Page 89 of Cosplay & Consequences

Faye rolled her eyes. “Even if she was sleeping with him. So go out there, unsubscribe from MaxFlick, and save the series. Oh, and one more thing: Uncle Danny never had a fling with Kismet Sizzle.”

The full image of Danny with Kismet and Faye appeared over her shoulder. “He took me to that concert and got me backstage to meet her. Kismet couldn’t land him, so she wrote a gross song about it. Suck it, Kismet Sizzle. He’s too good for you.”

I looked into Danny’s eyes and saw the tears welling up. I leaned against him, and he kissed my forehead.

"Your niece is pretty awesome," I said with a happy sigh.

"Your friends are amazing," Danny said, holding me close.

"Our friends are amazing."

"Excuse me?"

And then we noticed Sebastian watching us with his arms crossed. “Danny. Jess. This whole thing is very touching but you both look like you were run over with a condiment cart. I haven’t seen this much mayhem since I dressed as a Quaker for the Jeux Sans Frontières in 1992. Now for the love of God, go back to your room and change into something decent!”

He stomped away. “And get that poor woman some shoes!”

Danny smiled and put away his phone. “He’s right. Can’t have you running around without any shoes.” With a quick movement, he bent over and picked me up, carrying me like a princess. “Shall we?”

I smiled and caressed his jawline before leaning up for a kiss. “My hero.”

Jess

Paige had set up the conference call with MaxFlick, Stella, and Britta to work off the giant flat screen in our hotel room. Everyone was present and accounted for, except Danny wasn’t paying attention at all. After going all day without eating, he looked ready to collapse. Needing nourishment, he found Paige’s secret stash in her hotel fridge and raided it. So, he sat in front of the TV digging through a pint of Chocolate-Choco Chunk and Peanut Butter ice cream with an expression of utter bliss on his face.

Faye and I were sitting off camera watching the process while Paige monitored a counter someone had put up online. It was set up to show when fans were unsubscribing from MaxFlick, and she was constantly refreshing it.

“Who are the people up there?” I asked in a hushed tone.

Paige’s eyes flitted across the big screen before returning to her laptop. “The guy in the lower right-hand corner is Reuben, one of the executive producers for the show. The two that are together in the same office are Donna Capaldi, who is the head of development for MaxFlick, and the other guy is Roger Newkirk.”

I blinked in amazement. “The CEO of MaxFlick?”

Paige smirked. “The drop in subscriptions has rattled a lot of people today.”

“Hey Danny-Boy, you think you can take a break from your new diet?” Reuben asked. He tried to make a joke out of it, but the grin on his face stayed stiff and forced.

Danny took a moment to savor his ice cream before he swallowed and responded. “Fuck you, Reuben.”

Stella barked out a laugh and Reuben’s fake grin dropped. Faye, Paige, and I had to cover our mouths so nobody could hear us laughing.

“Okay, Danny, so let’s talk-”

“Wait, hold on, Reuben,” Danny interrupted as he began to dig through the pint of ice cream again. “I have some in house stuff first. Britta? I know it was you. You’re fired.”

Britta blanched a bit on screen. “Daniel, I would never-”

Danny rolled his eyes, not even paying attention to the people on the Zoom call. “Drop it, Britta, there’s no point dragging this out.”

I don’t usually take pleasure in other people’s misfortune, but this woman had caused me a lot of grief, so I truly enjoyed Britta’s scowl.

“You were my worst client anyway,” she snapped at him.

“Good luck keeping the rest after my next press release,” Danny snarked back. He put down his ice cream long enough to boot her from the call.

“Are we good to talk now Danny Boy?” Reuben asked. His forced smile remained, but he had an edge coming into his voice.

“One second,” he said, turning his head toward us. “Hey, Paige? What’s the number at now?”