“I know I am.” Honestly, I’m more than okay. I’ve got commissions enough to see me through the next six months at least, and I’m genuinely content living this quiet existence in northern Michigan. “But a single season of reality television could make my dad’s retirement and pay off the rest of his medical bills in one fell swoop. You and I both know how he feels about capitalizing on my previous career.”

Lorelai rolls her eyes. “He’s the furthest thing from Ada Mae.”

“Obviously.”

“What makes you think he’d be okay with capitalizing on this, though?”

“Because one, I’m in a good place. I’m no longer vulnerable to a toxic power struggle. I’m a grown-ass adult who owns my own business and knows what I’m about. And two, because I’m going to demand they bring him on as a paid consultant.”

Lorelai brightens at that and I can tell she’s coming around. Sort of. “That’s a good idea,” she admits.

“I know, right?” I say, smug.

“You still don’t know what you’re walking into.”

“It can’t be any worse than Ada Mae. I’ll survive.”

She reaches for my fingers and squeezes them once. “It’s what you do.”

The following morning, I realize it can be worse than my mom. Two times worse, it turns out, because standing on either side of the sleek conference room table are my ex-boyfriends, and they look ready to murder each other. Just like the old days.

I give a long-suffering sigh before clearing my throat and rapping on the glass-paneled door with a knuckle.

“Please tell me I didn’t fly all the way back to L.A. after five years of intensive therapy and hot yoga classes just to sit around a table with you two fuckwits again.”

3

CAMERON

WHAT A MAN GOTTA DO

When I was thirteen, my dad took me out in this rusty old metal rowboat he’d camouflaged and repurposed for duck hunting. I didn’t hunt. Didn’t even know how to hold a gun. Anyway, it was summer, because I was on break from filming, so it was decidedly not hunting season.

He motored us out to the middle of this glorified neighborhood pond in the late afternoon. The sun was still high in the sky and there was a group of teenaged girls tanning on the dock. Once we managed to get to a point too far from shore for me to swim, he pounced.

“Cameron. Your mother thought it was time for me to talk to you about what happens in the bedroom between a man and a woman. You might’ve noticed the way your body is changing—”