Love Signals: An opposites-attract, forced proximity, only one bed, revenge romantic comedy (Love St

30. The Vanquishing of the Shitbag…

Allie

“We did it!”I say, patting my monitor, you know, like a crazy person. Tears fill my eyes and I let out a single, happy sob. Late last night, Frank sorted the fake alien signals from all the other noise from space. Every single one of them. So I quickly whipped up a new batch of fakes, and he found those too, with no errors. Just perfect detection of unusual anomalies. “We fucking did it, Frank!”

“You did it?” Gwen asks, poking her head in my office.

“We did!” I jump up and rush over to her. “He’s going to detect extraterrestrials for us! If they’re within range, he’ll find them.”

“I’m so proud of you!” Gwen says, holding out her arms.

We give each other a big hug, squealing about what is the most thrilling moment of my life. Well, career. The whole Hudson boyfriend thing is pretty fucking thrilling.

After a quick second, Gwen recoils. “Oh wow, I take it you’ve been at this for a while?”

Pulling back, I give my left armpit a sniff. “Whoa, bad. I got here Saturday morning and have been at it non-stop. What are you doing here?”

She blinks once. “It’s Monday morning and I work here.”

“Oh God, seriously? I should go home and shower before Hudson sees me like this,” I say.

“You mean your new boyfriend?” she asks with a waggle of her eyebrows.

I make a ‘keep it down’ gesture with my hands. “I don’t want him to think I’m blabbing to the whole world about that.”

Pursing her lips, she says, “I’m not the whole world.”

“Good point. Okay, I should go,” I say, rushing over to my desk, searching through the empty freeze-dried ice cream wrappers for my cell and my keys.

“Oh my God, you ate the ice cream.”

“I was desperate.” I find my cell and hold it up. “Ah-hah! There you are. God, I’ve missed forty-two messages, and I’m guessing at least thirty are from my relatives about missing supper last night.” I find my keys, then realize I can’t leave yet. “Oh wait. I need to send a quick email to Virgil, Chad, and Keenan to see if they’ll do the verification for me. Then, I should go home and eat some real food and get some sleep.”

Gwen grins at me. “I can’t believe you did it, Al. You really freaking did it! You’re going to be famous.”

“Well, SETI-famous,” I say with a little shrug. Then, unable to contain my excitement any longer, I let out a squeal. “Which is really the only kind I care about.”

I force myself to sit down, and quickly write an email, then attach the report and send it to my makeshift verification team. Just as I hit send, Hudson walks into my office. As soon as I see his face, I realize I have nothing to feel self-conscious about.

His eyes are shining and I know he’s as invested in this as I am. “Well?”

I nod. “We did it.”

He lets out a loud whoop, then hurries over to me. “I knew you could do it!”

When he’s close enough, I tell him, “You may not want to hug me. I’ve been at my desk since I left your place.”

“Are you kidding? This is the biggest moment of your life. Of course I’m going to hug you!” He pulls me out of my chair and wraps his arms around me.

It’s a truncated hug, and when we pull back, I can see he’s trying not to look like his sense of smell has been severely assaulted. “Well done, Allie! I’m so proud of you.” Turning to Gwen, he says, “She’s amazing. Isn’t she amazing??”

“She’s completely amazing,” Gwen answers. “One thing about this woman is that when she sets her mind to something, she’s going to do it. Even if she has to exist on freeze-dried ice cream all weekend.”

His face falls. “Oh, dammit, I knew I should’ve come in to feed you.”

Shaking my head, I say, “No. Honestly, this happened the way it had to. I needed to be completely alone and focused the entire time. You would’ve been a distraction.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“That’s how I meant it,” I say, pulling off my glasses and rubbing my weary eyes. “Oh God, I have never been this tired in my life. I think I could sleep for a week.”

“I’ll give you a lift home,” he says.

“No, that’s okay. I have my car here.”

He raises one eyebrow. “And yet, I’m still going to drive you. There’s no way you should be behind a wheel right now.”

“Good point.” Turning to Gwen, I say, “Do you mind telling Keenan I’m taking the day off to sleep?”

“Will do.”

“Oh, and what about you?” I say to Hudson. “What will you do all day?”

“Tomorrow’s my big tour so I’m going to practice for that.”

“You sure you don’t need help?” I ask.

“He’s got it, Allie,” Gwen says. “He’s been on enough tours now to know the routine. Now go get some rest.”

I give her a wide-mouthed grin again and try to give her another hug, but she shakes her head. “Tomorrow.”

“Right,” I say, snapping my fingers. “I stink.”

I start for the exit, with Hudson right behind me, his hand resting gently on my lower back. Oh wow, that’s definitely something a real boyfriend would do, isn’t it? I turn back to Gwen to see if she sees it too, and clearly she does because she’s giving me a huge smile and double thumbs up.

Hudson notices the exchange and narrows his eyes a little. “What?”

“What what?” I ask.

“What are you two doing there with the grinning and the thumbs up?”

Gwen, whose brain is clearly functioning better than mine, says, “Oh, we’re just excited about karaoke night this Wednesday. Did Allie tell you about it?”

“No, she didn’t, but that sounds fun.”

“It’s the best. You have to come,” Gwen says. “Allie here does the world’s worst version of ‘9 to 5’ by Dolly Parton.”

My head snaps back. “Hey, it’s not as bad as you singing ‘You’re So Vain.’”

“I gave that song up, thank you very much,” she quips.

Turning to Hudson, I say, “Yeah, now she and Ty do a cringe-worthy performance of ‘The Power of Love’ by Celine Dion.”

Hudson chuckles. “Well, in that case, I’ll be there.”

“He’s in!” Gwen says, then she turns back to Hudson. “Do you sing?”

He gives her a cocky look. “Do I sing? Come on. That’s like asking Allie’s father if he uses confusing food-related analogies.”

Gwen and I both laugh, then I say, “What’re you going to sing?”

“I don’t know. If Allie likes to sing Dolly, I might drag her up on stage for a little ‘Islands in the Stream.’”

“You’d be my Kenny Rogers?”

“I’d be happy to be your Kenny,” he says.

My entire body warms at the thought, my heart flutters, and I’m suddenly giddy. Is this really going to happen? Like all of it? The dating and the falling in love and the whole having a life with someone? Someone pinch me please, because this is all too good to be true.

The entire ride back to my place is a blur for me. My mind is pretty much incapable of thought and I’m not even processing what’s happening. When we pull up in front of my house, Hudson smiles at me. “You really did it.”

I smile back, so happy I could cry. “Thank you. If you hadn’t said what you did about decoding language, I never would’ve figured it out.”

“You would have. I know it,” he says.

“Thank you anyway.”

“I’m not taking any credit for this,” he answers. “Not even an atom’s worth.”

I click my tongue, then say, “Did you just make a physics metaphor for me?”

He chuckles. “Maybe. Why? Did you like it?”

“Super-hot. If I wasn’t exhausted and disgusting, I’d be all over you right now.”

“You’re still beautiful.”

“We said no lying.”

“It’s a fact. And facts aren’t up for debate.” He leans over and gives me a kiss on the lips. “Go get some rest, and call me when you wake up.”

“I will.” I open the door and float up the sidewalk, feeling like I’m in the best dream ever. At thirty-five, my life is falling into place. I’ve just made a major discovery that’s going to help the world, and I’ve found love. Real love with a good man who loves me back and supports me.

I eat a huge breakfast—eggs, toast, orange slices, and yogurt—glad my parents are at work so I don’t have to try to talk. I write them a quick note to say I did it and that I’m sleeping, so when they get home from the bakery, they won’t wake me up. Then I take a long hot shower and drop into bed, listening to a chorus of birds outside my window. I lay there for a minute, thinking about how incredibly lucky I am. I not only got Frank to work, I’m madly in love with the most perfect man ever, and after our big talk yesterday, and how he opened up to me, I know he loves me too. Even though we haven’t said it yet, it’s there. He knows I accept and love him just the way he is, which is true love. The kind that lasts forever. Just like he accepts and wants me, even when I’m a total mess. We’ve done the hard part. The rest is just logistics. And all signs point to this relationship being a go. I fall into a deep sleep, feeling content in a way that I can honestly say I’ve never felt before, thrilled that soon, I’ll be back in his big, strong arms.

“Wake up. Allegra, wake up,” my mom says. “It’s almost supper time.”

I grunt and turn away.

“Come on.” She yanks my covers off and pats me on the back. “If you keep sleeping, you’ll be awake in the middle of the night and tomorrow will be another write-off.”

Why does she have to be right? “But I’m so sleepy,” I murmur, feeling too hot and too cold at the same time. Without opening my eyes, I reach down, searching for my blankets with my hand, even though I know they’re too far away.

“Let’s go. I made baked ziti to celebrate your work project.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“But you gotta eat so you can show your body what time it is,” she says. “Come on. Up with you.”

Yanking open my curtains, she lets the early evening light into my room. Walking over to my door, she says, “If you’re not downstairs in five minutes, I’m coming back with the bucket.”

The bucket is something she used to wake us up as teenagers when we’d try to sleep till noon. It’s metal. She brings a stainless-steel spaghetti spoon and makes a god-awful racket with them. “The bucket? You do know I’m a grown woman and a highly accomplished scientist, right?”

“Five minutes. It’s for your own good.”

I groan and drag myself out of bed, then stumble to the bathroom to pee and brush my teeth, still completely disoriented. In some distant part of my mind, an alarm is going off, and I have no idea why. I grab my phone and text Gwen, then Hudson, to tell them both I’m awake and that I’m going to eat supper and force myself to stay awake for a couple of hours before bed. Immediately, I get a text from them both.

Gwen

Rest up, my friend! You’ve earned it. See you tomorrow.

Hudson

Do you want me to pick you up and bring you back here? I can help you stay awake…

Me

As tempting as that is, I’m completely wiped.

Hudson

Totally understandable. I’ll swing by and drive you to work tomorrow morning.

Me

Thank you. See you around eight?

Hudson

I’ll be counting the minutes.

If ever there was a man who was boyfriend material, it’s this man. So, why is there a niggling feeling at the back of my mind? Something’s wrong, but I don’t know what.

“Allegra! Do I need to come up there?” Ma yells up the stairs.

“No, I’m coming down.”

Supper is a blur. The food is hot and delicious, and I have to admit my mom knew exactly what I needed. I coast through helping with the dishes without saying much more than two words. Then we sit down in the living room to watch Law Order and 20/20 True Crime, both of which scare the shit out of my father, who repeatedly tells me that ‘this is why you should never move out. Because of whack jobs like that guy.’

“Sure, Pops,” I tell him, too tired to argue. By the time my dad shuts the television off, I realize that strange, yucky feeling has grown exponentially. Something is definitely off, and I know it’s got something to do with Hudson, but I can’t put my finger on why.

Finally back in bed, I convince myself I’m just not used to being this happy. That’s got to be it. Being this happy is making me uncomfortable. It’s like I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. But this time it won’t, because this time, I’ve fallen for a man I can trust.

As I drift off, a voice in my head tells me there is something I’m missing. Something big and important. I have to find the pattern. The pattern is the key.

But the key to what?