

“Good. And about money towards my house, don’t worry about that. I like having you in the house, it’s not about the money you’ll spend to help me live there. Someday if we get a house together then we can worry about that. Until then you have the mortgage on your condo, you don’t need to also pay for my house. Especially considering you are going to have to pay more for your mortgage now that Kammi has moved out.”

“I will. I don't want Eliza or Ty to feel like they have to pay more towards the bills with Kammi gone. I mean I could find someone to move in to Kammi’s room but I’m sure she will stay there on occasion and I don't want to make her worry about it since I’m sure she’s chipping in with Nick and Joe’s house.”

“You’ve got responsibilities and I get that. So until someday in the future,” he hesitated for a second. “Like way out in the future, when…umm if we buy a house together or if you decided to sell your condo, until then you don’t need to worry about it.”

“Okay, but I can help too.” “I know that and I appreciate it.” He finished the drive back home and we took the groceries inside. He threw me the magazine and told me to sit down and read it. Before I even had a chance I got a text from Eliza.

Teigen from Gossip Gang is reporting on you and H again today. Thought you should know. And just so you don’t think I’ve started reading gossip sites I set up a news alert for anything mentioning you two together so we can catch it before Jimmy.

She attached the article to her text.

“Well, we appear to be a hot news item today. We are on Gossip Gang again too.”

“They were at least funny the last time. Start with that one. The Celeb Weekly scares me a bit.”

“Okay.”

Are Harry and Everlee already getting serious?

New couple, Harry Styles and Everlee Scarcello appear to be getting serious…fast. Harlee, as all of us here at Gossip Gang have been calling them, have been spotted all over both Los Angeles and Chicago over the last few weeks furthering speculation that this relationship is more than just business. As Gossip Gang reported previously, Styles signed a contract with Scarcello Mackin Entertainment to bring Scarcello on board as his new manager now that he’s going solo and venturing into acting but it also seems like their relationship is more than just business.

Styles flew to Chicago last weekend to meet Scarcello in her hometown to celebrate her younger brother, Jonathan’s 16th birthday with a party and a Cubs game complete with luxury suite, we aren’t jealous at all. A few lucky Cubs fans managed to catch photos of them not only enjoying the game but the chance to meet Scarcello’s ex-boyfriend, Chicago Cubs first baseman, Anthony Rizzo. The meeting appears to have gone well as Scarcello and Rizzo have maintained a close friendship and have been known to go back and forth on Twitter keeping their followers all laughing. In addition to a lot of family time Styles was also spotted tagging along while Scarcello visited her alma mater, Northwestern University, to speak to a group of seniors as they prepare for graduation. They also enjoyed a few romantic dinners at some of Chicago’s hottest restaurants, which all happen to be owned by Scarcello’s step-father, Marco Ferrera. One of those dinners was a double date Scarcello’s mother, Grace, and her step-father.

The jet setting couple headed back to Los Angeles on Wednesday via one of SME’s private planes, don’t we all wish we could fly private with Harry? Scarcello’s Instagram featured quite a few pictures from their visit and flight home. Once back in Los Angeles it appears that Styles stepped it up and played caretaker to Scarcello as well. They were seen visiting a neurologist’s office in Los Angeles on Friday. Anyone who follows Scarcello on social media knows she openly discusses her battle with chronic migraines, we don't wish Everlee a migraine but we’d love for her to report to us how wonderful of a nurse Harry is and if he wears a candy striper costume while taking care of her. Thankfully it appears the recovery was speedy as the couple was also spotted out on Saturday evening with The Late Late Show’s James Corden and Ben Winston along with their wives.

Hit me up on twitter, @Teigen_GG with your thoughts on #Harlee. It’s definitely no surprise that I love it!

“At least this Teigen appears to be supportive.”

“She’s nice. I’ve met her a handful of times. She’s a blogger that I typically will allow to cover some of my artists. I’m with you though, Celeb Weekly scares me.” He was almost done putting the groceries away now.

“Let’s go for it,” he replied. I flipped to the page and saw TONS of pictures of the two of us taken off of not only my social media but also my family and friends’ social media.

Harry Styles and New Manager: More Than a Business Relationship?

One Direction heartthrob, Harry Styles seems to be building more than just a business relationship with his new manager, Everlee Scarcello. Scarcello, Music Division President of Scarcello Mackin Entertainment, issued a press release a few weeks ago announcing that Styles had signed with the powerhouse agency. Shortly after the pair were spotted canoodling in a Malibu restaurant in the middle of lunch.

In the short time they’ve been together Scarcello and Styles have taken trips to Malibu for a weekend with Scarcello’s friends. The group included her business partner, Kameron Mackin, as well as Mackin’s boyfriend, Nick Jonas, his brother Joe, and their assistants. Scarcello quickly left town for New York but was met by Styles in Chicago for a trip to visit her mother, Grace Fazio Ferrera, and her family. The two were frequently spotted out and about in the Windy City enjoying gourmet restaurants, museums, and had time to catch a game at Wrigley Field before heading back to Los Angeles.

Friday morning Styles accompanied Scarcello to a neurologist’s office in Los Angeles. There Scarcello was treated for a migraine. According to an unnamed source at the doctor’s office Styles not only acted as chauffeur to Scarcello but he accompanied her to the treatment room and was ‘an incredible guy’ even holding her hand as she received IV medication for the pain and dehydration due to vomiting associated with her chronic condition. Our source says that he ‘wouldn’t leave her side and insisted upon staying for the treatment’ which was at least an hour and even asked if he could push the wheelchair she was required to use as she exited the facility. Later Friday, Scarcello’s father, James Scarcello, stopped by Styles’ house. Her assistant, Eliza Richards, was also seen with a car full of clothing and what appeared to be Scarcello’s belongings. Is it possible that Harry and Everlee are already moving in together?

Celeb Weekly will keep you updated in the print and online versions of all the latest news about Harry Styles and all of your favorite celebrities.

“You might need to call your doctor’s office, love. The fact that someone is giving out your information is a bit unsettling for me.”

“Uh, yeah. I’m definitely not okay with that.” I picked up my phone and clicked to call Pops.

“Hey Evie,” he answered.

“Umm, I am going to tell you about this now and then tomorrow morning you and I need to meet with the legal team.”

“What about?” he asked, the concern in his voice evident.

“Celeb Weekly printed a story about Harry and I today. Someone in my neurologist’s office was an anonymous source and gave out information not only about my condition but my treatment while I was there Friday.”

“That’s not gonna fly. I’ll give Marty a call and tell him to put us on his schedule first thing tomorrow. Will you be in by 8:00?”

“Yeah, I’ll probably come in early for a work out tomorrow.”

“I’ll schedule it for 8:30 then, we can head to his office together. We will figure out what we need to do.”

“Thanks, Pops.”

“No thanks necessary. This is what I’d do for any of my employees but as your father, protecting you will always be my number one job. Don’t ever forget that.”

“Thanks Pops. I love you.”

“I love you too, Evie. I’ll see you at Harry’s at 4:00.” “See you then.” I hung up the phone.

“You and James are going to bring in a legal team?”

“Yeah, SME has some lawyers and because the article involves a doctor’s office leaking information about an SME employee to a tabloid, likely by purchasing the information. It’s private information of an employee. Our legal team would handle this for a client or one of our reps so with me it’s also important.”

“I hate to think that someone sold the story about your doctor’s visit. It was so painful to watch. The medication made you so sick, my heart was broken.”

“I’m okay now though. So let’s focus on the task at hand. Me teaching you how to make Sunday dinner.”

“Perfect.” I stood from the chair I was sitting in at the island and walked over to kiss Harry. I had my iPad sitting on the counter and opened up the app that I stored all of my recipes in. I read through it with Harry and had him get all of the spices and ingredients out so that we could put them on the counter. I went step-by-step with him to show him how Sunday dinner was made.

It made me so happy to be in the kitchen with him. I loved cooking, despite Mason always joking that I’d turned Hollywood and never set foot in a kitchen. When I was really little we did Sunday dinner with Nonna and Papa every week. At the time most of my aunts and uncles still lived within driving distance except for a few that left the city for college. Everyone who could be there was there every weekend. It was always a house full of people, even to this day. When Pops left Mom we kept going for a while to make sure that I was still part of this family tradition. As I got older she would tag along on occasion to see Nonna, Papa, and the whole Scarcello clan. Most kids of divorce had the every other weekend plan where they were passed between parents, with my Pops being in LA I spent weekends with my Nonna and Papa to give my Mom a free weekend. During those weekends Nonna taught me how to cook Sunday dinner and now I was passing it along to Harry.

“So your grandparents still do Sunday dinner every week?” Harry asked. We were sitting at the island and rolling meatballs together.

“They do. I probably should’ve taken you when we were home but with Jonny’s birthday and the game I knew I wouldn’t make it. We normally eat at like 3:00 or 4:00. I had called Nonna before hand, she told me to be with my brother.”

“I would’ve gone with you but your Nonna was right, Jonny’s birthday was more important. We can try to make it back to Chicago for another weekend soon and wait to fly out late Sunday or early Monday so we can go to dinner with your family.”

“That would be nice sometime but for now, we can just enjoy it here with my Pops. We have a lot of traveling coming up, we don’t need to throw a trip to Chicago in there. Maybe when you’re done in France.”

“Whatever you want.” He leaned over and kissed me. “Thanks for teaching me this. It’s been fun and it’s nice to just spend some time together.”

“I am glad you wanted to do this. It’s been a long time since I had Sunday dinner. When I first moved to Los Angeles Pops and I used to do it weekly but it’s a lot of work, especially for two people unless he had a girlfriend there. He finally got tired of all of the food for just us so we switched it up.”

“And you still do regular dinners?”

“We normally do. We haven’t lately, so thank you for suggesting this.” Now it was my turn to lean towards Harry and give him a kiss.

“If today goes well I’d be happy to do a family dinner with your Pops every week if I’m in town. I mean maybe not this much work for the four of us but we can do other things too.”

“That would be really nice.” Once the meatballs were done and in the sauce we settled onto the couch for a while.

“So I need to know more about baseball before your father gets here. I don’t want to sound stupid. What can we do to make me not sound stupid?”

“Watch some baseball?”

“Okay.” I grabbed the remote for Harry’s Apple TV and quickly logged into my MLB TV subscription and turned on yesterday’s Cubs game. I talked Harry through who the players were and what was going on in the game. By the end of the game he was able to guess who would come up to the plate to hit next.

“Okay, I have a way that we can cheat.”

“What’s that idea?”

“An Apple Watch and text messages.” He looked confused. “I’m a technology addict, you know that.”

“Yes, I do. But I don’t have an Apple Watch.”

“You played Apple Music Festival. They gave every artist a watch. I know this because I had clients play last year.”

“I didn’t keep mine. I gave it to Robin, he would actually use it.”

“Why am I not surprised?” He flipped me off. “It’s okay. I have three.”

“You have THREE?”

“It’s available in four colors.”

“You normally buy something in every color if you like it, so why only three?”

“I haven’t found a reason to rationalize needing the rose gold color yet?”

“Are all three here?”

“Actually, yes. I have a charging doc for them that I had specially made. I noticed it in my section of the closet upstairs. Eliza knows how I like options so she clearly put it away while I was passed out Friday.” He started to laugh that I’d noticed it and he hadn’t.

“I’ve only ever seen you wear the gold one though. Why would you buy the others?”

“Of course you’ve only seen the gold one. It’s the only one that’s been here. I’ve been to my own home twice in the last three weeks.” He laughed a little harder at that. “So, initially gold wasn’t available. And I had pre-ordered the silver one online, but as a gift to celebrate how long we’d been with the company the dads got the daughters and their assistants watches. Pops ordered me black because it’s 90% of my wardrobe. When the gold and rose gold came out I decided I really wanted the gold one, so I bought it for myself. And you’re right I wear it the most. I can easily sync one of them to your phone so that I can text you stuff and you can get it on your watch. Pops is used to me being on my phone so he wouldn’t suspect that I was being your digital Cyreno de Bergerac. I mean except that you’re trying to woo my father.”

“That could potentially work.”

“Which color do you want?”

“Too bad you hadn’t bought the pink one, I’d totally wear that.”

“I’m not in the least bit surprised by that. Somehow I found a weird boyfriend.” He turned to look at where I was laying on the couch with my feet in his lap. His face went from shocked to mischievous as he moved my feet from his lap and jumped towards me.

“Take it back,” he demanded as he started to tickle me. I couldn't stop laughing, not just because he was tickling me but because he was weird. Weird enough that his form of retaliation was a tickle attack.

“Fine, you’re not weird…you’re eccentric.” The tickling stopped but the glare got worse. “I mean you are weird but so am I and I love your kind of weird.”

“I love your kind of weird too. But your idea might actually work. Pick a color and I’ll wear it.” I hurried upstairs and grabbed the black one, it was the least obvious as to what it was. When I came down I downloaded everything I need and paired the watch before putting it on his wrist. He kept staring at it like it was going to bite him because he knew mine went off with alerts a lot.

The Circus ES: 🚨ALERT!🚨 Harry has an Apple Watch on today. KM: Did you buy him one? ES: Nope. But he’s evidently nervous that he won’t understand baseball enough to impress Jimmy so he's wearing the watch so I can sneak him information. NJ: Good idea for a quick fix, E. We should all go to a Dodgers game soon or just watch some Yankees games on TV. I can teach you about baseball and good baseball at that. The team your girl cheers for is currently in the midst of a 108 year dry spell. ES: YOU ARE DEAD TO ME NICK! DEAD. JJ: Ev, you know that by September every year you’re usually cursing the Cubs and threatening to give up being a fan of baseball. ES: This year is the year! NJ: It’s still early. ER: Joe, if you want to ever have sex again you should perhaps stop picking on Ev…you’re dating a Chicago girl now. JJ: Shit…sorry? HS: All of you are so funny but this watch is fucking weird. How do you all wear it? It won’t stop vibrating on my wrist when you all text me. KM: You get used to it. TK: It’s when it tells you to stand up and move that you’ll realize you hate it. Fuck you, Apple Watch. I like being lazy and watching hours of Netflix without moving. Don’t judge me. ES: The Apple Watch totally judges our Netflix binge days. PS I might need one of those soon. Season One of Grey’s this summer when I’m a free woman again? ER: Count me in! KM: I would come home for that. HS: She’s already planning life without me. To think I was trying to come up with sweet things to do so she wouldn’t miss me. I’m clearly chopped liver. NJ: You’ll get used to it. I have. If I’m on set or on the road it’s like my girlfriend turns back into the party animal she was before me. JJ: Nick you might need to teach Harry and I your coping mechanisms for feeling inadequate in comparison to carry out and all of them in E’s bed watching TV. NJ: I can handle that.

“It’s so weird to have it buzz against my wrist, especially considering all of you text so fast.”

“Kammi’s right, you’ll get used to it and then I’ll have to buy you one.”

“I want the pink one.”

“Okay, weirdo. So before Jimmy arrives I feel it’s time I tell you the list of producers that I’ve got lined up to meet with you. Eliza and Emma have coordinated with your schedule to make sure you’re able to meet with them.”

“Alright, who do you have?” I pulled the list up on my phone and handed it to him. “There’s a lot of names here.”

“I know. You’re poised to have the biggest solo debut of the year in whatever year your album actually comes out. I think some of them are prepared for you to come in with all of the songs you’ve written over the years and some of them are ready to sit down and help you craft a different sound if that’s what you want to do. You just need to meet with them and decide.”

“Do you come to these meetings?”

“I can if you’d like. Eliza made sure my calendar was free for all of them. I know a lot of them just from how long I’ve been in the industry so it wouldn’t be like you’re walking in blind. But some of them you know. Every producer or writer that ever worked with you in the band wants to be part of this if you’ll let them.”

“What do you think I should do?”

“Want my honest opinion?”

“Yeah,” he said. At that moment the gate buzzed. I glanced down at my watch to see it was 10 minutes to 4:00, of course Pops was early.

“I’ll let Pops and Jessica in.” I stood and checked to see it was them at the gate and buzzed it open before going to the front door and opening it, watching as my father’s Mercedes Benz G Wagon pulled up the driveway. Just as I suspected he was in a nice shirt and jeans, his casual look. Jessica was in a floral sundress and heels. I felt a little underdressed in my ripped jeans despite the fact that it was sort of my home I was welcoming them into. “Hey Pops,” I said giving him a hug and kissing his cheek.

“Hey kiddo. How are you feeling?”

“A lot better. I took it easy yesterday when The Circus came over to swim.”

“Good plan.”

“Hi Jessica,” I said as I hugged her. It was a slightly awkward hug but it was obvious I was trying to make this relationship work because I had to. “You look gorgeous in this dress.”

“Thank you. Those jeans are cute, where did you get them?” Small talk between women in LA somehow was always about clothing.

“A boutique back home in Chicago. We went shopping last weekend when we were in the city. Unfortunately I didn’t get to do much shopping in New York, the trip was too short and all work.”

“I love shopping in New York. James said we could go for a long weekend soon.”

“He loves New York.” I smiled politely.

“You do too, kiddo,” Pops replied. “How was New York?”

“Could’ve been better. The meetings went great, got a studio schedule worked out for the next quarter so I get the artists in that I need in.”

“Hey Harry,” Pops said as they shook hands.

“Hi James,” he responded before giving Jessica a small hug. “Hello Jessica.”

“Hi Harry.” She batted her eyelashes, I took a deep breath trying to contain the eye roll that was about to happen.

“What could’ve gone better?”

“Joe invited Drew out. They didn’t know how all of that relationship actually ended, which to say was poorly was an understatement. Drew brought out his girlfriend, who happens to be the person he cheated on me with.”

“The fact that you weren’t in an arrest report impresses me.”

“It did me as well, James. Eliza had me call as she got a bit out of hand, luckily we prevented her from getting too bad.”

“That’s a good thing. She’s got a bit of a temper on her,” Pops said. “Really? I hadn’t noticed.” Without even looking at Harry I reached to my right and punched him in the shoulder. “Fuck me. You need to stop that.”

“Blame Marco.” Pops was laughing. “He’s the one that thought she needed to learn how to defend herself. I knew she had enough of a mouth that there was no way someone would try to fight her for long.”

“You are lucky I love you, Pops or I’d punch you next.”

“You love him so you won’t punch him but love means nothing when it comes to punching me?” Harry was laughing while trying to make what appeared to be the worst angry face I’d ever seen.

“Your angry face is so intimidating.” He stuck his tongue out at me. “And eventually love might mean I stop punching you, but so far you are asking for it.”

“You two are funny together,” Jessica said. “It’s nice to see Ev…Everlee so happy.” Pops must’ve had a conversation with her about the whole Evie thing.

“Thank you,” I replied as I went to where Harry was standing, the shocked look finally melting off of his face and being replaced with a smile as I stood on my tiptoes to kiss him. “It’s nice to be happy. Okay, anyone need any snacks? I’ve got just about everything you could imagine wanting for a baseball game.”

“She’s not kidding. She bought more booze and beer for today than I feel like she did when we went to Malibu.”

“That’s not true. Ty and I bought a case of Rosé to leave at the house in Malibu. But you didn’t have any Johnnie Walker in your house. So I had to pick some of that up.”

“Funny, I also brought a bottle to you,” Pops said. “A gift to say thanks for making dinner.” He handed me a black bag and I pulled the bottle out.

“Well, now we have some extras. What would you both like to drink?” Harry asked.

“I’ll have a glass of Johnnie,” Pops replied.

“Do you have the Rosé from Malibu?” Jessica asked. I nodded and reached into the fridge to open the bottle that we had in there. I poured her a glass and handed it to her. I reached into the freezer and grabbed the bottle of Casamigos that was in there. I handed it to Harry and grabbed him a lime as well.

“Thanks, love.” We’d put an ice bucket out in anticipation of everyone arriving. I threw a couple of ice cubes into a glass and poured myself some Scotch. “Be careful. The doctor said that alcohol could trigger your migraine coming back more quickly than necessary.” He was speaking quietly so that only I could hear him. Pops and Jessica had sat down on the couch to watch the pregame coverage while I put some snacks in bowls.

“I’m okay babe. Thank you for worrying though.” He bent down to give me a soft kiss.

“I’m always going to worry.” Harry went and sat down in one of the oversized chairs in the living room near the open windows. I brought a few bowls of snacks into the living room before Harry pulled me into the chair next to him. Conversation was polite and pleasant during the first few innings of the game. I thought it might make Pops uncomfortable that Harry and I were sitting so close together but he didn’t appear to have any issues with it.

The Circus NJ: Harry you should mention that Rizzo just blew that play at first. JJ: Yeah, shit talk her ex-boyfriend. That’s totally a thing you should do. ER: No it isn’t. KM: Absolutely not. No. Don’t listen to these idiot brothers. NJ: Well, he did blow the play at first. JJ: Yup. ES: Shut up.

“So Harry, are you ready for all of the things that are ahead for you?” Pops asked as Harry took a handful of popcorn from the bowl I had in my lap.

“Yeah, I’m working on memorizing my lines, I think that’s what I’m most nervous about. I’ve never had to work at remembering that much dialogue. It’s not like learning song lyrics either because if I suddenly start singing them to the tune I put them to in my head I could ruin a shot.” I giggled a little. “But it will give me something to do while she’s at work. And I looked at my calendar today, Emma added a lot of meetings to it.”

“Time to meet with producers so when he’s done with France he can get to work on some music. I feel lucky that I get to be around and hear him goof around on the piano or guitar with some of the stuff that’s in his head. It’s time for other people to get to hear it too.”

“You’re writing?” Pops asked. “I’m always writing, I don’t know that anything I’m writing is intended to be for an album but I’m writing.”

“What I’ve managed to hear him singing around the house is great,” I said.

“Are you living here?” Jessica asked. “James and I read through the article you referenced when you called him this morning. It mentioned that Eliza moved some of your stuff in.” Harry froze mid-movement as he was putting a piece of popcorn in his mouth and I nearly choked on the beer I’d started to drink after the Scotch.

“Umm, not really,” I replied.

“How are you not really living somewhere?” She was relentless.

“It’s probably that she doesn’t want to tell her father that she’s living with a boyfriend,” Pops said. “Am I close?”

“Very close.” My laughter showed how uncomfortable I was. “We know that our time together is limited. He flies straight to France from Mexico and will be gone for several months filming a movie. We want to take the opportunity to spend as much time together as we can now.” “That makes sense.”

“I was also to the point that I was going to go mental at how her things mutate.” Pops started to laugh loudly. “First it was just bags of clothes she’d bring home from work. Then it was her suitcase from Chicago. It was taking up my entire closet so I felt it better to give her a portion of the closet and put the suitcase away.”

“She does do that. When she would come stay with me for the summer when she was a kid she’d ship clothing in addition to the two or three bags she’d end up with on a plane. She once tried to convince me she was going to drive so she could bring more. By the time she was 16 I got so tired of her room being a mess that I moved her into one of the guest houses. I think she still has clothes in the closet.” “I think I do still have clothes in the closet there. But I leave stuff there so when you spring a tennis match on me or horseback riding that I’m prepared.”

“Horseback riding?” Harry asked. “Pops has a lot of land and a really nice house. There’s a pool, tennis court, horse barn, and a huge trail through the canyon.”

“It’s a nice home,” Pops said. “I don’t know that I’ll ever bring myself to move. I mean it’s the house I raised my little girl in.”

“You better not move, I love your house.” I smiled at my father, this was going to turn out okay.

“You two should come over for dinner soon. You can see the house, Harry.”

“That would be very nice. Evie and I were talking about how your family does Sundays together as an entire family and that you two used to do that as well.”

“We did, it’s been a few months though. We’ve both been pretty busy. We should start doing that again, Evie. How about next Sunday you both come over to my house for dinner?”

“That sounds wonderful,” Harry replied.

“It does. Would you actually be cooking?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“You know better than that. Linda will make something. Just tell me what you want her to make and we can have dinner. You guys could come over early. You haven’t visited the horses in a while. And I think you won the last tennis match between us.”

“I did win the last match between us.”

“A Sunday at your place sounds like fun. I would really like that and I want in on this tennis action.”

“It sounds like a lot of fun. Everlee and I can lay by the pool while you two play tennis.”

“We could play doubles,” Harry suggested.

“That would be fantastic,” Pops agreed. “Though Jessica doesn’t play all that often.”

“I prefer the pool.”

“I do too sometimes.” Pops looked at me like I was crazy, he knew my competitive streak loved to play against him. I’d never done well with organized sports because I was too busy with music and dance growing up, but in the summers I was doing as much as I could. I’d learned to surf when I was young and always enjoyed playing tennis with my father. He’d tried to convince me to play in school but I just never did because I was focused on my other extracurriculars and work. Part of me regretted that now, I could’ve taken the time to be a kid when I was a kid. “But if given the opportunity to whoop my Pops’ ass in tennis, that is always my first choice.”

“I let you whoop my ass.”

“Nice try, Jimmy.” He glared at me when I used the name.

“So did you catch yesterday’s game?” he asked.

“We did,” Harry replied excitedly. “Arrieta pitched a great game and the home run that Rizzo hit in the sixth was incredible.”

“KB had a sweet play at third in the top of the 8th.”

“You met a few of them last weekend, right Harry?”

“I did. Evie introduced me to Kris and Anthony and a couple more.”

“I introduced him to Ross, Dex and J-Hey. I think it’s tricky for him to remember all of their names when if he listens to me talk I use nicknames and so do the boys. I think it was a struggle to understand our lingo.”

“I did struggle with that part. I tried to pay attention to what Evie and Jonny would talk about and I didn’t quite get it. Christopher offered me remedial baseball lessons, which sort of makes me feel a bit pathetic. He’s 8 and had to teach me about baseball. When football season rolls around I won’t feel as stupid around all of them.”

“I forgot to tell you, Pops. He’s a Packers fan.”

“Marco had to freak out about that.”

“He did. Dad is already planning when we can come back home and go to a game at Lambeau. He’s also claims we are going to come home and go to Soldier Field for the game. I think George is threatening to disown the entire family.”

“I could see that happening. George is very serious about his job and his love of the Bears. Eliza I’m sure is going to have a hard time with you dating a Packers fan now.”

“She’ll get over it,” Harry said. “I’m taking her to England in a few weeks and she’ll probably get a trip to England and France again this summer if I can convince you to let Evie sneak away from the office a couple of times to come visit me while I’m working.”

“I don’t know that you need to convince me. You need to convince her. She’s normally living in her office.”

“I’m going to try and teach her how to just live.” Harry smiled at me. “Sometimes I think she’s spent her whole life preparing to be an adult instead of enjoying life.”

“You’ve got her pegged. It might be good for her to live a little. But not too much. I need her in the office sometimes. It’s gotten a bit lonely up on the executive floor without her around the last two weeks.”

“He has been talking about how off the whole place feels without you Ev. Your Dad loves having you in the office.” I looked at Jessica strangely. My Dad?

“Her Dad is in Chicago,” Pops said. "She hasn’t called me Dad since she was three. Though I do miss having you around. We should do lunch tomorrow.”

“I’ve got the afternoon booked with Ed, he called last night and will be in town this week. We’ve got a bunch of projects to sift through. You should join us for lunch.”

“I’d like that a lot. I want to hear how his travels have gone.”

“Ed?” Jessica asked.

“Sheeran,” came the reply from Pops, Harry and me.

“He’s probably in the top five for Evie’s priorities for the coming year. Perhaps only topped by Harry in recent weeks,” Pops added.

“He’s going to enjoy taking back over the top spot,” Harry said. “He texted me after he called you last night. Pain in my ass.” Pops laughed.

“I don’t know how I managed to forget that he was one of the people who referred you to us. Are you joining us for lunch tomorrow?”

“No, Evie wanted it to be business focused. Told me that all three of us could do dinner. She’s been trying to teach me about this condition to our relationship where I can’t always pay for her meals when we go out.” Pops started to laugh. “Claims if it’s work related she gets to charge her corporate card.”

“She needs to. Those are a business expense. The rest of the times she fights you are just because she thinks women should have equal responsibility.”

“You like paying?” Jessica asked.

“I think that we are an equal partnership. And considering he’s been out of work for a while I probably make more than him right now.” Harry started to laugh.

“Yes, little old unemployed me.” I smiled at him as I put my head on his shoulder. “She definitely enjoys picking on me.”

“She’s really good at that,” Pops said. I shot a glance at him that made him laugh. “I forgot to ask how everything went at Northwestern?”

“Really well.”

“She did fantastic,” Harry added.

“You went with?” Pops asked.

“I did. She wanted to show me the campus and then we went to your Mother and Father’s house afterwards.”

“Oh, I heard about that. My Mother wouldn’t shut up about how wonderful Evie’s new boyfriend was. You impressed everyone, that isn’t an easy thing to do when it comes to Evie’s family.”

“The jury is still out on you, Pops.” He scrunched his face up a little bit.

“I should’ve apologized about that. Your Mother called me and told me I needed to.” I frowned, Mom promised that she would stay out of it. She was never good at letting my father and I work through our issues without any outside influences. “Harry, I like you a lot. You’re a talented young man and it’s obvious that you care a lot about Evie.”

“I do. I love her.” My eyes went wide. Yes, Mom knew. I’m sure Dad did too, hell after the time in Chicago I’m sure he knew Harry was planning to tell me he loved me before he actually did it. But to listen to him sit here and tell my father made me feel like I was going to throw up. He’d joked when I punched him earlier but it wasn’t a declaration of feeling about me that was for my father’s ears. “Your daughter is the most amazing woman I’ve ever known outside of my Mum and my sister.”

“She is amazing and she deserves to be happy. You’re clearly what she’s chosen for that. I want to see her happy so I apologize for my reaction to the news article when you were both in Chicago. Sometimes when it comes to my kid I react without giving myself time to think things through. This was one of those times.”

“It’s okay,” I blurted out. I’d never honestly expected that he was going to apologize to me.

“I appreciate the apology,” Harry said. “It was a difficult night for me to say the least. A bit unnerving to have something that is so new and yet still so important broadcasted for the world’s consumption. Especially knowing that even in Chicago we weren’t completely safe from the spying eyes of people with camera phones. There were photos of us with Marco running through the park and then there were some of us that Eliza showed me this week where we were with Christopher, Mason and Jonathan. It made me sick that her brothers’ privacy was taken from them because of me.”

“Just so you know Jonny texted me to say that all of the girls at school were talking to him because you were hanging out with him. He clearly didn’t have a problem with ending up on a gossip blog.” Pops laughed a little about the comment. It wasn’t surprising to anyone that knew Jonny that he would be excited about making a gossip blog.

“He texted me as well,” Harry added. “But it’s unsettling for me to think that I can’t take you and your family places without them potentially being used for a website to gain a click. I want them to have their privacy and for you to have yours. So James, when you suggested that Evie and I separate because it was going to be detrimental to her career, it was something I’d thought about. But not necessarily about her career. I knew that by being part of her life, even for the tiniest time period that a portion of her privacy would be taken from her for a long time and that she may never experience a time in her life when a news story wouldn’t have a mention of me. It’s something that is always at the back of my mind. I knew there was part of what you were saying that was right and that it would probably be better if we were apart.”

“Don’t allow yourself to think that,” Pops said. “You make her happy. I was wrong to jump to those conclusions about your relationship. And I apologize. I reacted very badly and reacted more like a boss that was disappointed in an employee’s behavior than a father that was fearful for his daughter’s privacy. But if there’s one thing I know about my Evie it’s that the opinions of other people don’t change the way she thinks.”

“Just your opinion.” My hand flew over my mouth. I didn’t mean for it to come out snarky and it did.

“Yes, just my opinion, until now. I gave what was a very poor opinion and you said no. You haven’t disagreed with me on something big in years. I was scared. I knew someday you’d find someone that would change your priorities, I just thought I had a few more years before they came along.”

“Evie reacted poorly when you spoke to her that night,” Harry said. “I didn’t like listening to the way she spoke to you. It was a side of her I hadn’t completely seen before and one I hope to not see again.”

“It’s not one that comes out often,” I replied. “But sometimes a harsh response from my father is worse than a fate of death. I idolize you Pops.”

“I know. I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

“I was as well and I’m sorry. Dad pointed out that when I’m mad at you I talk to you in a way that I'd never speak to him. That’s not fair of me.”

“We have a much different relationship than you do with your Dad. And you say you idolize me, but you know you idolize he and your Mom too.” I nodded. I did idolize them. I dreamed of someday having a relationship like theirs and I think I’d found the person who was for me what Marco was for my Mom.

“I am really sorry though.”

“I know you are kiddo. Your behavior was abnormal for you. You were feeling attacked and I know that if you’re in that situation it’s a defense mechanism, I don’t blame you for your reaction.”

“Thanks, Pops.” Harry hugged me tight to him and I felt him kiss the top of my head.

“I’m proud of you,” he whispered.

“Thanks,” I replied as I rested my head on his chest and listened to his heart beat.

“So Everlee, what will you do all summer with Harry gone?” Jessica asked.

“Work? It’s my normal operating status. I’ll just go back to working more since the house will be empty. I’ll also probably move back to my condo so I can spend more time with Ty and Eliza. I miss my roomies a little bit. But they all understand why I’m here. But we just lost Kammi as part of the roomie group so it’s a bit different, especially for Ty. I know that Eliza has stayed here a few nights because I was sick and she stayed with Joe last night.”

“They are dating?” Jessica asked.

“Yeah, it’s new,” I replied.

“Ty will be okay,” Harry added. “He seemed to have a good time on his date last night.”

“He met someone too? What’s she like?” Pops, Harry and I all had the same confused look wash across our faces.

“HE is a writer for The Late Late Show,” I answered. “Ty is gay.”

“A writer for Late Late, huh?” Pops questioned.

“Yeah, I invited my friend Eli over yesterday and introduced them. They hit it off pretty well and went to dinner last night. We had to stop at the condo to help Ty get ready.”

“Ty, the stylist, needed help?” Pops laughed a bit.

“He was nervous, so we stopped on our way out to dinner to help him. Which he took as an opportunity to make fun of my fashion choices.”

“He made fun of Harry for what he wore on our first date,” I said through giggles.

“Harry has a wonderful sense of style,” Jessica added. “What did you wear on your first date?”

“He wore this obnoxious Hawaiian print shirt that looks like something my Dad would wear on vacation to embarrass my Mom and I. I think the shirt was half unbuttoned so his tattoos were showing and his boobs were hanging out.” Pops and Harry both started to laugh at my description. “Oh and he made me go to Craig’s so of course we ran into people I knew.”

“Who?” Pops asked.

“Her sister, Rachel.”

“How is Rach?”

“Good. Pregnant. Making me feel like a slacker, like always.”

“Pregnant?”

“She was glowing already,” Harry said. “Evie showed me pictures of you two at her wedding. She looked very happy that you were both able to come. So did her mother.”

“Cyn was radiant that night,” Pops said.

“Cynthia is stunning, she always has been.” I was speaking the truth. Cynthia looked like a supermodel when she and Pops were married. I still remember her on their wedding day so vividly. Her incredibly dark brown hair was curled perfectly and the shiniest hair I’d ever seen in my life. Against her pale skin and a white dress she looked like an angel. I remember standing next to Pops, Uncle Mikey, and Cameron at the altar and it was almost as if you heard the people at the wedding gasp because she’d looked so beautiful. This was a woman I had grown used to seeing in her work clothes which were either suits if she was meeting clients or clothes that were covered in paint if she was working on a property. Cynthia built her company from the ground up, a lot of that when she was with my father. She pulled off the PTA Mom look most days but when she and Pops would be attending a premiere for one of his clients she looked like she would be the most beautiful woman on the red carpet that night when they left the house. I’ve always liked Cynthia, it was the ones that came after her that jaded me to the women in my father’s life. She had tried really hard to make us all a family. They’d dated for two years prior to getting married. She’d picked up her three girls and moved them into Pops’ house with us. Rachel was her oldest and a year younger than me. Two years younger than Rachel were the twins, Kourtney and Kayci, who never really liked me. I was an only child despite being the oldest of four when we were in the house together. I also had a father who treated my like a princess, Cynthia’s ex-husband wasn’t part of their lives anymore, which was part of why Rachel still loved my father the way she did. She told me when she was drunk at her bachelorette party that she had considered asking him to walk her down the aisle at her wedding but Cynthia was a bit worried about what the reaction from people would be, so instead she asked her grandfather to do it.

“I didn’t know you had a sister,” Jessica said.

“I don’t, technically. Rachel is Cynthia’s daughter. Cynthia being Pops’ ex-wife. Wife #2.”

“Oh, I didn’t even put that together.” Of course she didn’t. She also thought Ty was straight. I was pretty sure the only thing she paid attention to was the number of digits in my father’s bank account. Take a deep breath, Everlee. You got this. Be nice. Your father clearly cares about her, not sure why, but he does.

“Alright, who is ready for dinner,” I said smiling as I stood up. “I’ll go put the noodles on for pasta.” I headed to the kitchen and filled the pot with water. I felt a hand on my shoulder.

“It smells delicious, kiddo. Nonna will be proud.” He took a spoon from the drawer and took a bite of the sauce. “Perfect. You haven’t lost your touch.” He kissed my temple. “Thank you for today. I know that some of this isn’t easy but you’re trying and I appreciate that.”

“You’re trying too, I appreciate it a lot.”

“Doesn’t take much. He’s a good kid and he didn’t have to tell me he loved you. I could tell by the way he looked at you. Marco and I have been analyzing some of this behavior since we both found out.”

“I can’t believe Mom told you to apologize. She promised me she’d stay out of it.”

“She did, for the most part. She caught Marco and I on the phone. Marco was actually the one who told me I was being an ass and I needed to stop because it was clear that if this kid was going to do one thing in life it would be to make you happy and to someday give me some grandbabies to love on.” I laughed. Dad had been the parent of my three that wanted a big family. He’d wanted to try for another kid after Christopher was born, Mom could barely handle the four of us. So now that I was settled into a career he had started in on the grandchildren thing because he always wanted babies around.

“We’ve talked and both want kids someday. Just don’t start in like Dad and ask for them now.”

“I need a couple more years to have you to myself. I’m not ready to share my little girl." I turned to hug him. “I love you, Evie.”

“I love you too, Pops.” I looked towards the living room to see Harry smiling at me.

The Circus NJ: How on Earth did they pull off that win? JJ: Trickery! It had to be trickery. KM: It was one helluva game. That’s for sure. ER: GO CUBS GO! GO CUBS GO! Hey Chicago what do you say? The Cubs are gonna win today! JJ: I wish she would stop also singing that while she runs around the house. HS: Evie is singing it while dancing in the kitchen with James. KM: Dancing in the kitchen? Things must be going well. HS: They are. A bit awkward at times but going much better than either of us expected. Though Jessica evidently thought Ty liked women. TK: GROSS! Girls are gross. ER: We are not! KM: You have to be kidding me? She thought he liked women? She’s dumber than we all give her credit for isn’t she? HS: Sadly, I think she is. Evie hasn’t done anything too out of line though. But we are about to sit down to dinner. We will recap later.

“They text too much for me to ever own one of these watches,” Harry whispered as he was helping me put everything in plates to put on the table. We'd decided to eat on the patio. Pops was in love with the view from Harry’s. Now that the game was over we’d taken them on a full tour of the house. Pops even admitted that he could see why I’d moved in, he really liked the place.

“They do get kind of annoying. Just know that if I ever don’t reply to a text it’s probably because I’ve put everything on ‘Do Not Disturb’ so I don’t have to feel the watch vibrate every time they text me.”

“That makes sense.” He bent down and kissed me. “Today has been good.”

“It has. Now let’s eat. This girl is hungry for Sunday dinner.” We took the last of the food out to the table and got everyone served. I could tell Pops was really enjoying dinner. It had been a long time since I’d made meatballs for him and I knew it was the food that he missed most from home. The conversation was flowing easily. Jessica was trying to interject herself into the conversation but I sat back and enjoyed watching Pops and Harry talk. Neither of them allowed me to go very long without talking though, something that back in Chicago with my Mom and Dad I could easily pull off since our family was so big.

“So Evie you were going to tell me what you thought I should be doing for my first album when James and Jessica got here. Did you want to give me that opinion now?” Harry asked. I looked at him, fork mid-air and smiled. I put the pasta back down in the bowl and leaned back in my chair.

“She’s always got an opinion. Let’s hear it, Evie.” Pops smiled.

“I think that as much as all of the producers and writers that you worked with in One Direction are interested in working with you still that you don’t. Avoid it. Do something different. Make the album you always wished you could make but couldn’t because you had 3-4 bandmates and an army of producers telling you different. Don’t let a single one of that group into the studio with you. One Direction was good, great even sometimes. You were the biggest band on the planet. But Harry Styles, the defacto front man of One Direction, is not who YOU are. You are a guy who sings Fleetwood Mac in the shower. Who listened to The Rolling Stones the entire drive home from Malibu. Who I’ve discovered has some weird alt-country shit on his iPhone. You are a man who I listen to on the piano and guitar and you make brilliant noises come out of them both. Be you. Fuck your past. Don’t make the album the world expects you to make. Don’t make an album that will be great for pop radio. Don’t make an album that caters to One Direction fans. Make the album you want to make. Make the music you want to hear. Just be you.” Harry sat silent for a moment.

“She’s right. The world has a lot of expectation for what you should sound like. Don’t try to sound like those expectations. Make what makes you happy. Your core audience will get that and if you open up the eyes and ears of the rest of the world in the process, you’ll be fine,” Pops added.

“I didn't expect that from you,” Harry said. “I expected you to tell me to color between the lines.”

“Evie was never good at following rules,” Pops replied.

“I think you take the meetings as a courtesy. These people helped to build your career. But that you don’t do what is expected of you. Don’t burn bridges, but build new ones.”

“Build new ones?”

“Yes, build bridges to the producers who you enjoy listening to. The personalities you vibe with. The people who help you create the best music you can. And if in the end it’s an album that you are proud of and enjoy listening to, then that is all that matters. But if in the process you sell a few copies, even better. I won’t ever push you to do something just for album sales. This is about you being the most authentic version of yourself that you can be.”

“Alright then. Let’s do this, love.”

I've been waiting anxiously for this chapter to finally come. I knew that all it would take was one of their traditional family meals and some time together for James and Evie to work through things. And I've had this planned since I came up with the idea of their fight. This time for them to mend fences, to put their past behind them. Truly their problems aren't about Harry and we all know that. Her relationship with her father is a lot of the reason Evie is guarded. Sometimes the people you love leave. In the case of Evie and James, they can fix their problems and this day was the start of that. I really enjoyed writing this chapter. I've also really enjoyed that Harry is part of the group text with The Circus. Their humor translates really easily for me to a text message conversation. They all know each other so well that they continue their banter into the messages which are fun for me to write. So expect a LOT more of that. I'm even considering doing a few extras on Tumblr that are just text messages between The Circus. Maybe go back and do what the texts were during Evie and Harry's first date, I can only imagine what that would've been like. I mean we know she somehow sent them a photo of the shirt he was wearing on their first date. What else did they talk about before Harry was privy to the information? If you have an interest in reading that then follow me on Tumblr because I'm sure it will be coming as a way to keep me writing and working on the next chapter. I love writing Evie and Harry. This story has been so much fun for me and I hope you're all still enjoying it. It's hard not to fear that because my updates aren't coming as rapidly as they used to, that I picked a controversial topic, in addition to other things, that I'm at risk of losing my audience. I hope that isn't the case, but if it is I understand. 12,000 word chapters take time to write, especially when you work two jobs and try to remain a decent family member and friend (I'm failing at that part...a lot). At the beginning the chapters were shorter but I'm inspired to write these longer, detailed chapters and I hope you're enjoying that and that you understand that I'm trying my best to crank these out as quickly as humanly possible. Possibly for the sequel I'll go back to chapters that are shorter. Yup, I said sequel. I'm starting to plan out how ITHOLA will end and where the sequel will take characters. I hope that you're all still excited to be along for the ride. I can't wait to hear what you thought of this chapter! Please, please, please let me know what you think. I can't improve what I'm doing if I don't know how my audience feels about what I'm writing. Thank you so much for sticking with me as I write this. You all mean the world to me. xx AM. Tumblr Twitter Instagram

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