"Well, you have to take it." Aria looked over the top of her martini glass from the other side of the restaurant table. "I mean, you can't turn down a role in Cats. This revival is supposed to be huge. Like, huge."

Simone nodded her head. "Seriously, Teag. Actors make bicoastal relationships work all the time. This doesn't have to be a deal breaker, but turning it down? That would be the deal breaker for me."

Aria sighed. "You already left a role for him, remember?"

"I remember," Teagan assured them.

"And then he stood you up at the—" Aria continued.

"Oh, good Lord. If I hear one more mention of that stupid wedding, or any of that shit, I'm going to lose my mind." Teagan took a long swig out of her glass of wine. "I forgave him. You guys need to, too."

As much as she loved grabbing lunch with her sisters, there were always plenty of squabbles between them. None of it mattered in the long run, because this was her family. These women were her ride-or-dies, and she'd do anything for them.

Simone shrugged. "I don't think it's that we haven't forgiven him. It's that you haven't told him the full story."

"Exactly," Aria chimed in. "Which is sketchy and makes us feel like there must be a reason for that. Why haven't you told him your car accident was right after the wedding?"

"There's no good way to tell someone that," she replied, waving the waiter over for another glass. "It would just hurt him. Some stories aren't meant to be told.”

"Oh, he's going to be fucking devastated," Simone said. "But better he finds out from you than someone else. You said even his agent knows."

She did have a point on that one, though she couldn't imagine that being a topic that would just randomly come up. Especially with how seriously his agent was trying to protect him from that story.

"Well…how do I even tell him?" she asked, swirling the wine in her fresh glass of wine. "How do you basically tell someone you almost died and, in a tangential way, it’s his fault."

"You start with not sugarcoating it. It was definitely his fault," Aria reminded her. "You had just left your almost-wedding. You wouldn't have been in that car, crying your eyes out, if it wasn't for him standing you up at the altar minutes before."

"But, she has a point. That doesn't make it entirely his fault," Simone defended her.

Aria shook her head. "I promise you, he's not going to see it that way. If he's a good guy and he truly loves you, then he's going to blame himself. It's how he handles that guilt that's going to tell you what kind of man he is."

"What do you mean?" Teagan asked. "No one would handle news like that well."

"Yeah, but will he make it about you? Will he apologize and do anything he can to make it up to you? Or will he make it about himself, beat himself up and focus only on how shitty he feels."

Aria had another point. Sometimes she hated how bossy her older sister was, but the truth was, she knew what she was talking about. And even more than that, she had Teagan's best interest at heart first and foremost. There's nothing more important in sisterhood.

Teagan took in a deep breath and thought about the fact that she'd be seeing Reed for dinner later tonight. "I'll…I'll try. I'll try to tell him tonight."

"Only if you're ready," Simone urged. "You can't just throw it out there like a grenade."

"Facts," Aria agreed.

Easier said than done. She’d been carrying this live grenade and it could explode at any moment. Purposefully detonating it was going to hurt, but the question was would it hurt him? Or her?

Aria's phone rang, and she glanced down at the screen. "It's Ben. Give me a second, it could be about Tillie."

"Answer it," Teagan encouraged her.

"Hey, handsome," she practically sang into the phone. It was almost a little disgusting how much these two loved each other after five years together. Seriously, it was like they never left the honeymoon phase. Though, if Teagan was being honest, it was mostly jealousy on her part that made her feel that way.

Aria's eyes widened slightly, and then she gasped. "No!"

Simone and Teagan traded nervous glances.

"Yeah, squash it as fast as you can." She tapped her finger against the table irritably. "I don't care the cost. Kill the story." Aria nibbled on the edge of her lip.

The last time Aria had been at the center of a news story, it had been because of the nude photos of her and her director leaking to the press. Teagan couldn't stand to see her sister go through something so awful again.

"I'll tell her. I love you." Aria hung up the phone and placed it down on the table.

"Uh, share. Like now," Simone blurted out. "That sounded full of drama."

Aria took a deep breath, and then swung her gaze over to Teagan.

Shit. She sat up straighter. "It's about me?"

"There are pictures of you and Reed in Hills Secrets Magazine," Aria confirmed, citing one of the trashiest tabloids around Hollywood. Their paparazzi were known for being sketchy as hell and doing anything to get a damning photo.

"What kind of picture?" Please, Lord, no.

"Not like mine." Aria waved her hand between them. "Fully clothed, obviously. But…it's paired with an exposé."

Teagan swallowed. "About us?"

Aria slowly nodded. “About everything we were literally just talking about.”

Teagan's stomach sank.

"Fuck." Simone groaned.

"I mean, it's only one part of the story," Aria explained. "They also talk about you guys falling in love and how everyone thinks you're perfect together. Apparently, some people on set talked to them and admitted that they've seen you all…I don't know, canoodling or whatever."

"How did they find out about the rest? About our history?"

"Ben said his sources say it was a hairdresser who leaked the story, brought it to their attention in the first place."

Fucking damn it all to motherfucking hell. She'd forgotten—even if only for a second—this was Hollywood, and people could be trusted only until someone else offered more cash. Her hairdresser had basically even said that.

"If it makes you feel better, Ben said you come off looking great in the story." Aria fiddled with the stem of her wine glass. "I mean, all you did was fall in love."

Teagan swallowed the last of her wine, then pushed up from her seat, already opening the Lyft rideshare app on her phone. "I need to talk to Reed before he sees this."

"Good idea," Simone agreed. "Then find that hairdresser and beat the ever-loving shit out of her."

Tempting.

"We've got the tab," Aria assured her. "Go."

"Thanks, girls." Teagan slid her purse strap over her shoulder. "I love you both."

"Love you more," Simone replied. "Now get the hell out of here and find your man. Maybe he hasn't seen it yet."

She doubted that was possible, not with Jason Allen on his side, fighting his fires. There was no way his agent wouldn't be on top of that immediately. But…there was a chance.

Maybe she could salvage this. Or maybe she'd just destroyed everything she'd spent the last two months rebuilding.