by Alyse Miller
“I think you need to leave now, Andie,” Guy said. He had turned his face from her, and she couldn’t read him. She turned and grabbed her bag. She reached inside and grabbed an envelope holding a letter she’d written on the plane—just in case—and placed it on the table beside his tray. Reaching down, she kissed the top of his head and stroked his face. She wanted to touch him just one more time.
As Andie turned to leave, she heard Guy call out behind her. “You’re right about a lot of things, Dr. Alessandra Foxglove—but not this one.”
***
“What do you mean he’s not coming?” Tandy screeched.
“I mean he’s not coming. Plain and simple,” Andie replied and sipped her wine. Melody, Denise and Elizabeth sat back heavily in their chairs. It was a blow to all of them.
“Does he want money, more money? Is he already engaged that night? What? I thought you said he would do it?” Tandy insisted, sounding flustered but at least supportive.
“I don’t know what to tell you. I thought he would—knew he would, but I guess I was wrong. I just really believed he was ready to give back a little.” Andie sighed.
“Well this is great. We’ve already sent out all the additional invitations with his name on it. He’s been featured in the paper as our keynote. He…”
“Tandy, I know. Look I will handle it.”
“How?” Elizabeth asked. “The gala is tomorrow night.”
“I guess we could cancel it,” Melody suggested.
“Absolutely not,” Andie said. “Do you realize how much money we’ve already spent on this for the space, caterers, band…everything!”
“But it seems almost like false advertising to say Guy Wilder is going to be there, and we know he is not,” Denise said. “Honestly, I’d be pretty disappointed. And pissed.”
“Well, I’m sure people will be, but we’ll just have to remind them about what the cause is for. It’s not about Guy Wilder or Silas Dove, it’s about literacy and giving others the chance to read. We are asking them to give money to that, not stuff dollar bills down Guy Wilder’s tuxedo belt.”
“Could we have done that?” Tandy asked with a wicked smirk. She suddenly had a sense of humor.
Andie rolled her eyes.
“So back to the main issue. Who will give the keynote?” Elizabeth asked.
“Why don’t we all do it?” Andie suggested. “I mean look at us. We’re all different, have different jobs, but we are united for this cause. Why can’t we make it personal and talk about that and each share why it matters to us? We don’t need someone to do it for us.”
Tandy looked thoughtfully at Andie. “You know, I think I like that. I think that could work.”
“Umm, I don’t talk in public,” Melody said. “I’m a one-on-one kind of person.”
“It’s okay,” Andie reassured her. “Write it down, and I’ll stand up there with you. You can tell me why you wanted to help organize and be a part of the gala.”
Melody looked doubtful.
“And drink a bottle of wine before you get up there. You’ll be fine,” Denise said.
Everyone finally agreed and Andie was relieved. She knew she had let them down, but they had to understand that Guy Wilder was his own man. He could or could not do what he wanted. She had texted him the day after she left the hospital, asking him how he was feeling. A few hours later, he had replied that he was good, working on his lines, and that had been it. It had been a hard two weeks on Andie since. She had hoped he’d come around, be the Guy Wilder that she believed in, but apparently not.
So she taught her classes during the day, pictured him now and then sitting in the back row. Sometimes her imagination played tricks on her and she thought he actually was sitting back there in the shadows. At nighttime, she graded papers with Templeton curled up beside her. The apartment was less solitary with him there. He added an element of life to her that she hadn’t expected and now couldn’t imagine not having him around. But inevitably bedtime would come and she would lie in bed and miss Guy. He too had added to her life something that was missing and that she didn’t realize had been until it was gone. And now she realized something else. She had been wrong. She didn’t think it, she knew it—she loved him, and she’d already lost him.
***
Andie mingled among the guests with her champagne cocktail. For better or worse, the turnout had far exceeded her expectations. She dreaded thinking about the reason why and the inevitable bombshell that was quickly descending as the time approached for the keynote. It was going to be one hell of a disappointed mob when the crowd found out there was no Guy Wilder coming to dazzle them all. She kept overhearing whispers of “Have you seen him yet?” or “Is he meeting people after?” and it made her stomach turn. She honestly just hoped the groan of displeasure wouldn’t be too loud when she got up to announce that Guy Wilder had been unable to make it. And, luckily, no one had recognized her from the tabloid photo shoots either, which was some kind of small miracle. Scott, instead, who had had the balls to face his own fears, had shown up in a sleek black tuxedo with a bright pink mum in his lapel, was dazzling everyone in the audience with Oz and his camera. Hopefully he’d wrap up his photo shoot before the Big News—then at least all the pictures would be smiles.
“I think it’s going well, don’t you?” Tandy asked, sidling up beside Andie with Melody but not taking her eyes off Scott. Melody looked like she was about to throw up over anyone in her path. “Yes, I do. Better than expected, really. Everyone seems to be having a good time…umm except…,” Andie tilted her head toward Melody.
“Good lord, Melody,” Denise said walking up. “You look like you need some Dramamine.”
“Will it help?” Melody asked meekly.
Andie laughed. She put her arm around her friend and was just about to tell her everything would be okay when the loudspeaker interrupted her.
“Will everyone please clear the floor at this time and take their seats. Thank you.”
The girls stared at one another in shock. It sounded like Scott, but Scott had made it clear he wouldn’t be speaking into any microphone. “Who was that?” Tandy asked.
“I have no idea, but I’m about to go find out,” Andie said. Before she could make her way back to the AV booth, the lights dimmed.
“What’s going on?” Elizabeth asked. Her voice sounded amplified in the silent room.
“We have to do something,” Andie said.
Music filtered through the loud speakers, changing the atmosphere of the room almost immediately. It was The Weepies’ Crooked Smile.
It would never work between you and I…
“Oh…my…god,” Andie gasped. This was either a sign of destiny or a really, really sick joke.
And I know it’s true…
“What? What? Why is that playing?” Tandy shrilled, thumbing through the pile of papers on her clipboard in disbelief. “I didn’t approve that. Somebody’s head is going to spin when I—”
I still love you…
Andie was still staring in disbelief as Tandy stopped babbling and froze, her mouth hanging open in a little circle of shock. The lights brightened a little and Andie spun around, watching in disbelief as Guy Wilder wove through the crowd, passing out hellos and handshakes but with his eyes locked firmly on Andie. He was a vision, wrapped in sleek midnight black suit with matching black silk shirt and tie, polished black Oxfords and looking even more handsome than he had that night in his hotel room. The only colors coming from him were the bright, striking blue of his flashing eyes and a small pink flower bud pinned over his heart. He walked toward her in that distinctive confident swagger, taking the hearts of every woman in the room but with eyes only for her. Little squeals started to break out as he smiled, waved, and sauntered past the tables, graciously nodding at the people he passed as he maneuvered smoothly and quickly to the podium at the front of the room, where Andie stood in the ballet pink silk ball gown Tandy and Scott had begged her into wearing. The flash of the cell
phones were blinding and little white dots blurred Andie’s vision behind Guy, making it look like he was walking toward her through a room filled with starlight. He made his way over to Andie and her group.
“Good evening, ladies,” he said to the throng of bug-eyed women behind him, his gaze locked on Andie. “I was hoping before I made my speech, I might have the honor of a dance.”
“What are you doing here? You said—”
He cut her off, taking her hand and pulling her into his arms. “You must have me mistaken for someone else.” He wrapped his arm around her waist and lifted their clasped hands into the air. “I’m Guy. Just Guy.”
“Andie Foxglove,” she returned, smiling back at him as their feet began to move.
“Well Andie,” he said, pulling her close. “I’m so glad to have met you.”
In The Princess Bride, the film that had first made Andie believe in fairytale endings when she was a little girl, when Buttercup and Westley had ridden off into the sunset and shared the kiss that would begin their Happily Ever After, Peter Faulk had narrated that, since the invention of kiss, there had been five kisses rated the most passionate, the most pure. The kiss between Buttercup and Westley had left all those other kisses behind. But as Andie let Guy lead her across the dance floor, Andie knew that kisses aside, there was a love between them that was going to be unstoppable, unbreakable. They had done it.
They had untangled the stars.
THE END
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Alyse Miller is a women's fiction writer with a penchant for romantic and speculative twists and a member RWA.
Website: www.TheAlyseMiller.com
Twitter: @TheAlyseMiller
Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheAlyseMiller
OTHER BOOKS BY ALYSE MILLER
Available at all ebook retailers
Sometimes Neverland isn’t the place you go to stay young; it’s the place you leave to grow up.
Claire Baker is an orphan who has always been afraid to open her heart – that is, until she meets Jake Holland, the Boy with the Acorn Tattoo, who sweeps her off her feet with his ocean-timbered voice and sheepish Lost Boy grin. Consumed by their budding romance everything seems to be perfect for Claire, completely perfect --
– Except for Davie, Claire’s childhood friend who’s always held a corner of her heart – the dark, somber-eyed boy who has grown into a handsome, enigmatic man – and who has hooked himself so deeply inside of her she cannot escape him. When Davie professes his love in an unexpected burst of loosened passion, Claire finds herself torn between the two men: the one that’s stolen her heart and the one who’s held it all along.
Now, Claire must navigate through the purities and passions of love and accept the consequences of finally letting her heart take the lead.
Lost in Neverland, how does a girl choose between the Pan and the pirate?
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
About the Author
The Acorn Tattoo