Alice gazed out the tinted glass window of the limo and tried to make herself relax.

You’ve got this.

She’d been professionally dressed and styled: her hair swept into an elaborate do, her face transformed by so much makeup she almost didn’t recognize herself in the mirror, and her body sausaged into Spanx to create a smooth silhouette beneath her designer peach chiffon gown. She’d even had lessons on how to get in and out of the car gracefully, how to walk in her stiletto heels, and how to pose on the red carpet. Quite literally, Alice had been taught how to walk the walk.

She was all armored up and ready for the Golden Globes red carpet that lay ahead.

Griffin was presenting tonight, and she was attending as his date. It would be their first voluntary public appearance together in front of the press. They’d been snapped by paparazzi several times since Griffin’s supposed breakup with Kimberleigh, but tonight they would be parading hand-in-hand down a red carpet in front of flashing cameras, entertainment reporters, and a television audience that numbered in the millions. It was their official, very public coming-out as a couple.

Beside her, Griffin took her hand and lifted it to his lips. “You sure about this? It’s not too late to back out and stay in the car.”

Tempting as that might be, Alice had made a decision and she intended to follow through on it. No more running away. Besides, it wasn’t as if she’d have to talk to anyone on camera. It had been decided that she and Griffin would walk the step and repeat gauntlet together, posing for photos, and then Alice would hang back with his publicist while he did the red carpet interviews solo. On the other hand…

“Are you sure?” she asked Griffin, noting the tension etched into his expression. “I can always sneak inside on my own while you do the red carpet.”

“Not a chance.” He gave her hand a possessive squeeze. “I’d much rather have you at my side, if you’re comfortable being there.”

Alice reached up to smooth his brow. “I don’t think either of us are likely to be comfortable, but at least we’ll be uncomfortable together, right?”

“You two are so cute you’re gonna make me vomit,” piped up Griffin’s publicist, Kelly, who sat across from them in the back of the limo with her phone’s camera aimed in their direction. “I’ve definitely gotta post this one on Griffin’s social media.”

She handed the phone to Griffin for his approval, and Alice leaned over for a look. The candid shot had managed to capture them gazing at one another with love shining out of their eyes. Griffin’s fans would go wild.

Kelly had been managing the public face of their relationship for them. The narrative she’d spun was that Kimberleigh and Griffin had never been more than a casual on-again-off-again thing, and they’d both amicably moved on to other, more serious relationships while remaining friends. Kimberleigh was by all accounts happily back with her ex, while Griffin was now with Alice. He’d done a lengthy interview that had appeared in GQ last week—timed to drop just before his Globes appearance—in which he’d spoken candidly about his friendship with a former extra that had, over the course of a year, grown into a true partnership and the most important relationship in his life.

The response, for the most part, had been a collective female swoon. There would always be some disgruntled fans and haters out there, but Kelly had crafted a convincing love story, and people were gaga for this new Griffin Beach, a reformed womanizer who’d been smitten by the love bug.

He smiled down at Kelly’s phone, then up at Alice. “You look beautiful, Doc.”

He’d been calling her that ever since her hooding ceremony in December. Griffin loved telling people she was a doctor, which Alice found amusing, considering that when they met he’d been the one playing a doctor.

“Ah ah,” Kelly warned as Alice leaned forward to kiss him. “Lipstick. No kissing until after the red carpet.” She retrieved her phone from Griffin’s hand and bent her head as her flying fingers composed a caption to go with the photo. Kelly—or one of her assistants—handled all Griffin’s social media now. She’d even created new, public accounts for Alice that she managed as well, allowing Kelly to better oversee their couple brand.

She’d chosen to play up Alice’s advanced degree and burgeoning career as a data scientist to counteract accusations of gold-digging, casting Alice and Griffin as a sort of second coming of Amal and George Clooney—minus the international humanitarian accomplishments and stratospheric superstardom, obviously. Alice’s job with a local software company was a far cry from the United Nations, but Kelly had managed to spin the idea that Griffin was dating up by falling for a brainy PhD with a professional career of her own.

Alice wasn’t entirely happy with the implication that Griffin was any less smart or professional than she was, but he’d lent his full-throated support to Kelly’s fiction, making off-the-cuff remarks in the press about his own lack of formal education. It truly didn’t seem to bother him, so Alice had stopped arguing against it. On the bright side, it had helped her get over some of the feeling that everyone was wondering what Griffin was doing with her.

She’d made her peace with being spotlight adjacent, and was learning strategies to navigate her new lifestyle. There were sacrifices, obviously, and downsides aplenty, but they paled in comparison to the reward: sharing a life with the man she loved. Griffin good-naturedly suffered through his share of social events with verbose postdocs and nerdy software engineers; the least Alice could do was nut up and strike a pose for a few red carpet pics.

“We’re here,” Kelly announced cheerfully. “Remember: chin up, look straight down the camera lens, and stand tall.”

Alice felt her stomach lurch with last-minute nerves, but then Griffin was squeezing her hand, and when she looked into his bright blue eyes her apprehension fell away. She wasn’t alone. They were in this together, and they’d meet whatever challenges lay ahead as a team.

The door of the limo opened to a glare of blinding flashbulbs and a roar of crowd noise. Hand in hand, drawing courage from each other, they stepped out to face the public.