Read Online Love and Rumors: A Summer Sisters Beach Reads Contemporary Romance (The Summer Sisters Book 1) by Jean Oram - Free Book Online Page A

opposite things.
    So was she a bad businesswoman? Or was having a movie star in one’s portfolio not as big of a deal as he’d thought?
    Maybe she was famous in her own right. Maybe she was an incredible, sought-after photographer and he’d insulted her. He touched her card, letting his fingers linger over her name. How many run-ins had they had today? And he’d been so tuned out that he hadn’t even asked her her name—not once. How had he gotten used to knowing people before he met them, all of them famous? Or else having people immediately introduce themselves, eager to get on his radar? How had that become normal?
    He was losing little things from real life, such as introductions. How to carry on a conversation. How not to be a jerk.
    Reality was a sweet reminder of how far he’d climbed. But his new life left him living in a land where nothing was real.
    He snatched up his phone as it rang, hoping, for some strange reason, that it was Hailey.
    “Finian?” asked the female voice.
    His mother.
    “Mom, how’s it going?”
    “I prayed for you at church today.”
    “Why?” he asked, cringing. There were so many things for her to pray about. She read the tabloids, and while she was usually able to write another story for what was pictured, sometimes she couldn’t.
    “For your broken heart. Why don’t you come home? I’ll bake cookies. We’ll walk Rex. We’ll talk. You must be exhausted.”
    “Mom, my heart isn’t broken.”
    “You were with her for over a year. Of course it is.”
    “Mom, did it look like I was actually in love with Jessica?”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Hey, here’s an idea. Why don’t you and Dad join me here?”
    “What would we do with Rex? I read the papers and they said—”
    “I was in the papers?”
    “Last week. This week it’s just one-liners here and there saying you’re hiding out from the pain. Come home. We’ll take care of you.”
    Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “Mom…” He tried to be patient. “I’m okay, really. And don’t believe what you see in the papers or hear on the news. Any of that. I’m still me. I’m still your boy.” Well, mostly.
    “My boy who lost his manners. Your hands were all over that girl.”
    Uh-oh. He knew that tone of voice. He stared at the ceiling, trying to figure out which woman his mother might be referring to. It could have been anyone during the blitz he’d gone on after his breakup. Derek had been elated and said it was the best news he’d heard all week, and that Finn’s royalty check would show a nice blip as a result of that bender.
    The next day Finn had booked his trip to Canada.
    “You know the things you see in the tabloids are usually staged, right, Mom?”
    “I had one tough time explaining that to my church group.”
    Finn swallowed. The wrath was coming down.
    “You know that photo was taken out of context?” he said, buying time, cringing, wishing he could hide.
    “I doubt she needed first aid applied to her nether regions, Finian.”
    He let out a short laugh. Yeah, he knew which photo his mother was referring to. He felt his cheeks heat. Not his finest moment. Well, unless you were Derek; then you had that one framed and hung as a fabulous publicity stunt.
    “Mom, I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” Finn rubbed his hand down his face. This was seriously the absolute worst part of being famous.
    “I think you need a new agent. One who doesn’t encourage this kind of behavior. I was talking to Adrian and he said you would do well with therapy.”
    Finn’s brother, Adrian, had been there the night Julian died in his arms. He knew what Finn had been through and knew what he was trying to accomplish with his publicity and fame. And yet, Adrian—who Finn had put through rehab, and then college—always sided with their mother in the quest to straighten him out. If they wanted him to keep bailing them out for their medical bills and student loans, someone had to pay the price. They couldn’t have