The Beautiful Truth

// 163

"Are you ready for this?" My dad asked just before I walked away from the curb at DFW.

I stepped back from the hug we'd just shared to look at him and Amy, bundled up in the cold. I smiled. "Ready as I'll ever be."

"Let us know how it goes," Amy reminded me for the thousandth time.

I laughed a little and shook my head. "I think you two are more nervous than I am."

My dad looked at the love of his life and opened his mouth to speak, but Amy cut him off.

"I think we're just wondering how it's going to feel for you," she explained. "Remember, we've been through this once before."

"Yeah," I shrugged. "But that one was trash, and you didn't have each other at the time, so..."

My dad laughed. "You're gonna be great," he assured me.

"Sure sure," I resigned. "I'll text you when I land. You two have fun in Chicago."

My dad was heading out on a book tour, of all things. I was excited for him. So far, the book had been out for two weeks and was, oh, just hanging out on the New York Times Best-Seller list. Seems the world was just as hungry for another Kerry Fitzgerald novel as Kerry Fitzgerald had been to write one. Chicago was the first stop on a twenty-city tour. I was almost sure that my dad's agent had pushed the release of his book forward to align with the release of our film, but I never asked.

Talyn, Hadley, Seth, Alex and Micki all came to pick me up at the airport. I nearly ran to meet them; I was so excited. Granted, I had just seen Talyn a few days ago—he'd flown back to LA for a day before he and Hadley left for Park City, but I was always excited to see the rest of them. And they were here to support me. I was a hundred things, but mostly I was grateful that I had such good friends.

"OK, boss, where to?" Alex asked once we were all piled back into the rental Yukon they'd picked up earlier in the day. "You want to go back to the condo or straight out on the town?"

I laughed. "I don't care."

"The Hads is itchin' to go meet up with Jordan and Charlie and Julian. Apparently they're out at Sidecar," Seth explained from the back seat.

"The Hads?" I laughed.

"Yeah, you know," Hadley groaned. "The Hads. The Had-ster. The Had-meister. Welcome to my life with Seth Cavallari."

"Oh jeez," I commiserated. "I guess 'Sawyer' doesn't lend itself to those kinds of names. Talyn only calls me 'SF.'"

"To your face," Talyn retaliated from the back, Hadley shoehorned in the middle between Seth and her boyfriend. My suitcase and I occupied the middle row. Everybody else's bags were in the back. They'd waited on me before heading to the condo.

I turned around and gave him a look that said 'really?'

Hadley laughed. "Everybody's there. Charlie, Julian, Jordan, Chase, Sal and those kids..."

"Well if everybody's there, then by all means," I laughed. "No sleep til Brooklyn, baby, let's do this."

"You've lost it," Talyn teased.

"You're a pain in the ass," I shot back.

"Did somebody drink on the plane?" Micki asked jokingly from the front seat.

I laughed. "No...Maybe."

"Yes," Seth answered for me.

"Whatever," I complained. "If you were about to show your personal masterpiece to the world, you'd be drinking already too. Sidecar. Let's go. Chop chop."