Chapter 24
“That was beautiful.”
Jesus! I think I jump about a foot off the piano bench. I smack Fallon’s arm as he laughs at my reaction. And then I get a closer look at him as he sits down beside me at the piano.
“You look good,” I think, and then do a faceplant when I realize I said it out loud.
But he does look fantastic in his black silk shirt and gray dress pants.
The colors set off the bright blue of his eyes, making them glow.
He’s even styled his hair, completing the model-perfect look.
Fallon also smells fantastic. I may have leaned over a bit and sniffed him.
I’m a sucker for men’s cologne. I would spritz Ryder’s cologne on my pillows, and I used to do the same with Jayson’s.
Fallon smirks at me and nudges me over on the bench so his butt isn’t hanging off the edge. “Thought I’d find you down here.”
When he and I were last here, I remembered the hotel had a Steingraeber & Sohne in an alcove off the front lobby. As exhausted as my body was from our day out sightseeing, my mind was wound tight. I also needed a breather.
I love the guys, but oh my God, do they hover.
As they were all busy getting dressed—because for some reason, it takes them way longer than it does me—I snuck out of the suite and escaped down to the lobby for some alone time.
Dumb, I know, seeing as I’m surrounded by people milling about the reception area.
“Guys almost ready?” I ask him and go back to playing the piano.
“Jay is still primping in the bathroom. The guy is a diva.”
I snort. Julien and I used to tease Jayson about his grooming habits—as in he’s worse than a girl when it comes to getting ready.
Fallon gets up, and with me still sitting on it, he turns the bench perpendicular to the Steingraeber. Taking a seat behind me, he circles his arms around me so that he can rest his hands on the keys. I place mine on top of his, and I slowly press down on his fingers.
This was how my dad first taught me to play the piano.
It’s something that Ryder and I do a lot, the last time being at Thanksgiving at the Montgomery mansion right before everything went to hell.
I stop myself from sinking into that never-ending pit of melancholy and instead focus on a good memory—the one of me and Fallon sitting at his sister’s Steinway in her Barcelona home doing what he and I are doing right now.
As I continue to manipulate Fallon’s fingers, he drops his chin down onto my shoulder. “Is this the song you wrote me?” he asks, and I smile because I was waiting for him to recognize the melody. Another great memory from our trip together.
Fallon has become such a vital part of my life.
A trusted friend. He’s my hero. He saved me when I thought my world was ending.
He continues to save me every single day.
Who knew this enigmatic, rich bad boy with a chip on his shoulder could weasel his way into my heart?
But he has. He now takes up a permanent place alongside Ryder, Jayson, and Julien.
A man in a tuxedo and top hat comes stumbling over, clearly already three sheets to the wind. It’s New Year’s Eve, so I’m expecting most everyone in the hotel will be plastered before the ball starts dropping at midnight.
“You know how to play ‘Maple Leaf Rag?’” the man asks with a tipsy hiccup.
“Yeah,” I answer, my lips quivering because the man has a sloppy grin on his face.
“Cool.” The guy throws a hundred-dollar bill on the piano and stumbles away.
“Did he—” I look at the Benjamin winking at me. Well, okay then. I push Fallon’s hands aside and play what the man requested as Fallon peers around me to see.
Several people stop and listen, and when I’m done, I’m surprised as more bills get added on top of the man’s money before they melt back into the sea of New Year’s revelers congregating in the hotel’s lobby.
“I think that’s two-hundred dollars,” I say in shock and then I get an idea. Twisting so I can see Fallon better, I ask, “The front desk has currency exchange, right?”
“Yeah. What are you up to?”
Smiling, I reply, “You’ll see.” I pick up the money and bound off the bench, taking Fallon with me.
After we stop at the guest services desk, we take the private elevator back up to the penthouse suite. As the box smoothly rises up to our floor, Fallon checks me out with a long, lingering look.
“What?” I ask, suddenly feeling self-conscious. I smooth a hand down the soft fabric of my dress.
Compared to the glamorous, sophisticated women that we saw downstairs who were wearing expensive, sequined gowns, five-inch stilettos, their hair in elegant updos, and their bodies draped in glittery diamonds from their ears to their fingers, I must look like Cinderella before her fairy godmother appeared.
My dress is a simple black, A-line midi dress that I paired with comfortable ballet flats.
My hair is styled in its usual crazy mop of blonde waves with the ends dyed pink, and I kept my makeup simple.
The only jewelry I have on is from Jayson.
My fingers touch the pink quartz heart, gold locket, and promise ring that I keep on the thin link chain he also gave to me at junior prom.
“You look gorgeous,” he states, and I blush.
“You need glasses.”
He steps forward and my instincts are to take a step back, but my feet won’t work. Fallon lifts a strand of my hair and lightly tugs on the end. “Secret for a secret.” He takes another step toward me.
That old, familiar spark that happens whenever Fallon and I are within five feet of each other bursts forth until the elevator is filled with electric tension.
Things have felt different between us lately.
If I’m being honest, things have felt different with Jayson, too.
Perhaps, my mind is making up stuff to help me cope with my sadness and confusion over what happened with Ryder.
I feel like I’m stuck in a depressing state of limbo.
Are we broken up now? Did he end things between us without actually saying the words?
He said to give him time, but how much? I want to be there for him, especially when he starts chemo, but how can I do that if he refuses to talk to me or see me?
Luckily, the elevator doors open at that moment and provide a much-needed interruption from my runaway train of thought. I’m greeted by a very handsome Julien who promptly rushes forward and lifts me up in his arms. He’s got his hair done in the short-cropped fauxhawk I love.
“Here she is!” he says and kisses me on one cheek. “That’s from me.” He kisses my other cheek. “That’s from Elijah. He says Happy New Year’s Eve.”
Elijah wasn’t able to come with us on Fallon’s spur of the moment trip to New York City. He’s in South Carolina with his dad visiting his grandparents again and won’t return until the day before school starts back up.
“And you look hot, Liz,” Julien adds, putting me back down on my feet.
My cheeks get redder. What is up with the guys tonight?
Jayson comes into view and even though he may take forever to get dressed, the results are worth it. My heart skips a beat or two when we lock eyes because he looks exactly like he did at junior prom, sans the tuxedo. His black jeans hang low on his hips and he’s wearing a dark blue button up.
“You guys all look swoon-worthy,” I tell them.
“You ready to play, princess?” Jay asks, coming over to tap fists with Julien and Fallon before taking my hand.
It weirds me out to see Fallon and Jayson acting all bromance-y, but good too. It’ll take a little getting used to, I guess. I know it’s because of me that the two of them have called a truce.
“I thought we were just heading to the roof to watch the fireworks.”
All three guys just smile.
I make a mad dash over to Julien as fast as I can since I’m wearing a dress covered with a long wool winter coat. I plunk my bucket next to his. A snowball splats at my feet and I duck behind Julien’s back.
I don’t know how the guys managed to plan it, but when we got up to the roof, a hotel employee was waiting for us, four buckets filled to the brim with perfectly round, already-prepared snowballs dangling from both hands.
“Don’t you dare hide behind me and make me a target.” Julien reaches behind himself to grab me, but I retaliate by shoving a snowball down his collar. “Liz!”
In a fit of giggles, I take off again only to be caught by Jayson who was hiding behind a lounge chair.
None of the other rooftop partiers seems to mind our childish antics or are bothered that we are running around like crazy people throwing snowballs every which way.
Everyone out here is having a good time without a care in the world.
The rooftop of the hotel is decked out in string lights.
Sculptures made of silver and pearlescent white balloons are scattered around.
A DJ stands at a table, playing one pop dance song after another.
Discreetly placed heat lamps ensure that partiers don’t get cold.
Honestly, that’s not a problem because everyone is putting off enough body heat to the point where I’m actually sweating.
Or that could be because I’ve been running around. Or maybe it’s the pregnancy hormones.
Fallon appears in front of me, a devilish grin spreading across his face as he holds up a snowball. I wiggle in Jayson’s hold, trying to get away, but I can’t stop my peals of laughter as Fallon gets closer.
“Don’t you think about it, Fallon Montgomery!”
“I’m not.” His grin grows wider, and I shriek when Jayson sneaks a snowball and shoves it down the front of my coat.
“I’m so going to murder you!” I shout.
But my heart melts as quickly as the ice that’s now soaking the front of my dress under my coat when he lets me go and I see the happiness shining brightly on his face.
It’s been too long since we last played around just for fun.
Our lives have been missing random silliness.
I think the last time we let loose was the night at my house when we had the shaving cream balloon fight in the backyard.
The only time I’ve ever seen Fallon let his inner kid out is when he's with me.
Which reminds me— “Come with me,” I tell the guys.
I shake the snow out from under my coat, then reach into the deep side pocket. I pull out the thick envelope that contains the two hundred one dollar bills I had gotten the front desk to exchange for me.
“Is that what I think it is?” Fallon asks when he sees it.
“Yep.”
Julien snatches the envelope from me, because he’s nosy like that, and peeks inside. “Where did you get this?” he asks, confused as to why I have a wad of money.
I take the envelope back. “The better question should be, what are we going to do with it?”
“Alright, I’m game,” Jayson says. Growing up, he and I were always partners in crime, so to speak. We used to get into the best kinds of trouble as kids.
I dole out fifty dollars each and hand it to them. “We’re going to toss them off the roof.”
“Why?” three voices ask in unison.
“Wouldn’t you like to see money falling from the sky?”
What I don’t say is that I want to put a smile on someone’s face.
I want to bring someone a bit of happiness.
Maybe the money will be found by a person who really needs it.
Maybe that person is having a rotten day.
Maybe they stumble across one of the dollar bills and they are able to feel a sliver of joy at its discovery.
As we each hold our fifty bills over the tall ledge of the roof, I pause for effect, then say, “Ready, set, let go.”
We toss the money into the air and watch as the bills flutter aimlessly and scatter in the wind, looking like helicopter seeds from a maple tree.
“Now make a wish,” I tell them. I close my eyes tight. When I open them, Fallon is staring right at me.
The DJ cuts the music, and we hear him say over a loudspeaker, “Alright, people. Are you ready to count it down?”
I’m excited to see the famous New York City fireworks display, even at a distance.
The guys crowd around me, Jayson to my right and Fallon to my left, with Julien on Jayson’s other side.
It’s about to become a whole new year. A year where my life will change dramatically once again.
My eighteenth birthday. Ryder’s bone marrow graft.
Graduation. The birth of my child. College…
well, maybe. I still haven’t decided on that one.
As if I can hear the entire city of millions of people shouting at once, the countdown begins.
“Ten!”
I link my right hand with Jayson’s.
“Nine!”
I twine my left hand with Fallon’s.
“Eight!
I miss you, Ryder. Please find a way to forgive me.
“Seven!”
I love you Mom and Dad. So very much.
“Six!”
Julien reaches around and joins his hand with mine and Jayson’s.
“Five!”
A few fireworks from the surrounding neighborhoods explode all around us. It reminds me of the Fourth of July at the beach when Jayson and I snuck off and kissed behind the dunes as fireworks detonated above our heads.
“Four!”
There’s a tug on my left hand.
“Three!”
“Elizabeth?”
“Two!”
I look up at Fallon. “Yeah?”
“One!”
Fallon bends down and kisses me.
“Happy New Year!”