“Sorry about that. It’s so windy out there. Just trying to get in before I get frostbite.”
“Well, it’s sure warm in here. No coat necessary.” He moved a step closer. “May I?” he offered as he helped her take her coat off.
She was taken aback for a second. Dallas had actually never encountered a real Southern gentleman. In fact, she couldn’t remember a man ever once helping her off with her coat. Seriously, not even once. He was close to her, his hands slipping beneath the collar as he stood behind her. She could feel him touching her hair. She could smell his Burberry cologne. She inhaled, trying to hold on to the moment.
“There you go. I’ll just hang it up over there in the coat-check room, okay?” He walked away with her winter-white coat over his arm. She was sure he must have said something, but she was too intoxicated by him to know what it was, so she just offered an, “Uh-huh.”
“Did you get my message?” he asked. “The one I left at the TV station?”
“Oh, yes, I did. That was really sweet.”
“Well,” he asked, “whatya think?”
“About what?” she asked.
“About going out again, like maybe tonight after rehearsal?” He looked almost boyish with that tousled hair and adorable dimple. “I felt a little silly leaving a message at the station, but I didn’t even have your cell number.”
“Oh, well, lemme give it to you right now”
He slipped his cell from his back pocket, and she recited the number.
“Great, so...how about tonight? Don’t make me beg.” He winked at her.
“Yes, yes, that would be wonderful. Let’s do it after rehearsal today.”
“Do it?” he said with a laugh.
Dallas immediately blushed. “I just meant...you know, grab a bite.”
“A bite? Sounds good to me. Is there a special place?”
“For what?” She enjoyed flirting back. And instead of the usual awkwardness, this playful chatting with Cal was starting to feel natural.
“You know, for where you like to be bitten?”
She gave him a coquettish smile. “Very funny. I’ll go wherever you like. Just make it someplace warm.”
“My pleasure.” He looked at his watch. “Kids will be ready soon. I better go set up. I’ll catch you after practice.” He turned to head upstairs to the sound booth.
As Dallas turned around to go to the stage, some of the children greeted her in the lobby.
“Eww, they love each other,” one of the boys taunted. The other kids chimed in with giggling and cooing.
“Miss Dallas and Mr. Cal sittin’ in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g...” they began to chant as Dallas tuned beet-red.
“Okay, now, back to the stage you go,” Dallas said, clapping her hands together.
Sara Grace hung back and walked down the aisle to the stage next to Dallas. Without saying a word, Sara Grace had slipped her little hand into Dallas’s. She looked down at the little girl and smiled, locking eyes with her and giving her hand a squeeze. The bond had formed. And for both, it was a good thing.
“Okay, Sara Grace,” Dallas said as they got to the stage. “Now remember, I’ll be right there in the wings. You’re gonna nail that solo today. I can just feel it.”
“Me, too, Miss Dallas,” Sara Grace said, grinning at her new best friend.
The rehearsal got under way, the children moving through their lines, showing a huge improvement from when Dallas had first started working with them. That is, until the two little boys doing the puppet show in the toyshop scene lost it.
Corey, the student production assistant, ran over to break it up.
“You two need to stop right now. Come on!” he demanded, then realized the two weren’t yelling but laughing as they roughhoused.
“Jay, Christopher, cut it out,” Corey shouted over the laughter. Before he could stop the horseplay, Corey yelped in pain.
Christopher had chomped down with his nutcracker, right on Corey’s crotch.
Betty Ann leaned in and whispered to Dallas, “He thinks that nutcracker is actually a nutcracker!” They snickered quietly as Corey struggled with the brawling boys. “I can’t, for the life of me, get him to stop tryin’ to bite everybody in sight.” Betty Ann sighed and then headed straight to the bent-over Corey and helped him off stage.
“Christopher and Jay, get over here,” Dallas called. “I need you both to sit out for a few minutes.” Dallas showed them to the side of the stage.
“Now, look, we have to perform this show for lots of people very soon. We have to be serious. I’m gonna keep the puppets for today, and if you guys decide to work really hard, tomorrow I will give them back.”
“Okay, we’re sorry, Miss Dallas,” Jay said.
How could she stay upset at faces that cute? Jay had almost white-blond hair and sky-blue eyes, and Christopher had red hair and a freckled little nose. She was truly falling in love with these kids. There was still a handful she had yet to learn the names of, but she was trying.
Sara Grace’s solo was next and Cal started the music. Dallas stood in the wings just back enough so Sara Grace could see her out of the corner of her eye.
“I’ll be home for Christmas. You can count on me...” she began. It was such a special song, as both Dallas and Sara Grace weren’t really sure what home meant anymore.
The song continued, and then Sara Grace missed a word. She looked immediately over her shoulder, and just as promised, Dallas was right there, smiling at her and moving her mouth with the words of the song. Sara Grace swallowed, then sang like she had never sung before, belting out the Christmas melody as if she was on Broadway. Dallas noticed the change. Sara Grace now knew for sure that there was at least one person who believed in her.
When she finished, loud and clear, the auditorium erupted, all the children cheering, and Betty Ann walked over at a clip, clapping hard. Dallas met Betty Ann center stage, and both of them hugged an emotional and exuberant Sara Grace.
“I did it,” she gushed.
“Yes, you did, sweetheart, and it was awesome! I’m so proud of you!” Dallas said.
She looked up to the sound booth, where Cal was standing and whistling down at Sara Grace. It was a moment none of them would ever forget.
It was nearly six o’clock when rehearsal ended, and Dallas knew there was no chance she’d be able to make it to any Walmart in time.
“Y’all follow me up to the lobby. I’ve got some exciting news to tell you,” Dallas announced to the children as she led them up the aisle to the front of the theater.
“Now, listen,” she said, addressing the group of children. “I have to go outside and be on TV for my job. I need you all to stay with Mr. Cal and Miss Betty Ann. Y’all can watch me right through the front windows,” she told them as she grabbed her coat from the coat check in the front lobby. She could see Daniel waiting outside.
The skies had grown dark, and little ice crystals had formed in the bare trees on the sidewalk. She had absolutely no idea how she would explain to Mike the fact that she wasn’t in front of a grocery store, emptied of all its bread and milk, but she decided not to worry about that. She was on a high since Sara Grace’s performance. It had been a breakthrough day at the theater, in more ways than one.
All the kids stayed inside, looking out the lobby windows to watch their director do her thing. Cal stood to the side, watching from behind the glass doors. Corey stood with Betty Ann, far enough away from Jay and Christopher to be out of their biting reach.
Dallas slipped on her cream-colored fuzzy gloves and her deep-pink wool scarf as she walked over to pop her head inside the news van.
“Hey, Daniel. Practice ran a tad late, so I guess we’ll just have to go live from here,” she said.
“How are we gonna tie the grocery shortage in with th
e Bama?”
“Well, I don’t know yet. I’m workin’ on it.” Dallas was anxious, but she had learned over the years not to let it show. She positioned her earpiece and stood in front of the Bama Theatre waiting on her cue. She heard the top of the newscast roll in her ear. The toss came and she winged it.
“Good evening, Jill and Dave. I’m here live in downtown Tuscaloosa, and the streets are desolate, empty of the usual Friday night traffic. Restaurants have closed early tonight as everyone prepares for the impending ice storm.” The toss to the packaged story went smoothly. The footage lasted about a minute and a half. Dallas had just that much time to come up with a plan to tie in the milk and bread part of the story, when a flake drifted down in front of her. It began snowing.
The children, seeing the snowfall, burst through the doors and began trying to catch it on their tongues. Betty Ann, Corey and Cal followed them out to the sidewalk. The engineers tossed it back to Dallas, and Daniel pointed to her. She was on.
“Instead of ice, looks like snow is on the menu for tonight. And with no school already tomorrow, seems like the kids will have something wonderful and white to fill their Saturday morning.” Daniel got a wide shot of the kids playing in the first flakes.
“Don’t forget to join us in less than two weeks right here at the Bama Theatre for the holiday production of Sleigh Bells, our children’s Christmas play benefiting the Children’s Home of Tuscaloosa. All of these little ones will be on stage to entertain you. Have a safe and warm night, Tuscaloosa, and have fun building those snowmen tomorrow. For WTAL, I’m Dallas Dubois.”
It was perfect. Daniel gave her the thumbs up and said, “Okay, we’re clear.”
Dallas removed her earpiece and leaned down and hugged Tristan and Sara Grace.
“C’mere kids,” she said, hugging them all at once. She looked like Julie Andrews and the Von Trapp kids as they all laughed and chased the falling snowflakes together. “You were all great!” Don’t forget to watch tonight at ten o’clock so you can see yourselves on TV. I’m sure they will show this again.”
“They most certainly will. That was one lucky break! The timing of the kids and the snow was a miracle. Best stand-up ever,” Daniel gushed, then hugged her.
Cal approached the group around Dallas. “Nice work, Ms. Reporter.” Dallas reached out and received his hug. “Or maybe it’s Ms. Emmy Winner now. That was pretty impeccable timing, I’d have to say.”
“Thanks. Sometimes timing is everything.”
Before everyone got too wet and snowy, Dallas and Betty Ann rounded the kids up and got them back inside. Parents’ cars had begun to form a line outside. The children who were going back to the center for the night were picked up by their bus, and Corey and Betty Ann got the rest of them to their heated cars as fast as they could so they could all get home before the roads got too bad.
As Betty Ann and Corey headed to the stage to get their things, Cal hung back with Dallas.
“Probably a bad idea to drive on the roads right now,” he said with a shy smile.
“Yeah, it looks really dangerous already,” she replied. She knew full well she could hitch a ride with Daniel. He had a big satellite truck outfitted for all kinds of weather. But she’d already nailed her live shot, and Cal was warming her more than any old car heater could at the moment, so she ran outside and let Daniel know she had a few things to do at the theater and told him he could go on.
“Okay, if you’re sure,” he said with his eyebrows up, looking at Cal.
“I’m positive.”
18
Betty Ann locked up, and she and Corey walked out the side doors together. The Bama Theatre was built as a replica of Davanzati Place in Florence, Italy, with the night sky painted above complete with twinkling little stars. With all the lights dimmed, it became a magical place.
Dallas stood at the base of the aisle, up next to the stage. Cal was right in front of her.
“I guess that’s a yes to my earlier question,” he said.
“Which one?” she asked.
“If you’d like to try going out again.” He grinned, moving closer.
“I think so, Mr. Football Star. Seems like we’re sorta trapped here.”
“Old Mr. Football Star.” He laughed. They were inches apart in the amber-lit auditorium, and Dallas’s heart was beating so fast it felt as if it was buzzing.
“You were great today. It was fun watching you do your thing.”
“Thanks. I do love my job,” she said, allowing him in her space.
“Well, that was obvious. You shine, especially when you’re live with that camera pointed at you.”
“That’s my favorite thing, going live.” She hesitated for a minute, her thoughts snapping back to the anchor job she longed for, so close now and yet still just out of reach. In that position, she’d be going live all the time, every night on the six and ten. She wondered if she should tell Cal.
The snow was really coming down now. Any longer and they both might get stuck there overnight. What a delicious idea, Dallas thought.
“I’ve got an idea,” Cal said. “I’ll be right back.” He turned and dashed up the curved staircase to the sound booth. Before she knew it, she heard an old mix of soft Christmas music begin to play over the speakers, an overture they’d be using as the audience arrived.
Dallas was sitting on the stage in the middle of the Victorian Christmas set when Cal arrived with a bottle of wine and cups. The music started as he sat down next to her.
“Luckily I happened to have this on hand—it was gift from one of the board members as a thank-you for volunteering. Now seems like the perfect time to open it. How’s about we toast to that great news report you just did?”
Dallas was melting. Romance was something she’d only ever read about in books. All she had ever known to do in her adult life was to wrap her long arms and legs around her potential prey and get what she wanted. She had never been courted. But Cal was clearly a Southern gentleman, through and through.
He handed her a paper cup filled with a deep red merlot, and they toasted. Dallas really wanted to get to know him but was careful not to be too pushy, taking off her reporter’s hat and putting aside her list of questions.
Cal began the conversation. “I want you to know that this is unexpected for me. I mean, of course I always thought you were beautiful, but I had no idea...you know...about the real you, I guess.”
Dallas loved that beautiful comment. It was one thing to be hot or sexy, but to be called beautiful was much more rare and special.
“Me, too,” she answered. “I mean, I just always thought you were pretty arrogant.” She blurted that out before she could stop herself.
He started laughing.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean...”
“No, it’s okay. I thought you were an egomaniac.”
Now they were both laughing.
“But, now I see a little more,” he added.
“Do you like what you see?” she flirted, lowering her chin and batting her long lashes.
“Oh, I think you’ll do,” he teased.
She dropped her mouth open and popped him on the knee.
“I’m just kiddin’. I think it’s pretty obvious, don’t you?” Cal asked.
“Yeah, I guess so,” she said. The flirting continued, and they were halfway through the bottle of wine when Cal asked her about her family. Dallas held back. Still not time, she thought. But she allowed him in a tiny bit.
“Well, my mom had me go live with my dad when I was only fourteen. She wanted to be a famous singer, and she decided to suddenly pursue that.” Dallas decided that sounded a lot better than actually sharing the whole family feud story with him. She was always so ashamed of it. And LouAnn did want to be a singer at one time so it didn’t really feel like a lie to leave
it at that.
“So, she just left you?” he asked.
“Yeah. That’s when Blake and I became stepsisters.”
“I kinda remember that, actually, from back in high school. Lewis and I were best friends, so I knew Blake pretty well since she and Vivi were so tight. Lewis always had a crush on that redhead.”
“I’m sure Blake had all kinds of nice, sweet things to say about me then.” She smirked, hoping that would lighten the mood. But Cal was focused on hearing more about her life.
“It must have been hard without your mom,” he said. “Where is she now?”
“In town, actually. I just saw her the other night.” Well, that wasn’t a lie either. She had demanded LouAnn leave her house immediately, but she didn’t have to tell him that part. She was enjoying the happiness she felt with Cal, and she didn’t want to give that up by delving into the dark parts of her life right now.
He smiled at her and scooched closer. The Christmas music was still playing.
Cal reached over and laid his big hand over hers. It felt so warm. He folded his fingers around hers.
“May I have this dance?” he asked. She was at a point of no return. She found herself standing before she even knew it.
“Why, of course, sir.” She loved the way he wooed her. It reminded her of Gone with the Wind. They slipped their arms around each other. He was still much taller than she was, even though she wore stilettos that day. He pulled her close, his chest pressed up against hers. She was nearly breathless, being this close to him, and she could feel his breath on her cheek.
They swayed under the tiny star lights, his one hand clasping hers out to the side, his other hand resting on the small of her back, old-fashioned-like.
She reveled in the moment. A teenaged fantasy she was actually living. The star football player and class scholar was actually holding her in his arms.
Suddenly he stopped moving. “Wait here just one second,” he said, running over to the wings of the stage. After a moment, she found herself standing under hundreds of tiny snowflakes, floating down from the theater catwalk. Cal quickly joined her in the snowfall, wrapping her in his embrace as the music continued.
Sleigh Belles Page 10