Chapter 5 #2
“Hi, Sam.” I hugged him tight, grinning at his ever-present ball cap and overalls. Happy that some things, at least, would never change.
He held me at arm’s length and gave my face a grandfatherly inspection. “I wanted to come with the others to Houston, but some stuff came up and someone had to stay here. Prayed like crazy for you.”
“I know you did.”
“That’s quite a bruise you got going there.”
“Just a little bump on the head.” I glanced at a production poster hanging on the wall behind him. “ Sound of Music , huh? Pretty ambitious. I’m impressed.”
“Don’t be.” He wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “Our Captain Von Trapp towers at five-foot-three, and Maria sings like a howling coyote.”
“Save me a front row seat.”
He chuckled, the lines around his eyes a gathering of creases and folds. “Your grandma sure is glad to have her little buddy back. How long are you staying?”
“Oh, probably indefinitely.”
Sam blinked. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not going back to London.”
“Well, of course you are. You’re the pride of this family. The pride of this town.”
I laughed at the ridiculousness of the very thought. “This town needs to raise the bar a bit. It was time to come back home. The theater life was nice for a while, but I can’t live like that forever.”
“What are you going to do?”
Wasn’t that just the question of the moment. “Not sure. Kind of limited with a drama degree. I was hoping the manager job was still an option here.” In fact, I was counting on it.
“Delores still says she’s retiring in six months,” Sam said.
“You know your parents would give you that job in a heartbeat. Well, that is if the theater’s—“ Sam startled at the beeping of his phone. “Drat. Five minutes late for lunch, and that woman’s sending me snippy texts.” He slipped the phone back in his overall pocket.
“I better get home. I promised Maxine I’d take her to a nice lunch. ”
“The Burger Barn?”
He nodded. “Your grandma wants a triple scoop.” His worn, strong hands cupped my shoulders in gentle pats. “No matter what you decide, we’re all proud of you, dear.”
With a final hug for Sam, I flung open the doors and stepped into the theater. Following the carpeted runner, I walked the slight decline, my breath easing the closer I got to that stage.
And by the time I laid down on the old, restored wood floor, staring up at the lights, I almost felt like my old self. Lights hummed above me, the cool of the stage seeped into my palms, and I closed my eyes and just slowly inhaled.
“Hello, Parker.”
My eyes popped open as Charlie Benson stood at the foot of the stage.
“I thought I might find you here.” His rascal grin still devastated, sending a sonar ping straight to my lost heart. He wore a white button down, pressed khakis, and hair that was almost in need of a trim. Almost.
“Come on up,” I said.
And he did. In seconds, he settled in beside me, his shoulder pressed to mine. I tried to focus on the dreamy scent of my theater and not Charlie’s cologne that promised manly things I’d absolutely sworn off.
We stayed that way for a while, just lying on the stage floor, our breaths eventually synchronizing, our thoughts going in their own directions.
“What are you doing here?” My hushed voice broke the lengthy silence .
“I came to see you.” He turned his face toward mine, and our lips were so close, if I just leaned in the slightest—
“I’m not going to fall for you again, Charlie.” I didn’t know if I said this for him—or for me.
His smile lit those pretty gray eyes. “I used to find you here just like this when we were in high school. I always knew it meant you had something big to work out.” He ran his finger down my temple and across my cheek. “You want to talk about it?”
I sighed, the sound coming from the pit of my stomach and echoing in the space.
“I thought I had it all figured out. I was one of the lucky ones. I knew who I was, and I certainly knew who I wanted to be. And everything just magically fell into place. It was just this big confirmation that I was on the right track.”
“Who says you were wrong?”
“I can’t go back to London. I don’t think I can ever get on the stage again.”
“I’ve seen you in action. You were born for this.”
I shrugged. “Maybe it was just a season.”
“I don’t believe that. You know what I do believe in?” His pinkie latched onto mine. “You.”
Lightning zinged from the top of my head straight to my toes.
Dear Lord, I was just like my bio-mother. She fell in love weekly with a different man. I would not be her. I was not going to be that stupid.
“I’ve made a lot of mistakes,” I said. If mistakes were raindrops, I’d flood this whole town.
“Was declaring your never-ending love for me at twenty-thousand feet one of them?”
“I didn’t mean it.”
He smiled. “No?”
“I thought we were about to die.”
“So the deal is null and void in the event of our unfortunate survival?”
“I was overtaken by adrenaline.”
“Not crashing can really mess things up.”
“Are you laughing at me? ”
His eyes darkened and he stilled. “I find myself very serious when it comes to you, Parker.”
I ran my hand over my face, regretting my bandage, my lack of makeup. “My life’s a mess, Charlie. You do not want to get mixed up in that.”
“None of us have uncomplicated lives. Maybe I want to be mixed up in yours.”
“No.”
He squeezed my hand. “How messy are we talking?”
“More than my usual fare. I’ve stepped it up in my adult years.”
“Katie?” Charlie turned on his side, leaning over me. “You said you loved me.”
So I had. But I could not have meant it. I couldn’t have. “I meant that in a universal way. Not romantic at all.” My gosh, his eyes were hypnotic.
Charlie thought about this. “So if the guy in the next aisle had been sitting by you—the four-hundred pound man with excessive body hair—“
“The really sweaty one?”
“If he would’ve been sitting next to you, then you would’ve declared your undying love to him?”
“Everyone needs a solid send-off to glory.”
Charlie smiled. “You’re lying.”
“A side-hug at the very least.”
Charlie just watched me for a moment. A handful of painfully long seconds. “We need to discuss this,” he said at last.
I sat up, needing some distance between me and the invisible lasso Charlie seemed to be whirling in my general direction. “You and I are long over. You’ve moved on. I’ve moved on.”
He rose to his feet, held out his hand, then pulled me up. My body collided with his. “What I recall moving,” he said, “was your lips on mine.”
“I’ve already forgotten it. You should too.”
His head dipped, his gaze hot on mine. “I don’t want to.”
“Charlie.”
His thumb traced across my cheek. “Stop talking. ”
“I’m a mess.”
He kissed the corner of my mouth. “Be my mess.”
And I was lost.
Later I would blame my concussion. The mystical energy of the theater. The weird cheesy substance Millie fed me for lunch.
But now?
Now I just leaned into Charlie Benson, wrapped my arms around his back, and pretended like I wasn’t making another giant mistake.