Page 118 of Rebooting Conor Flynn

“The knowledge that I’d see you again and never let you go.” He tugged on my hair. “And don’t give me no shite about staying away for the good of my career. My career is no good without you.”

“I have another plan.” I put my finger to his lips as he opened his mouth. “Let’s fake date—for real.”

He laughed. “I thought we were done with gimmicks.”

“We’ll confuse everyone.”

“I think we’ve done enough of that for a while. Besides, there’s nothing fake about my feelings for you. I love ya, Nollaig.”

“I love you too, Con.”

Together, we turned our backs on my father's residence—on the past, the gilded facades, and the choices other people had made for us—and stepped onto the hot, messy, crowded streets of Paris, hand-in-hand.

Epilogue

Conor tapped the golf ball into the putting cup and raised the club as if he’d just won the British Open.

I clapped and whistled through my teeth. “Huzzah! What a shot!”

He balanced the club on one shoulder. “You’re taking the piss, aren’t ya, Nollaig?”

“Me? Never.” I patted my chest. “I’m your biggest fangirl.”

He propped his club against the small stone wall that ringed his property and dropped into the chair next to me.

“You’re going to have stiff competition for that role once you get our reunion tour on the road.”

“If I get your reunion tour on the road.” I picked up my glass of lemonade and surveyed the rolling green lawn that Conor called a backyard for his country home in lush County Wicklow, south of Dublin. “Jay still hasn’t made a decision, and there’s no Five2Go without Javeed Patel—you all agreed.”

“That we did, and we stand by it.”

I hunched forward, bracing my elbows on my knees. “You guys decided on your band, right? Rhys Bevan made the cut?”

“Absolutely. Everyone agreed on that one—even if he did put Jade up to releasing those photos.”

“I made my peace with Jade. She didn’t know what she was unleashing. She’s still dancing though, and I think both she and Tomo landed the gig on Ariana’s tour.”

“If Five2Go used dancers, maybe we’d hire them.”

I giggled. “You guys always did your own dancing, as crazy as it was, although Sam and IP have gotten better. But you, Charlie, and Jay are as hopeless as ever.”

“Hey, I’ve got my moves.” He stretched out his leg and tickled my calf with his toes. “But even if we don’t launch this tour, your company is off to a great start with Ji-yoon as your first client.”

“I know, but she’s on strict rest right now. The talk you had with her really helped her set some boundaries with her manager. She’s going to be a superstar—just wait.”

“With Martine Media overseeing her career, I have no doubt.”

I kicked my feet in front of me, my skirt fluttering around my legs. “A year ago, I couldn’t imagine sitting here planning strategy for my own clients instead of thinking up goofy PR stunts to satisfy Dina.

“Feels good, yeah?” Conor held his glass of water in front of him and tipped it from side to side. “Does your dad know about your company?”

“He does. Of course, he tried to give me advice about how to run it and tried to talk me out of selling my shares of Baker Street to finance it.”

“Of course, he did. Do you...forgive him?”

“I forgave him—let him take me out to dinner at one of those five-star restaurants in Paris after you left.” I stared at the emerald-green landscape. “But I’ll never forget what he did, Con.”

“We won’t forget. We won’t forget what we almost lost.” He scratched his chin. “I did forgive Louise, though, for both of us.”