A Better Reason to Fall in Love

by Marcia Lynn McClure

  “Actually, no,” she said. “What do they say about missed opportunities?”

  He chuckled. “They’re opportunities that you missed. So I didn’t want to miss that one.”

  Tabby giggled.

  “Now, give me your phone number,” he demanded, pulling his cell from his pocket. “I was so busy assaulting you that I forgot to ask you for it. I couldn’t even call to make sure you really did have a way to work this morning.”

  He handed her his cell phone, and she began to enter her information.

  “This is mine,” he said, scribbling on a hot-pink sticky note as she was finishing with his phone.

  “Thank you,” she said as she handed his phone to him, “for not making fun of me about the whole snow thing.”

  He smiled. “What’s to make fun of?”

  He stood up as she said, “Thank you anyway.”

  “I’ll pick you up at seven on Friday,” he reiterated, dropping his phone into his suit coat pocket. “And I wanted to ask you one more thing.”

  “Yeah?”

  He frowned a little. “Do you think your friends would let you have lunch with me today…instead of with them? Or would that be a problem?”

  Tabby’s smile broadened. “You want me to go to lunch with you?”

  “Of course,” he chuckled. He winked. “After all, I thought of one you’ll never be able to do.”

  Tabby giggled, frowning with puzzlement. “One what?”

  “An actor that you won’t be able to do your Kevin Bacon thing with,” he answered. “Even if you do pull it off…it’ll take the entire lunch hour, I’m sure.”

  “Okay,” Tabby said, still smiling. He was adorable! He was delicious, attractive—addictive!

  “Noon?” he asked.

  “Yeah,” she told him.

  Jagger nodded and started to walk away. He stopped short, however.

  “Oh, and I forgot to tell you…I already talked to human resources,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” she asked, though she hoped she knew what he meant.

  “I told them I’m planning on having a…a thing with you. You know…an affair thing…a romantic interlude,” he explained. “That way they can’t fire either one of us because it’s on record.” He frowned suddenly. “Is…is that okay?”

  “Perfectly okay,” she told him.

  “Whew!” he breathed, putting his hand to his broad chest as if relief had just washed over him. “For a minute there, I thought I’d really stepped in it.”

  “No,” Tabby giggled, shaking her head. “Not at all.”

  Tabby’s heart began to hammer as Jagger Brodie’s eyes narrowed—as a smirk of mischief curved his tempting lips. Tabby bit her lip with delight as he swaggered back toward her. He didn’t walk or even saunter—he swaggered.

  Tabby was suddenly breathless as he leaned down, bracing his hands on the armrests of her chair.

  “After we consummate our first kiss with a date,” he whispered, “do you think there might be a second kiss…then a second date…then a third kiss, then a fourth and fifth?”

  “If that’s what you want,” Tabby whispered. She was entirely undone! He could’ve proposed marriage to her right then and there, and she would have accepted.

  He chuckled, rose to his full height, and said, “That’s a great answer.” He winked, said, “See you at noon,” and turned, sauntering back to his office.

  Tabby tried to catch her breath and put a palm to her cheek to try to cool her blush. Her heart was going to pop right out of her chest!

  “Did I miss something?” Naomi asked as she dropped a small package on Tabby’s desk.

  “Oh yeah!” Tabby breathed with an elated giggle.

  She glanced up to Naomi then—saw the bright pink of her cheeks, the brilliant light in her eyes.

  There was a visible change in Naomi, and Tabby asked, “Did I?”

  “Oh yeah,” Naomi said, winking at her.

  Naomi continued on her delivery rounds. Tabby had a moment of regret in knowing she wouldn’t be at lunch to hear about Luke’s phone call or why Naomi looked so radiant. Still, to be in Jagger’s company for another hour—the realization soothed any regret she might have had at missing lunch with the girls.

  She swiveled around to face her computer once more, giggling to herself. Who did Jagger Brodie think he’d thought of? Tabby could link anyone to Kevin Bacon—any actor or actress, that was. She thought of Naomi—of her promise to eat a frog if Tabby ever managed to link Jagger to Kevin Bacon.

  “Anything can happen,” she sighed to herself. She thought of the fact that only two weeks before, Jagger Brodie had been nothing but an unobtainable dream man. Now, she had a date with him—had already been kissed by him.

  “Yep, anything,” she whispered as she logged in to check her business e-mail.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  “I still can’t believe you linked Rudolph Valentino to Kevin Bacon,” Jagger said, smiling and shaking his head as he drove.

  “Don’t mess with the master of Baconism, Mr. Brodie,” Tabby giggled.

  Tabby glanced back over her shoulder as they left the city. The sun was just setting; the evening was warm and fragrant. She brushed a strand of hair from her face, tucking it behind her ear. She looked to Jagger, smiling in wondering where they were going and why they were traveling in a beat-up old pickup instead of his Volvo.

  In that moment, however, she didn’t really care where they were going. She actually preferred the old truck. She was in Jagger’s company, and that was all that really mattered to her. Certainly they had eaten lunch together every day since the storm, but this was different. This was an official date.

  A pang of regret—a sense of change—whispered to Tabby for a moment. She’d even skipped her Friday lunch with the girls in favor of lunch with Jagger, and she felt a little guilty, as if she’d let the girls down. Still, Jocelyn had skipped it too, opting for time with Armando. It wasn’t like it hadn’t happened before. Periodically, one or two of her friends missed the Friday lunch. Still, Tabby felt odd, as if their lives were beginning to take different paths. It happened—life and living. It caused changes in routines and in habits—in relationships. She wondered for a moment if all the strange six degrees of separation threads would eventually find her and her friends actually parting.

  She wouldn’t think about it now. She was with Jagger. Emmy was visiting her sister, Naomi was flying to Boston to spend the weekend visiting Professor Lowery, Jocelyn had plans with Armando—and she was with Jagger. Jagger—he was all that mattered to her right then.

  “Do you like my Paw Paw’s old yellow truck?” he asked, smiling at her. “He left it to me in his will. I helped rebuild the engine.”

  “It’s awesome!” Tabby said, running one hand over the old vinyl seat.

  “His ’70 Chevy,” he said as he laid his right arm across the back of the seat, sighing with obvious affectionate reflection. “I practically grew up in this pickup.”

  Tabby smiled, trying to imagine Jagger as a little boy, riding along with his grandpa.

  “I don’t drive it much,” he continued. “It’s really more like a souvenir.”

  “It’s a big souvenir,” she teased him.

  “Yeah,” he chuckled. “It guzzles the gas, and there’s no air conditioning.”

  “But it’s fun,” Tabby remarked.

  He smiled again. “It is, huh? And it’s a better choice for tonight.”

  “Why?” she couldn’t help but ask. “Where are we going?”

  “West,” he answered.

  “I can see that,” she giggled. “But there’s nothing out here off 550. Just an old gas station…that I think is, like, a ghost gas station now.”

  “A ghost gas station?” Jagger chuckled.

  “Yeah. You know…abandoned. Only ghosts can get gas there. And there’s that old ice cream parlor…but it’s closed too. And that way old drive-in movie place.”

  “Exactly,” he exclaimed. “That
old drive-in…which still operates April through October.”

  Tabby’s smile broadened. “You’re taking me to the drive-in?” She nearly burst with excitement. She was delighted—absolutely ecstatic! She’d never been to a drive-in. There were so few left in the state—in the country—in the entire world! She hadn’t even realized the old Highway 550 drive-in was still in operation.

  “I’ve always wanted to go to a drive-in,” she exclaimed with elation. “I can’t believe you would do this! It’s so roman—” She caught herself and was mortified that she’d almost said the idea was romantic.

  “So romantic?” he finished for her, however. She blushed, and he chuckled, “Well, I certainly hope so. How else would we ever consummate that kissing we did the other day? This better be romantic.”

  Trying not to be embarrassed—for it was obvious he wanted her to think the idea was romantic—she asked, “What’s playing there?”

  “Ooo…now that’s the funnest part,” Jagger said. He looked at her and winked. “And it’s a surprise. I’m not telling. In fact, I’m going to make you close your eyes until we pass the sign at the drive-in with the movie title on it.”

  “A drive-in movie,” Tabby breathed. She was utterly enchanted.

  “Watching a movie at the drive-in is fun. But watching it while sitting in an old pickup…that’s the bomb,” he said. “Do you know why?”

  Tabby shrugged. “Nostalgia?”

  He smiled and winked at her. “That’s one reason. But I’ll show you the main reason when we get there.” He glanced at her just as she brushed the hair from her face. “Sorry about the wind,” he said.

  But Tabby shook her head, put her arm out the window, and reveled in the free, fresh feeling of driving on a deserted highway with the windows down.

  “Oh, don’t be sorry,” she told him. “I love it!”

  “Okay,” Jagger said as he began to slow down. “We’re almost there, so you have to close your eyes for a minute.”

  “No problem,” Tabby sighed. Laying her head back on the seat, she closed her eyes. The setting sun through the front window of the pickup was warm on her face. The breeze felt good, and she could hardly believe the city had been blasted with one final spring snowstorm only days before. She felt the pickup turn and smiled when she realized they were driving on a gravel road.

  “Can I open my eyes yet?” she asked.

  “Nope. Not yet,” he said. She heard Jagger shifting gears and felt the old truck turn, stop, and then back up. “Now stay there just a minute,” he said. The engine chugged to a halt. She heard him get out of the truck and walk through the gravel and around to her side of the truck. “I just have to do one thing,” he said as he opened her door. “So hold on.”

  Tabby giggled as she felt the pickup move as Jagger climbed into the bed. As she listened to him rummaging around, her curiosity almost got the better of her. Still, she didn’t peek. She knew that whatever he was planning would be all the more wonderful if she did as he asked.

  After a few moments, Jagger was at her side again.

  “Okay, Miss Flanders,” he began, “open your eyes and see why old pickups are the best for drive-in movies.”

  Tabby giggled, opened her eyes, and looked at Jagger.

  He was smiling at her, looking like a little boy amused by owning some great secret.

  “Come on,” he said, taking her hand.

  Tabby climbed out of the pickup, bursting into delighted laughter as she saw the double folding chair Jagger had set up in the bed of the truck.

  “You see?” he said. “Now this is how to watch a drive-in movie. If we get cold, we’ll just pull the truck around and sit in the cab.”

  Tabby was surprised as she felt emotion catch in her throat and excess moisture puddle in her eyes.

  “You’re unreal. Do you know that?” she whispered.

  “I’m an idiot…that I know,” he said, taking her hand again and leading her to the back of the truck. “Come on. It’s gonna start soon, and I want you to be perfectly ready when it does.”

  Shaking her head—still unable to believe she was actually on the ideal date with the dreamiest man ever to walk the face of the earth—Tabby climbed up into the bed of the truck. Jagger climbed up behind her, taking her arm and guiding her to sit in one side of the chair.

  “We’ll probably get a little chilly,” he said. He smiled and winked, adding, “But that’s what body heat is for, right?”

  Tabby giggled, totally elated as he bent down, opening a cooler to reveal bottles of root beer.

  “And,” he said, reaching into an old box on one side of the truck bed and pulling out a large brown paper bag, “I made popcorn too.”

  Chuckling to himself, Jagger grabbed two bottles of root beer out of the cooler with his free hand and sat down next to her in the double folding chair.

  “Baby, you know what?” he asked with a contented sigh. “This is living!”

  “Yeah…it is,” Tabby sighed. She was absolutely enthralled by him—by his planning—by the whole atmosphere of the moment.

  “I have a blanket behind the seat in the cab if you’re cold,” he said.

  “I’m fine so far,” she assured him.

  He smiled, popped the lid off one of the root beer bottles, and handed it to her.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  “I like to get here a few minutes early,” he began, “just to have time to relax…breathe the night air.”

  Tabby smiled at him and followed his gaze as it lingered on the enormous white screen in front of them. It was basically a giant billboard painted white, and the realization made her smile. Something in her suddenly longed for simpler times—for days filled with less technology and more simple pleasures.

  She glanced around. There were only ten other cars in the parking spaces of the drive in, and she was glad.

  “Way to do it, boy!” an older man called from within his car parked nearby.

  “You know it,” Jagger called in return, nodding to the man. He smiled as he seemed to study the car the man was sitting in. There was a woman in the car too—an older woman.

  “You see a lot of older people here, it seems,” he mumbled, almost to himself. He looked thoughtful, as if his own musings were toward simpler times and simpler things.

  “Welcome to the Highway 550!” a voice animatedly exclaimed.

  Tabby looked to her right to see an old speaker hanging over the side of the truck into the bed. A long wire ran from the speaker to a post that was sunk into the ground near the side of the truck. She leaned forward to see that Jagger had pulled a speaker from an opposite post into his side of the truck bed.

  “This place is old school—old speakers, old screen,” he said. “I totally dig it.”

  I totally dig you, Tabby thought. Though what she said was, “Me too.”

  “Please visit our concession stand, located in the main building to the rear of the parking area,” the voice said over the speaker. “And now, sit back and enjoy our first feature presentation.”

  “Are you ready for the surprise of your life, Miss Flanders?” Jagger asked.

  Tabby adored the way his eyes were flashing with mischievous anticipation. His smile was dazzling, and she had trouble keeping from throwing herself into his arms and slathering him with kisses.

  “How do you know I haven’t already had the surprise of my life?” she teased. After all, Jagger Brodie had kissed her. It had been wonderful, glorious, delicious—and the surprise of her life. How could anything else endeavor to surprise her?

  “Because I’ll bet no guy has ever pulled this off for you before,” he said. He nodded toward the movie screen, and Tabby looked to it.

  Light appeared, then the shadow of a reel of film. Then, as the movie started—as the opening credits and a very familiar song began to roll, as the various pairs of diverse feet and footwear started to dance across the screen—Tabby literally squealed with mingled joy and mirth.

  “Oh my heck! Ar
e you even kidding me?” she squealed as Kenny Loggins’s famous ’80s movie theme played over the speaker. Tears were actually brimming in her eyes! She looked to Jagger—gorgeous, witty, romantic Jagger Brodie—who was laughing and obviously quite proud of himself. And he should’ve been, for the very moment the beginning of the classic Kevin Bacon movie Footloose had appeared on the screen, Tabitha Flanders knew for certain that she was in love—entirely in love with Jagger Brodie!

  “Jagger…are you serious?” she squealed, her heart racing not only with excitement at seeing the movie appear on the drive-in screen but for the sake of knowing he knew her so well. “Footloose? What are the odds?”

  Jagger chuckled. “A billion to one, maybe?” he said.

  “Oh my gosh!” Tabby breathed, still unable to believe what she was seeing in front of her.

  “And get this,” he said, “it’s a double feature—Footloose and Quicksilver…a Kevin Bacon double feature. Can you believe that?”

  “You have to be kidding me!” she exclaimed. “I mean, you have to, like, know the person who owns this place or something. Do you?”

  But Jagger laughed, shaking his head. “Nope. Not at all.”

  She couldn’t stand it—she couldn’t! It was just too much. Reaching out, Tabby took hold of the front of Jagger’s shirt, fisting the fabric in her hands, pulling him to her. She kissed him—hard and long on the mouth. It wasn’t the same sort of kiss he’d instigated with her the morning after the night they’d been snowed in. It was a kiss of profound thanks, of gratitude and appreciation, and of desire.