“Hey, Mom,” Celeste called as she escorted Tierney out onto the patio. “This is Alec’s sister, Tierney.”
The woman dressed as the kooky divination teacher clapped her hands together and squealed with excitement. Tierney was amazed at how perfectly perfect Mrs. Novak’s Professor Trelawney costume was—right down to the frizzy long hair and pop-bottle-bottom glasses.
“Tierney!” Mrs. Novak exclaimed, throwing her arms around Tierney’s neck and embracing her tightly. “We are so happy you’re finally here! Alec has been chattering on and on about you for weeks!”
Mrs. Novak unwound her arms from around Tierney and, keeping hold of her shoulders, drew back from her and studied her for a moment. Then, calling over her shoulder, “Edward! Get over here and meet Alec’s little sister! She’s just adorable,” Mrs. Novak actually reached up and gently pinched Tierney’s cheek.
The gesture made Tierney giggle. She suddenly felt far more comfortable—even warmer than she had a moment before.
A tall man dressed like Captain America stepped up, smiled at Tierney, and then wrapped his long, strong arms around her as he said, “Well, hello at last! My ears are sore from hearing so much about you from Alec.” The man chuckled, put one arm around Mrs. Novak’s shoulders, and said, “I’m Edward Novak, Nikki’s husband, Rome and Celeste’s father.” Mr. Novak raised his free arm, flexing his bicep and adding, “And Captain America, of course.”
“Wow!” Tierney breathed. “I’ve never met a real-live super hero before!”
Mr. Novak was pleased. It was obvious by the way his grin spread into a delighted, rather cheesy smile.
“Oh, I like you already, Tierney O’Brien,” he said. “And flattery will get you everywhere with me.”
“Welcome to our home, Tierney,” Mrs. Novak said, “and to our party. Call me Nikki, by the way, and I promise that you’re going to have so much fun tonight. There’s tons of food, tons of people to meet and talk to. Oh! And what do you think or Rome’s idea for the snack table, hmm?”
Taking Tierney’s hand, Mrs. Novak led her to the long refreshment table. The table was draped in black cloth and skirting and simply piled with Halloween-themed goodies. There were breadsticks embellished with green food coloring and Parmesan cheese and sliced to look like witch fingers, shrimp (and what looked like cocktail sauce) molded to look like a brain and served with crackers, and a few rubber roaches for decoration. There was a cheese ball decorated to look like a giant, bloodshot eyeball, barbequed chicken wings stretched to look like bat wings, and little hot dogs wrapped with some kind of dough to look like little mummies with tiny mustard-made faces. A bowl of dip had five crooked, long, peeled carrots stick out of it, causing the dip to look like the palm of a hand and the carrots to look like fingers. There were casseroles that looked like entrails, a vegetable pizza appetizer that had crackers standing in it to mimic a graveyard scene. And at the center of the table sat a jack-o’-lantern that had been carved with a round, open mouth, from whence a fat river of guacamole originated to then spread out over a thick covering of parchment paper. The guacamole was lined on either side with tortilla chips.
“You see?” Nikki said, shaking her head and pointing to the guacamole-vomiting jack‑o’‑lantern. “Do you see the kind of mind my son has?” Yet the woman laughed the next moment, her face erupting into a wide smile and expression of pride. “Don’t you love it?” she asked with exuberance.
Tierney laughed as well, nodded, and answered, “It’s awesome. Gross…but way awesome!”
“I know, right?” Nikki agreed. Then taking Tierney’s arm once more, she said, “Let’s toss you out of the frying pan and into the fire, shall we? You need to start meeting everyone.”
And meet everyone she did! For the next forty-five minutes, between Rome’s mother, father, and Celeste, Tierney met every guest at the party. Occasionally Alec would track her down to check on her—ask if she were okay and having fun. Much to Tierney’s surprise, she was always able to answer, “Yes,” and was glad.
The Novaks were a wonderful, friendly, and obviously very caring family, and Tierney found herself thinking she’d never been in such a wonderful atmosphere before—not in all her life. Still, as she found her attention constantly drawn to Rome—wondering what he was doing and who he was talking with—a touch of anxiety did creep into her mind here and there. She liked Rome—liked him far more than she had any right to—and it worried her, deeply.
❦
The back covered patio of the Novaks’ house was very large, spanning the entire length of the house and at least thirty feet wide. Being the focal point for the entertainment of the evening—lip syncs performed by some of the guests and apparently dancing later, as Alec informed Tierney—everyone lingered near the patio or just inside the house in the kitchen and adjoining family room.
As the evening progressed, the party guests would be summoned to congregate on the patio to enjoy a lip sync that someone had prepared. Tierney had never experienced anything quite like watching friends and neighbors perform in this manner, and she found it wildly intriguing as well as superbly entertaining.
One middle-aged couple performed a hysterical lip sync as Sonny and Cher singing “I Got You, Babe”—with the six foot four inch husband being dressed up and performing as Cher and the five foot nothing wife dressed as Sony Bono and performing his parts. Tierney found herself having laughed so hard that a lower backache ensued for several minutes afterward. There was an elderly woman who did a marvelous job of impersonating Christina Aguilera, a friend of Rome’s who lip-synched to a Michael Bublé number, and a group of women in their thirties (one of whom was eight months pregnant) who performed to a Spice Girls’ song.
It was obvious to Tierney that each and every lip sync had taken a lot of time and effort to prepare, and she was amazed that the Novaks’ friends had put so much of themselves into it—just for a Halloween party.
Still, each time Mr. Novak would announce another lip sync was about to be performed, Tierney’s heart would leap in her chest—evidence of her excitement at seeing just how prepared Alec and Rome would be. Of course, it became evident quite quickly that Celeste (being the one in charge of the order in which people performed) had saved her brother and Alec for last.
Yet at nine o’clock sharp—as Tierney stood talking with Alec about how entirely different Rome and Celeste’s upbringing must have been from their own—Celeste stepped up onto the impromptu stage Mr. Novak had built just a little ways beyond the patio and announced that the last lip sync of the evening was about to begin.
“We’ll start the dancing after this last lip sync,” Celeste added. “So the fun isn’t over yet. But I do have a feeling that this last lip sync will be very entertaining indeed.”
“Oh, great. It’s time,” Alec mumbled.
Tierney looked to him. “But I thought you were stoked about this,” she said.
“I was,” Alec admitted. “Until right now. Everybody is going to be watching.”
“And by everybody you mean…” Tierney began, meaning to imply that Celeste was the one Alec was worried about performing in front of.
“By everyone, I mean everyone,” Alec interrupted, however.
“Ladies and gentlemen—” Celeste began to introduce.
“Come on, man!” Rome exclaimed, suddenly appearing behind Tierney and Alec. “Let’s go! Get your game face on, dude.”
Alec inhaled a deep breath, puffing it out forcefully. “Okay…let’s do this thing, bro,” he said.
“Please help me welcome to the Novak Halloween stage…” Celeste continued, “give it up for Milli Vanilli!”
Tierney laughed and whispered to herself, “And the crowd went wild!” as everyone in the room began to applaud and whistle as Rome and Alec, long black braids swinging, hurried up onto the stage.
As the music began—the instrumental intro to Milli Vanilli’s most famous song, “Girl, You Know It’s True”—and Rome and Alec began to dance, every woman of eve
ry age in the room squealed with delight, including Tierney!
“Oh my gosh!” Celeste giggled as she hurried down from the stage and stopped to stand beside Tierney. “They look so awesome, right?”
“Totally awesome!” Tierney giggled as the energy in the room carried her away to a carefree feeling of joy.
“I mean, look at their hair!” Celeste laughed.
Tierney laughed too as she watched both Rome and Alec twirling around in order to make their cornrow braids swirl out. As she and Celeste laughed together, Tierney was again overwhelmed by not only a backache but also tears of mirth that were now filling her eyes.
“They kill me!” Celeste gasped between laughs.
Everyone in the room was still clapping as the vocal part of the song began. Quickly the crowd quieted down, however, and Tierney watched with awed admiration as Alec and Rome began to lip-synch.
Both men’s mouths and dance moves were perfectly in sync with not only the song but also each other. It was truly an incredible performance. In fact, it was such an incredible performance that the crowd began chanting “Encore!” before the final few bars of the song were even finished.
As Rome and Alec finished their performance, both looking a little like they were ready to suck wind, Rome nodded, pointed to his father, and said, “Okay…one more time, Dad.”
The crowd went wild again, and Tierney was glad Rome and Alec were going to repeat the performance. She’d been laughing and crying so much with joy that she’d missed half of it.
As “Girl, You Know It’s True” began for the second time, the crowd was just as excited and began singing along and moving to the rhythm as they watched Rome and Alec. But of all the people at the Novak Halloween party, it was obvious that Rome’s mom was more euphoric than anyone over the guys’ performance. As Tierney watched Nikki Novak singing and dancing along with Rome and Alec as she watched them, she tried to imagine her own mother ever enjoying anything so thoroughly. She knew she wouldn’t be able to envision Glynnis O’Brien ever being so carefree and happy, and she was disappointed.
How much of life her mother and father were missing! How much of life she and Alec had missed! She understood now why Alec was so very happy—how he’d managed to find contentment and joy in leaving home and building his own business and circle of friends in Leavenworth. This—the type of thing Tierney was experiencing for the very first time thanks to the Novaks, thanks to Rome, who had convinced her not to marry Dillon—this was living life to its fullest! No amount of money or things, travel to exotic places, or hobnobbing and name-dropping could ever match the feelings of pure joy, mirth, comfort, and contentment that Tierney was experiencing at that moment!
As the long black braids swung on the makeshift stage, as the Novaks’ guests reveled in amusement and pumpkin-barfed guacamole, Tierney O’Brien experienced the first epiphany of her life—an assurance that she’d absolutely done the right thing in breaking up with Dillon and finding the courage to leave Monterey the way Alec had. Certainly things may be harder, such as making a living for herself, but she saw the proof before her and all around her not only that life was meant to be lived for more than that—but that it could be!
C hapter Five
“It’s incredible, isn’t it?” Alec asked as he and Tierney stood watching some of the Novaks’ guests beginning to dance. “Who knew life could be so challenging and yet thoroughly enjoyable at the same time, right?”
Tierney smiled and shook her head. “I didn’t,” she admitted. “I mean, I spent my whole life hiding in my room from Mom—at least when I wasn’t hanging out with you somewhere on one of our afternoons of trying to escape. I watched old movies, listened to music, and spent probably years on the Internet, if you added all the time up, just researching history, the past, nostalgia. And now I realize, I was just looking for something that was missing in life.” She held one hand out, gesturing to where Rome’s Captain America father and Harry Potter professor mother were slow dancing on the patio. “And tonight I realize…for the first time, I realize that this is exactly what I was looking for,” she said. “The normal, everyday life…the kind of life Dad used to describe to us before he withdrew from the world. Dad grew up like this, in just a normal, happy, middle-class family where people laughed and talked and hugged and kissed and drank homemade root beer.” Tierney looked to Alec, trying to ignore the tears welling in her eyes. “Why didn’t he stand up to Mom more? Why didn’t he try to bring her into his world instead of getting dragged into hers?”
Alec sighed and put an arm around Tierney’s shoulders. “I think…I think stress and pressure—the demands to maintain the lifestyle Mom wanted, the one he thought he wanted when he started really making big money—I think it just wore him out. It was all he could do to make the money. He didn’t have anything left in him to stand up to Mom.”
Tierney choked back the tears and said, “I always try to think of him that way, you know? As a farm kid…branding cattle, riding horses, bucking bales, and eating Grandma’s stew.”
“Mmmm! Grandma’s stew!” Alec hummed. “That was always my favorite meal.”
“Mine too,” Tierney agreed. “And I try to think of Dad that way—happy, hard-working, instead of so hard-stressing.”
“You know, he did change after Grandma and Grandpa died,” Alec offered, “kind of like maybe he felt his last link to the good life was gone.”
“He did, didn’t he?” Tierney agreed. In fact, she’d never really realized it before—realized that part of her father had seemed to die when his parents were killed in the fire that had consumed their home late one night. Her father had never been the same after that. He’d withdrawn—seemed perpetually sad.
“So?” Rome asked as he and Celeste stepped between Alec, Tierney, and the dance area then. “Are you guys having fun?”
“Dude, are you kidding? This is awesome!” Alec assured his friend. “Even better than last year, I think.”
“And you and Rome,” Celeste began, blushing as she gazed at Alec, “you guys were unreal! I loved it!”
“And what did Miss Bootylicious think, hmm?” Rome asked as he stepped closer to Tierney. “Did we do okay?”
Tierney blushed as well—but from the sudden warmth that engulfed her at Rome’s being so close rather than the bashfulness Celeste was obviously feeling. How could she keep from smiling at Rome when he looked so perfectly gorgeous in his braided wig and ’80s jacket? She thought to herself that Rome Novak would’ve owned any decade he’d been born in; any time in history, he would rule as the archetypal male.
“It was so awesome!” Tierney managed to answer at last. “Honestly,” she added, glancing to Alec a moment. “You guys were seriously dangerous up there!”
Rome’s smile broadened as he muttered, “Must’ve been that good luck kiss.”
“Must’ve been what?” Celeste asked.
“Nothing,” Rome answered, winking at Tierney and causing butterflies to flutter about in her stomach.
“Oh my gosh!” Heidi Svensson exclaimed as she suddenly intruded. “Did you guys just hear that? On the news in the den—someone else just walked into a plane propeller! This time up in Bellingham!”
“No, it’s gotta be rumors,” Alec said, frowning. “That poor model that it happened to last year—”
“No, it’s true!” Heidi interrupted.
Heidi Svensson—the girl that Rome thought Alec liked—the girl who Alec knew really liked Rome. She was the one person Tierney had met at the Novaks’ Halloween party who kind of rubbed Tierney the wrong way. Tierney figured she was predisposed to dislike Heidi simply for the fact that Alec had revealed Heidi was after Rome. But when Celeste had introduced Heidi as her coworker at the Christmas Shoppe in town, for some inexplicable reason, Tierney’s discomfort had increased.
“It was some old man or something, getting off a plane that had just come in from Seattle,” Heidi continued. “He died.”
Then, as quickly as she had arrived, Heidi flit
ted off to infiltrate another group of guests.
“She leaves such rays of joy and sunshine in her wake, doesn’t she?” Alec muttered, frowning.
“I just don’t get that,” Celeste said.
“You mean how someone can be such a total Debbie Downer like Heidi and still get invited to parties?” Rome asked.
“No, you stupid,” Celeste scolded. “I invited her because we work together and stuff. I’m talking about, like, how does someone just accidentally walk into an airplane propeller?”
Alec shrugged. “I don’t know,” he said. “But when I worked in Seattle, I used to fly from Seattle to Bellingham a couple of times a week, and there were always people on the runway that weren’t paying attention to the planes, so I can see how—”
Celeste gasped, her mouth dropping open in astonishment as she stared at Alec with widened eyes. “You used to be a pilot?” she asked.
Rome, who had been drinking a cup of root beer, choked—overcome with amusement at his sister’s misinterpretation of what Alec had said. No sooner had Rome begun to choke than Tierney hopped out of the way just in time to avoid the spray of root beer that shot out of his mouth.
Alec was laughing as well, entirely overcome with mirth. And although Tierney was giggling, she felt sorry for Celeste when the beautiful young woman blushed as she realized that she’d entirely misunderstood what Alec was explaining.
“Shut up, Rome,” Celeste pouted as her pretty brows puckered into a frown. “He said he used to fly from Seattle to Bellingham. Anybody would think that.”
“That my arms must get awfully tired?” Alec laughed, slapping Rome on the back as they enjoyed a good chortle at Celeste’s expense.
“You guys are poops, and I’m not talking to either one of you for the rest of the night,” Celeste said, stomping one platform-shoed foot.
“Oh, come on, Celeste,” Rome said. Tierney smiled as she saw Rome’s obvious compassion for his sister’s feelings. “It was funny. Don’t be mad. It was really, really funny.”
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