by Cara Dee
"You still look shocked," she giggled, incredibly happy for them.
They were shown to their table at Sequoia, a beautiful restaurant by the river, and Sophie ordered champagne for them.
"He's so young," Daniel said. "I didn’t want to pressure him."
Sophie shook her head and looked down. She was the same age as Zane; it didn’t mean anything, as she was beginning to learn.
"People in their twenties can be ready, too."
Daniel tilted his head, studying her. "You sound like you're speaking from experience, darling." He gave her hand a squeeze over the table. "It's Tennyson, isn't it?"
*
New York
Four days on the road doing press made for one homesick Sophie. She couldn’t wait to see Kayden again, and it didn’t get easier when a woman approached with her young daughter before they boarded the plane.
The mother introduced her daughter and explained the girl was autistic. Then she thanked Sophie for being in Pitter Platter.
"She has a collection of figurines from the movie," the woman went on, and Sophie glanced down at the girl. She was staring straight ahead, shoulders bunched up, headphones on, and she looked to be around nine. "Whenever she has a meltdown, she finds calm by sorting her figurines."
Sophie didn’t know what to say, other than that she was humbled beyond words. It loosened some of the tension in her, and she knew she needed to relax a little when it came to being spotted out on the street. Or in an airport, in this case.
She wasn’t bad anymore.
She didn’t know much about the girl's disorder, but gut instinct told her not to address the child. "I'm afraid I don’t have any figurines," she murmured, digging through her bag. "But I do have this little key ring—"
"Oh no, dear, you don’t—that’s not why I—"
"I know." Sophie simply smiled and detached her Frenchy the Fry key ring, then handed it over to the woman. "You sort of made my day. I want her to have it."
The woman smiled and looked like she was getting emotional. "I can't thank you enough. She will be absolutely thrilled."
*
Los Angeles
Sophie grabbed her keys and stalked out of the condo. 'Cause watching Tennyson give Kayden a bath and goof around was only making her more confused about things. Stupid goddamn daddy sexiness.
What was wrong with her?
But she didn’t get far. Daniel was just exiting the elevator when she reached for the button.
"Just the girl I wanted to see." He smiled and held up a thick folder. "I spoke to your agent today. You might wanna see this."
Sophie frowned, still flustered. "Um, all right."
Chapter 14
The NBA playoffs started a few weeks later, and the day before Tennyson and Kayden's shared birthday, Tennyson found himself outside a packed Staples Center with Sophie and Kayden.
The Lakers were playing Portland, and since Ash was a Blazers fan, he'd managed to sweet-talk Sophie's publicist into getting three more tickets for him, Brooklyn, and Maliah. Tennyson would've preferred to be here alone with Sophie and Kayden, but he had to admit it was fun watching Asher trying to win Brooklyn and Maliah over.
They'd already headed in, and Asher was going to do his best to get Maliah's game shirt signed for her.
"I'm so freaking nervous." Sophie blew out a breath and glanced around them. "Give me Kayden, please."
Tennyson gave her a pointed look. They'd discussed this. "You're not using our son as a shield." He didn’t want to be an asshole, but it was time she saw herself the way others did. And by holding Kayden, she hoped no one would approach her. "Remember last week in New York?"
She had come home, tired as hell but almost in tears of happiness, and she'd told him about the mother who'd thanked her for being in Pitter Platter.
"Kayden, tell Daddy he sucks." Sophie pretended to scowl up at Tennyson.
"He'll say no such thing." He chuckled and adjusted their boy on his hip while searching the crowd for Asher. "Let's get to our seats." He knew people would be watching them, so he refrained from pulling Sophie close.
"Ba-baw-baww-ba!" Kayden clapped.
"That’s right, bug. We're gonna watch the ball."
They'd brought a couple of his toy trucks in case he got bored, and Sophie had her bag full of snacks and juice boxes, too. Bringing those in was a VIP privilege neither had any qualms about taking advantage of.
"Sometimes I wish I were six foot three, too," she grumbled. "I can't see."
Tennyson was surprised when she grabbed his hand, but fuck if he was going to remind her of where they were. She knew very well. Besides, when he heard the first whispers of Sophie Pierce and Tennyson Wright being here with their son, he was glad he had her close.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a couple girls pulling out their phones.
Here we go.
He pushed that out of his mind, though. He was here to spend the evening with his family, which he'd been looking forward to since the day Kayden was born.
"Can you see Brooklyn?" Sophie asked.
"I think they went in the other way." He ushered them through the standstill crowd, lines everywhere. It almost made him reconsider going in this entrance. Almost. But this needed to be done. They could go the full VIP route later instead. "Want me to get us anything before we go in?"
Before Sophie could answer, a group of teenage girls walked up to her.
"Um, excuse me, but could I have your autograph?" one of them asked.
Tennyson hid his grin and focused on Kayden, who was rocking his little Blazers jersey. Perhaps Tennyson wasn’t a real fan of basketball like Asher, but they were still from Portland. He had offered Sophie a jersey too, mostly as a joke, but she hadn't been impressed.
She smiled politely and blushed while she signed autographs for the girls and listened to them gushing about her movies and magazine articles they'd seen her in.
"Where're your clothes from?" another girl asked. "The cardigan's gorgeous. Is it Gucci? Dior?"
Sophie smirked slightly and capped her Sharpie. "H&M." Next, she pointed to her black jeans. "Target. Enjoy the game, girls."
"Oh my God, we're totally going to H&M tomorrow," one girl exclaimed.
It seemed like everyone was trying to get into the stadium at once, so Tennyson did pull Sophie closer this time. He draped an arm around her shoulders and guided her, all while listening to her adorable rambling about how relieved she was.
"They didn’t hate me." She spoke quickly, her cheeks still a little flushed. "Maybe they won't call me the c-word online later."
He frowned at that. "Why the f—" All right, he'd been doing a good job of cleaning up his language since Kayden was born, but this pissed him off. "Why would they do that?"
She shrugged. "Many have in the past." She paused as they entered the stadium and got stuck on the stairs that led down to the floor. "Remember when Kelly and I had scenes in Denver?" He nodded and dipped down to hear better. "I was being a total b—you know—and Daniel got fed up. So he showed me what people said about me online."
He furrowed his brow, thinking back. "What exactly did you see?"
Sophie let out a laugh, though it held no humor whatsoever. "There's not a single word I can say in front of Kayden. Let's just say I went from feeling like God's gift on earth to complete trash. There were thousands of comments. Everyone hates me, Tennyson."
And she says that in the present tense.
Holy fuck, this ran deeper than he'd originally thought. He was sure Daniel had meant well, but Tennyson couldn’t help but be angry with him. Sophie hadn't merely gotten a reality check; she'd been fucking traumatized. And she'd been carrying this all on her own, never telling anyone.
"You look mad." She scrunched her nose.
"Oh, I'm fucking furious." He didn’t even care he'd cursed in front of their toddler. "We'll talk about this later, and I'd like to have a little chat with Daniel, too."
Sophie's eyes widened
. "Hey—no. I needed to see that. I was a horrible person."
She didn’t get it, goddammit. "We'll talk about this later," he repeated, spotting his brother. "Come on, we're over there. Let's enjoy the game before anything else, okay?"
Sophie didn’t look satisfied with that, but she knew this wasn’t the time or place to argue. So she nodded and followed him to their seats.
"Sophie!" Maliah called. "Why aren't you wearing a jersey? You're just like Mom."
The girls got busy catching up, as if they hadn't seen each other at dinner an hour ago, and Tennyson sat down with Kayden on his lap. Sophie ended up next to him, then Maliah, Brooklyn, and Asher at the other end.
"Boom, boom, boom!" Kayden clapped his hands and bounced. "Boom, boom!"
Yes, that was exactly what the song playing over the speakers said. Boom, boom, boom. Music these days.
"You like this, bug?" He was thoroughly amused by the wonder in Kayden's eyes as he took in the packed arena. "You wanna show everyone how you dance?"
Kayden had been busy chewing on his foot, but he took it out of his mouth and stood up, grinning crookedly. Then he bobbed his head to the music and jumped on Tennyson's thighs.
Sophie wrapped up whatever she'd been talking about with Brooklyn and shifted in her seat to beam at Kayden. "Look at you, baby! Are you the best dancer ever?"
Kayden laughed and nodded, jumping over to her.
Tennyson grinned and got comfortable, resting his arm along the back of Sophie's chair. "Can you show Mommy how you shake it, Kayden?"
Kayden was a clown, and he loved the attention. Standing up on Sophie's lap, he stretched out his arms and shook his butt.
"Ugh—you are too friggin' cute!" She held his middle and planted smooches all over his chubby face.
"It's happening, Pierce," Brooklyn complained. "The UF is real."
"I know," Sophie said sympathetically. "Same here."
Tennyson raised his brows, confused, and leaned back to see if Asher knew what the women were talking about, but his brother looked just as lost.
"What's a UF?" Tennyson asked.
Sophie giggled and leaned close so only he could hear. "Uterus fantasy. It occurs in some women when kids do something cute or when men are being all daddy-like. Don’t tell Asher—he's a flight risk."
He sat back, stunned. He wasn’t exactly sure he understood the implication of a…uterus fantasy…but he could guess. "So…" He squinted and scratched his jaw. "What you're saying is…"
"When you're holding Kayden and being goofy with him, ladies around the stadium have ovaries that go boom, boom."
"Boom, boom, boom!" Kayden shook his butt again.
"Women start thinking with their babymakers," Sophie finished frankly.
"I see." Tennyson had no fucking clue how to process that, but he was curious. "Does that include you?"
She smirked and shrugged, turning to make funny faces with Kayden. "Sometimes."
Sometimes. Well. That was…unexpected. A fucking revelation. It implied she was thinking about having more children, and he wondered if he really knew her at all. She was young—so incredibly focused on her career—but now this.
His questions piled up and created a noise louder than the two eager basketball teams that hit the court and made the stadium go wild. There were announcements over the speakers, lights flashing, and cheering, yet all Tennyson could think about was the pride he'd felt when Sophie had been pregnant with his child.
It clouded his brain, and he had to push down his most primal instincts.
"You like this song, baby?" Sophie was grinning at a butt-shaking Kayden, and she moved to the beat with him, much to their son's delight. He even tried to mimic how she slid her head from side to side.
Tennyson clenched his jaw and looked away in an attempt to clear his head. Unfortunately, he met Brooklyn's gaze at that point, and it was as if she could read his goddamn mind. She smirked and cocked a brow before facing the court with a smug expression.
Fuck.
*
The next morning, Tennyson showered and got dressed, and the first item on today's agenda was to drive to Daniel's office downtown. They had to talk about Sophie and whatever she'd read about herself that had caused her to be so afraid to be around strangers.
After that, he had a cake and a gift to pick up.
Grabbing his keys, he left his room and headed for the kitchen.
Sophie was there, feeding Kayden breakfast.
"There's my birthday boy." He grinned and kissed the top of Kayden's head. "You don’t know what I'm talking about, do you?" Kayden babbled about cartoons, and Tennyson chuckled. "Yeah, you're two years old today. That means cake."
"Happy birthday to you, too." Sophie smiled. "Feeling better today?"
Forty-one years old and none the wiser. That was Tennyson.
"Thank you. What do you mean by feeling better?" He filled a to-go cup with coffee.
"You were all quiet and broody after the game," she said.
Oh. Well, perhaps he was growing a uterus.
It was ridiculous, but he couldn’t let that go. He was going to try today though, by talking to Daniel. It should provide enough distraction.
He'd already been told that dinner was at six and he wasn’t allowed at home after three. She wanted to make all the preparations herself, and he could only hope she wasn’t bringing a bunch of people over. Kayden being in the spotlight was much better, but he would have his party this weekend, so today was more low-key.
"I'm fine." He smiled reassuringly and snuck in a kiss to Sophie's cheek, too. "I'm heading out for a bit. Anything you want me to pick up before dinner? Besides the gift and the cake."
"No, but can we talk later?" She bit her lip. "I wasn’t gonna tell you until I knew for sure, but it's kinda huge, and I wanna share it with someone."
That had his attention, and he sat down across from her. "I have time now." It wasn’t as if he had an appointment with Daniel.
"Now?" she squeaked. "Um, okay." She looked so nervous all of a sudden. "Have you heard of Under the Scars?"
"Of course." Tennyson nodded. The script had gone from studio to studio for years, and now it was finally in production. It would be set during WWII in Germany. "Very original for its genre. I read the script a few years ago."
Sophie nodded and glanced at Kayden as he played with his spoon. "Yeah, so the actress playing the only female lead is out."
"Are you serious?" Tennyson's mind began spinning, and he thought back on when he'd read the script. It would be a heavy movie, and the way Sophie was approaching this topic could only mean one thing.
"I read for the studio last week," she admitted. "I don’t think I'll get it, but I wanted to tell you."
Tennyson shook his head, and his focus was solely on her career for this. "You should get it. It's for the American orphan, I take it?" Jesus Christ, this was certainly big news. For the studio to even consider Sophie was a huge deal because they'd already started filming.
"Yeah. Think I can pass for a teenager?" She smirked ruefully.
There was no way he could respond to that and come out the winner. If he said yes—because she did have a very youthful appearance—she'd believe he saw her as a kid. If he said no, well, she'd spin that somehow, too. She'd probably worry about night creams and wrinkles.
"I'm not going to answer that," he chuckled. "But I do believe you could do that role justice. I hope you get it."
"It would be my first lead," she said with a bashful smile.
"First of many." He reached over the countertop and brought her hand to his mouth, kissing her knuckles. "I'll do my best to reschedule as much as I can—"
"About that…" She was quick to interrupt. "If I expected you to travel with me, I would've asked you before I auditioned. I wouldn’t take Kayden away from you for this." She paused and fidgeted with her hair. "This…this—I mean, if I even get the part…" She blew out a breath. "You would stay here with Kayden."
Te
nnyson hesitated, concerned. While it would make sense logistically, he wasn’t sure Sophie would be able to be away from Kayden for so long. She was struggling to talk about it. To actually go through with it was a whole other ball game.
"Do you know what the schedule looks like?" he asked.
"Somewhat." She nodded. "Two months of filming outside Toronto, then three months on location in Germany."
Damn. Tennyson stared down at his mug, pondering. He knew there would be several children in the film, so that meant they'd allotted more time for the shoot.
"Five months," he murmured. "You think seeing Kayden on weekends here and there will be enough?"
"No, but… It's the right thing. You've dropped everything to come with us the other times. It's my turn now." She tried to smile. "You have the entire summer planned out with Fight for Fighters—and you have that behind the scenes documentary you're part of, too. And honestly, where do you think Kayden will be the happiest? On set with me or on a rehabilitation ranch in San Diego where he can be with puppies all day?"
Tennyson sighed. She was right, though he'd do his best to fly out with Kayden as often as he could.
Gut instinct told him she would get this part, and for the first time, he realized he didn’t want her to go. This production would catapult her into the group of A-list actors. She wouldn’t have to work to establish herself anymore. She would be able to relax and be pickier with her scripts. And Tennyson couldn’t be prouder, but he was going to miss her more than words could express.
Goddamn, not only was he not getting over Sophie Pierce, but in his futile quest of trying, he'd been too blind to see that there would never be anybody else.
"We'll figure it out," was all he could tell her. And on so many levels, he hoped he was right.
*
Instead of driving down to Daniel's office, Tennyson got into his car and headed over to Asher's house in Malibu. If comments had once traumatized Sophie, perhaps they could heal her, too.
When he got there, he used his key and entered the hacienda-like house, calling out for Asher. Being greeted by five dogs was no surprise, but seeing Brooklyn and Maliah out by the pool was.
"Ash!" he called again. He petted the dogs on their heads and peered into the kitchen, but it was as empty as the den. Looking out the large windows, he saw Maliah swimming with one of the dogs, and Brooklyn was catching some sun. But no sign of Asher, so Tennyson walked out to the patio to say hello.