Stars Dancing [Dreams-To-Lovers Romance]

"I haven't had a mimosa in ages," Rhoda gushed, and I understood why. They were perfect bubbly drinks, slightly zingy and a lotta sweet.

Even better were the country ham biscuits and sausage casserole. Marcia's On The Green put on a lovely Sunday brunch, but not all of it could match what I was used to back home.

"Not into the omelette, Sam?" Paddy asked.

I shook my head, "It's dripping grease, so nowhere near as good as my Nanna's."

"Oh, if you two wind up going to Wyoming, you've gotta meet Sam's grandma! She's a treasure, and Filly loves her. Last night he couldn't stop talking about her heart-shaped cookies."

I laughed, "Totally. She makes the best sugar cookies!"

HC rolled his eyes, "So very grandma-ish. Couldn't she come up with something more original?"

"Well, when I lived in her basement she'd make a standing rib roast that'd knock your socks off."

But HC was laughing too hard to appreciate the mastery of such a dish. "You can't be serious. You're telling me YOU actually lived in your grandma's basement?"

"Ain't no lie," I chuckled, taking another bite of a buttery, crumbly ham biscuit. Salty perfection it was. "I've only had my own place a few months, and it's not much, but it's homey. Not enough room to house guests, though, so don't even think about staying at my place. You know about Cora's concert, so what're you going to do between now and then?"

"Oh, decision made. We're going to see as much of Wyoming as we can before we go to Denver for the concert," Paddy assured me.

"Cool, so what's the plan?" I asked.

"How do you feel about going home tomorrow, Sam?" Rhoda wondered.

I nodded, "I expected you'd need to get back. And Cora's busy with performance prep. I need to get working on Discordant because I wanna be ready to talk to Bitsy Joon from the Known Cosmos Earth Press soon. I've waited too long, probably, to respond to her—"

"About that," HC interrupted me. "I sent your first twenty chapters back to you just before we came to brunch, and I think you're almost ready to pitch them, Sam. There's just some areas to polish and a few corrections here and there. It won't take much to get it ship-shape."

Stolen story; please report.

"Right. I know it needs some smoothing and transitions, so I can work on that today, plus I need to watch some of those animations Bitsy recommended to me. But, HC, what about everything else? I mean, it seems like we're doing all the leg work on the Discord problems. What about the investigation? Who's looking into this?"

HC tossed his napkin on the table, "Aw, you know how it is with ministry types—"

"No, HC, no I don't. I have no idea what goes on at those levels."

He smiled sardonically, "And that's exactly how they like it. George'll tell me anything, but George is small beans, so he knows little of what's going on now that Galactic Ministers of Tech are involved. The best he can figure is that it's bigger than just Milky Way. By which I deduce that Discord and Purple Road are only one element of this scheme."

"Humph," Rhoda blew out a breath. "If that's so, then there's more tech companies? Other galaxies like Andromeda and Maglen? That means more powerful people? And probably less accountability? They're gonna get away with it?" she scoffed. "Typical. So fucking typical. I dunno why I expected anything different."

Rhoda sounded uncharacteristically bitter.

HC nodded, "Maybe, Rhoda, maybe. But they can't silence me. They can try to silence Sam, but she's got powerful friends too. Me. Cora. And probably Bitsy Joon. And then, she went and won a poetry contest. Samantha has been slowly growing a following, almost in the shadows. Few people know her true identity, and many love her work. She's known for non-violent, feel-good love stories. Not the usual fare, but characters that people connect to."

"And that kind of genuine affection—the love her readers feel for her books—is what can rile people to action. So, let's put our faith in the power of words. Samantha Mooneyhan just might prove that the pen is mightier than the sword," HC finished.

"Ha!" I barked out. "No pressure or anything. 'Save the world, Sam. Write books that change reality and motivate people to stand up for what's right!' That's almost as good as being someone's destined dream girl," I joked, forgetting who I was talking to. Oops.

Three faces looked at me with eyebrows raised, and HC had a knowing grin on his face.

"So, Samantha. The topic of dreams is coming up yet again. Feel like sharing with the class?" he asked lightly.

"That's not my story to tell, so no," I retorted.

He just smirked in response. One of these days I was gonna punch him in his smug Santa Claus face. Gently. With kindness and love. And a pinch of retribution.

"Okay, the game plan is I tidy up Discordant, watch some episodes of the Dream With Me Now animation, then contact Bitsy Joon. That's more than enough for me to do today, so y'all figure out the plans to go home. I'm on board with whatever," I told them.

"You're not gonna see Coraline again?" Rhoda asked softly.

"Oh, I'm sure I'll see her," I leered. "But she's got a lot to do before next weekend, so I'm not gonna stay in Nashville by myself. I'll go home on the same airship as you."

"Great. Then we're settled. Paddy and I are going to a botanical garden from here, and HC has already committed to writing the rest of the day, so you two go on and do author stuff while we be tourists. Sound good?" Rhoda finished.

Everyone agreed, and we parted ways. It felt good to have a plan, even if the Discord nightmare didn't yet have a final solution.