The Director (Hollywood Nights) by Cara North

house.
    “I’m sorry about that. I
shouldn’t have snapped at her. She cares about you.” Jed tried to steer them
away from the crowd. “I’m getting a headache.”
    “Jed!” His sister called for him.
His nephew came running towards them. He let go of her hand and bent down to
scoop the little boy up in a bear hug.
    “Hey, Buddy!” Jed smiled at the
little boy.
    Shay took the time to pull the
hoodie on. It was getting dark, all of the outside lights hung in several
canopies of strands were turned on, and the air had become a bit chilly. Jed
turned to her with his nephew in arms and said, “Buddy, this is Shay. Shay,
this is Buddy.”
    “Hi,” she said.
    He leaned in and said something
to Jed in his ear. Jed laughed and said, “Yes she is.”
    Buddy looked at her again. She
smiled at him, and he blushed and put his head on Jed’s shoulder.  
    “Hey,” Janice said as they
approached. Her husband, Buddy Senior looked at the sweatshirt and nodded with
a polite smile. She realized wearing that hoodie was like tattooing his name on
her forehead, it told anyone who looked at her more than she planned. “Where
have you been? I talked to Melissa and she said you took her to dinner and then
dropped her off at home. She was really hurt by that. She said she really likes
you.”
    Shay listened with cautious
reserve as her stomach tied in knots. He had been out on a date. They weren’t
exclusive. Hell, they didn’t even have a label for what they were doing.
    Jed didn’t even flinch. He said,
“You asked me to take her to dinner. I did. I’m not interested in Melissa. This
is Shay, and I really like her .”
    Janice looked as if seeing her
for the first time. She went to say something but looked at the hoodie. She had
a startled expression one moment and then she looked at Shay eye to eye the
next. “I’m Janice. It’s really nice to meet you, Shay.”
    “You guys on your way out
already?” Buddy stepped closer and his son moved to shift from Jed’s arms to
his dad’s.
    “I’m tired. You know I have a
limit for how long I can hob-nob.” Jed moved his hand into hers again. Janice
and Buddy both noticed. Buddy Junior whispered in his dad’s ear.
    “Think so, do you?” Buddy asked
his son. Buddy Junior looked at Shay and then put his shy little head down on
his dad’s shoulder.
    “Good Lord, he’s smitten!” Janice
looked at her son and then at Shay. “He is not shy, Shay. I’ve never seen him
this timid in my life.”
    “She has that effect on people,”
Jed said. Shay blushed. She could feel the heat creep over her cheeks. Jed
laughed and everyone looked at him.
    Janice smiled at her brother,
looked at him for a long moment and then she looked at Shay and said, “I
haven’t seen that in a long time either.”
    Shay didn’t know what she was
talking about. Janice took a step towards her big brother, reached up to stroke
his face and said, “It’s good to see you smile again.”
    She looked rather emotional. Shay
looked away. Jed’s fingers gripped hers a little tighter. He said, “We’ll see
you guys later.”
    She didn’t ask and he didn’t
tell. She knew he was getting a headache and she wasn’t going to press for
answers about why his sister looked ready to cry because he was smiling.
    The last person to stop them on
the way out was his mother. She greeted him with a big hug and said, “You’re
still here? I thought you slipped out without saying hello or goodbye to me.”
    She looked from Jed to Shay. Her
eyebrow arched as she too looked at what might as well have been his flag
claiming her, the hoodie, and said, “Jed, darling, go say hello and goodbye to
your Uncle Harvey. He’s your Godfather for crying out loud, you can’t leave
without saying something to him.”
    If Shay’s head could have snapped
off it would have. She turned it so fast in the direction his mom pointed. Jed
started to tug Shay along, but his mother slid her hand onto Shay’s arm and
said, “She can