Meet Cute

by Melanie Shawn

  “I do love my boys,” she admitted. “But that wasn’t projection. I was filling in the blanks from the way your eyes sparkle when you talk about them.”

  “They are pretty sparkly,” Michelle agreed.

  I buried my face in my pillow and groaned. “Oh my God, you guys. I don’t know what to do. You’re right. I am catching feelings. But that’s my heart. In my head, I know it can’t go anywhere. I’m pretty sure I’m setting myself up for a major heartache, here.”

  Wow. That was the first time I’d put that fear into words, even in my own mind. Sure, I’d felt a creeping sense of dread floating just below the surface the entire time I’d been going over there. It reared its ugly head whenever something happened to make hope flare up—a shared look, a bolt of electricity when our hands brushed against each other…anything.

  And, of course, it blossomed even more fully every time I saw a family picture hanging in Nick’s house, one that was taken before his wife passed away.

  Jen.

  She was beautiful. She looked like a Barbie doll, in fact. And the way Nick looked at her, with pure love in his eyes. The way Olive laughed in her lap, hung onto her neck… When I saw those pictures, I knew I was fooling myself to think that I ever had a prayer of stepping into that role with either of them. It wasn’t possible. How could any person fill an emptiness as vast as the one she had clearly left?

  That was the one part I wouldn’t share with the girls. It was one thing to get tipsy together and joke about how hot he was, or even how I might be falling for him. That was acceptable territory. But talking about deep things that close to the heart just felt too personal, almost like disrespecting something that should remain sacred.

  “So what if you’re setting yourself up for heartache,” Sandy said, her voice matter-of-fact. “I set myself up for heartbreak with Hunter. I even went through heartbreak for almost a year. That doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth it.”

  “Yeah, but you two ended up together,” I pointed out.

  “True,” she smiled, a small flush of color appearing on her cheeks. I thought it was adorable how she couldn’t even talk about him without getting just a little flustered. “But there were a lot of long, painful months in there where I didn’t know that was going to happen. Even if it hadn’t, that wouldn’t have made all the years of friendship leading up to it meaningless. They were still worth it.”

  “So,” I said thoughtfully. “You’re more than just a pretty face. Interesting.”

  “Yeah, Brandy’s not the only wise one,” she cracked.

  “I never said I was,” Brandy interjected. “And for what it’s worth, I agree with my twin over there. There are a lot of good reasons to hold your heart back, but fear is never one of them. You don’t know for sure that you and Nick might end up being a good thing, but you might. So don’t let fear steal that before it even starts.”

  Chapter 10

  Nick

  I GRASPED OLIVE’S hand in mine as we walked up the path toward the Winship University theater building. She skipped along beside me and it made me smile. She was so excited that it burst through her feet, making just plain walking impossible.

  Evelyn didn’t know I was bringing Olive to see her perform tonight. Honestly, I just hoped the show was appropriate for my little girl to see…or at least that anything in it that was inappropriate would fly right over her head.

  Still, it didn’t matter in the long run. I hadn’t had much of a choice—not really. Olive was so hyped up about the prospect of seeing Evelyn perform that there was no way I was going to deny her.

  It had been far too long since she had connected with someone like this, or been this excited about anything. I wasn’t going to take that away from her.

  “So, baby girl. Are you excited to see Evelyn’s play?”

  It was a rhetorical question, but I wanted to give her a chance to talk about it.

  “Yes!” she confirmed, her face lighting up. “I want to hear her sing. And I want to see the story. It’s like a movie, but with real people saying the words. Evelyn explained it.”

  “That’s a good explanation.”

  In truth, I had to admit something to myself—Olive’s excitement was not the only reason that we were here tonight. I was just as excited to see Evelyn on stage as she was. Maybe even more, because I had a glimpse of what it was going to entail.

  I wasn’t talking about her theatrical abilities, although I was sure she was very talented. Hell, just the drunken karaoke she’d roped me into on the night we met had been enough to tell me that much.

  I was talking about her…well, I wasn’t even sure what the right word would be for it. It factor. Star quality. Whatever you called it, it boiled down to the fact that she had an indefinable quality about her that made her special. So special you could spot it across the room. So special that it changed the energy when she walked in.

  It had hit me like a ton of bricks the moment I’d laid eyes on her for the first time, and a few more tons of those bricks had come crashing down on my head the first time she spoke to me, and then the first time our eyes met. The first time our hands touched. The first time she said my name.

  And that wasn’t even getting into the “ton of bricks” sucker punch that had smacked me right across the face the first time I’d seen her interacting with Olive.

  I could only imagine what the energy in the theater was going to be like tonight with her on stage. Electric, I was sure.

  I had to watch myself. I couldn’t let my feelings deepen, run away with me. I had a little girl to think about. A very fragile little girl who was forming her first attachment in years. I couldn’t fuck that up for her, no matter how fast and hard I was falling for Evelyn.

  Somebody had to be the adult in the situation, and it wasn’t going to be the four-year-old.

  Stepping up to the ticket-taker, Olive handed me the small bundle of flowers she was holding. She’d picked them out herself, to give to Evelyn after the performance. She’d been very official about the whole thing, weighing her options before making the decision.

  She opened her purse and retrieved the tickets I’d printed out at home, handing them over with an air of importance. “Two, please,” she said, a tone of authority coloring her voice.

  I knew I was her dad so I might be slightly biased, but I was pretty damn sure it was the cutest thing any kid had ever done.

  The college-aged girl taking the tickets caught on immediately and took the tickets with an air of ceremony. She checked them carefully and then tore the stubs off, handing the main portion back to her. “Thank you, ma’am. Your seats are located in Row J. Numbers twenty-five and twenty-six. Enjoy the show.”

  Olive tucked the tickets back in her purse, carefully fastening the clasp. “Thank you, Miss Lady. We will.”

  Olive grasped my hand and led me into the foyer, and as I often did around her, I had to struggle to keep a straight face. She was just so stinking adorable that everything in me wanted to smile, even laugh, at her antics. Not so much out of amusement, even, but just at the sheer joy that filled me when I saw that she felt confident, and grown-up…capable, smart, empowered. Everything I wanted her to feel, because those things were the truth.

  That had all been in short supply until Evelyn had come along. They’d slowly started making a comeback these past weeks, and I couldn’t have been happier.

  I squeezed her hand and pointed at the sign above one of the doors. “Our seats are in Row J. Can you see which rows are through that door? There’s a sign above it.”

  She tilted her head to the side, squinting her eyes as she tried to decipher the writing. “It’s weird,” she finally proclaimed with a note of finality.

  “It is?”

  “Yes. It says A, line, J.”

  “Good job. That’s ‘A through J.’ It means all the letters starting with A and ending with J are through that door.”

  Her brows lifted. “Like us! We’re J!”

  I grinned. “We are. Lead
the way, madame.”

  She walked through the door and her eyes widened at the expanse of the room in front of us. “Are all these people here to see Evelyn?” she whispered.

  I considered my answer. “Some of them are. Some of them are probably here to see other people who are in the show. And a lot of people are probably here because they just want to see it, and they don’t know anyone who’s in it.”

  She nodded. “Yeah. But Evelyn is the best.”

  I couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at my lips at her assertion. “Oh, yeah? How do you know? You haven’t even seen it yet.”

  She shrugged, unfazed. “I just do.”

  “Fair enough. Come on, let’s find our seats.”

  As the lights came down, Olive patted her hands together and squirmed in her seat, even before any of the actors had stepped out onto the stage. I understood how she felt—I could feel it, too. Anticipation hung in the air, the hushed whispers of audience members bringing their conversations to a close.

  The curtain rose and Evelyn stepped out onto the stage. Olive clapped her hand over her mouth. We’d had more than one conversation about how she couldn’t yell out or say hi while the performance was going on, and seeing that she was physically holding herself back from doing that made me glad I’d had the foresight.

  Then, it happened.

  Evelyn took a deep breath, opened her mouth, and sang.

  It was magic. Just fucking…magic. There was no other word for it.

  For nearly two solid hours, Olive sat transfixed, eyes never leaving Evelyn for one second. I would’ve been exactly the same, if not for the fact that my attention kept switching back and forth between the stage and Olive’s face.

  The absolute awe that I saw displayed there, the engagement and excitement…that was what I’d hoped and prayed for. Despite what we’d been through, I wanted my baby girl to look at the world as a place where anything could happen, where magic could sneak up on you and take your breath away at any moment.

  I hadn’t been able to give her that. Evelyn had. And that…well, that very possibly made her even more magical than her incredible talent did.

  Chapter 11

  Evelyn

  “EVELYN, SOME PEOPLE are here to see you. They said they know you.”

  I turned to see the stage manager, Becky, motioning to me across the communal girls’ dressing room. She was all in black, from head to toe, and still wore the radio headset she used to communicate with the rest of the crew. In her left hand was a clipboard. She could’ve been right out of Central Casting for theater backstage personnel.

  I tilted my head to the side. “Really? Did they give names?” No one had told me they were coming to see the show tonight. Pretty much everyone I knew on campus had already been to see it. I couldn’t imagine who the visitors might be.

  Becky shook her head and continued on down the hall, already talking to someone else on her headset.

  I stepped out into the hall and my breath caught in my throat. Nick and Olive stood there, and Olive held out a small bunch of flowers, her cheeks flushed with pride and excitement. I knelt down and took the flowers, giving her a hug. “Thank you, sweet girl!”

  I stood, my eyes rising to Nick’s. “I can’t believe you two are here.”

  “We had to see the prima donna in action.”

  I chuckled. “I hope you mean that in the performance sense. And not, you know. In the ‘unreasonably demanding lady’ way.”

  He laughed. “The first. For sure.”

  I decided to take a shot. “Well, if you guys aren’t doing anything right now, would you care to join me in a little post-performance celebratory ice cream?”

  Olive’s face lit up. “Really?”

  “If it’s okay with your dad.”

  She looked up at Nick. “Can we, Daddy? Can we?”

  He smiled and put a hand on top of her head. “Sure. I guess so.” He looked at me, and my knees weakened, just like they did every time his eyes met mine. “Thanks, Evelyn. That’s special.”

  “Of course! You came down and saw the show. Taking you out is the least I can do.”

  His grin spread wider. “Only one problem with that. You won’t be taking us out. You’re the star. This is your celebration. We’re taking you out.”

  “Yeah,” Olive piped up. “We’re taking you out!”

  “Well, let me just get back into my street clothes, then. I’ll meet you out in the lobby in five.”

  “Take your time.”

  I stepped back into the communal dressing room, my pulse pounding. This is NOT a date, I admonished my racing heart. Get a hold of yourself.

  It didn’t do any good. My heart was apparently going to do whatever the hell it wanted, a lesson I was learning a little bit more every single time I was around Nick.

  When I got back out to the lobby, I spotted Nick and Olive immediately.

  They were the ones surrounded by a group of fawning girls.

  So many sensations flooded me all at once that it was kind of hard to separate them all out. There were a few I could identify, though. The piercing jealousy when the blonde brushed Nick’s forearm with her fingernails. The white-hot hatred when the redhead leaned in and squeezed his bicep while she threw her head back and laughed.

  Yeah. I’d spent a lot of time around Nick. He was a lot of things, but he wasn’t funny. Not that funny, anyway. She was clearly just using it as an opportunity to stick her chest out.

  That wasn’t the thing that really pissed me off, though. No. What really boiled my blood was the fact that it was a good chest. Like…a really good chest.

  There was a third girl in the group, bent down and fawning over Olive—who wasn’t having any of it, her face was buried in Nick’s leg.

  Nick, for his part, didn’t seem to be enjoying the attention either, which made me feel a little better. He stood, face impassive, arm around Olive. The closer I looked, actually, the more it seemed to me like he wanted the earth to open up and swallow him. Which, I’ll be honest, put a small self-satisfied grin on my lips.

  Hey, I never said I wasn’t petty.

  I glanced down at my clothes. I hadn’t known Nick and Olive were coming tonight, so I hadn’t dressed special in any way. I was just wearing my everyday jeans and Converse…which was, you know…fine. Nick saw me dressed like this on the daily. I hadn’t even given it a second thought until I saw the heavily hairsprayed and lipsticked sorority girls buzzing around him like bees around a hive.

  Well, Evelyn. You’re an actress. The beauty of that is…even if you don’t feel confident, you can ACT confident.

  I jutted my chin forward and thrust my shoulders back, putting my tatas on full display. They might not be aggressively showy tatas like Little Miss Laugh-a-lot’s, but they were pretty damn excellent in their own right, and if ever there was a time to use them as the asset they were, this was sure as hell it.

  I sauntered across the lobby. When I had almost reached the group, I let out a casual, “Hey. I’m ready.”

  Olive’s face whipped over toward me so quickly I wondered that it didn’t make her head spin, and she cried, “Evelyn!” before breaking free of the group and plastering herself against me.

  Nick smiled and said, “Awesome. Are we ready to go, then?”

  I grinned at the girls, now scowling and pouting in turn, and then focused my attention on Nick. “Absolutely. Let’s get out of here.”

  The three of us made our way across the lobby, Olive’s hand firmly fixed in mine. In the periphery of my vision, I saw one of the flirty girls roll her eyes in such an aggressive and exaggerated fashion that I thought they might stick that way. Or maybe hoped was more accurate.

  Again. Never claimed I wasn’t petty.

  Walking out into the crisp night air with Nick on one side and Olive on the other, my chest swelled with pride. It was a different flavor than I’d experienced before. Not like what I felt when an audience applauded or I aced a mid-term. Those were validation, and bei
ng proud of my accomplishments.

  This was the kind of feeling that a lioness must get about her cubs. I fit with Nick and Olive in that moment, and everything in me notched itself into place. We were a unit, we belonged together. Walking across that lobby and out of that building together, it felt right.

  And, as much as I’d hated watching those vultures try to pick up Nick, as sick as it had made me feel, it was nothing compared to the elation I felt now, picturing their eyes on me as I walked out with Nick and Olive. It was like the high was that much higher because of the low that had immediately preceded it.

  The feeling of belonging and pride didn’t fade as we walked through the parking lot to Nick’s car, as I buckled Olive into her seat and gave the seat belt an extra tug to make sure it was secure, as we drove to the ice cream parlor, or as we walked in together to give our orders. That’s how I knew it wasn’t just about “besting” those girls. It was about being with Nick and Olive.

  We stepped up to the counter and Olive piped up immediately. “Rocky road, please!”

  The clerk looked down at her, eyes widening at the same speed as her smile. “Well, hello, young lady! You’re in luck. We have plenty of rocky road. Would you like one scoop or two?”

  “One,” Nick interjected before Olive could reply.

  “Sounds good,” the girl said, digging the metal scoop into the large container of rocky road.

  Olive leaned forward and whispered to the woman, putting her hand up flat alongside her mouth to indicate that she was telling a secret…the only issue being, her hand was on the far side of her face, shielding absolutely nothing from me and Nick.

  “I actually want two scoops,” Olive confided, and I struggled to keep a straight face. I could see the ice cream shop clerk was fighting the same battle I was.

  “Sorry, honey,” she said regretfully. “You’ll have to talk to your mom and dad about that.”

  A shiver ran through me at the words and I froze. I didn’t turn to meet Nick’s eyes. I wasn’t sure I’d want to see what I might find there.