by Nikki Logan
Though guaranteed he’d have something cryptic up by morning anyway. Just so he could prove later that he knew before anyone else.
Then Lexi turned back. ‘Lucy, I’d give you a lift home except I didn’t drive tonight.’
‘My dad will take you,’ Emma piped up, volunteering Mark. ‘I’d like to ride with you, Lucy.’
The girl had been so wrapped up in the whole de Vue history, the chance to mix it with an actual de Vue was probably too much to pass up.
It took Kenzie just a moment to get Nanna to her feet, wrap her in a big hug and promise to see her in the morning. The two of them had so much to talk about, but the older woman needed to sit out on her back deck with a rather large glass of wine and do a lot of thinking about her life.
If there was anyone else present for whom tonight had been more momentous than it had been for Kenzie, it was her nan. And maybe Lexi for the enormity of what she’d pulled off. Although something told her that Lexi’s work to protect Rivervue was only just beginning.
On cue, Lexi returned from holding the door for Nanna and a hasty and fevered backstage conversation with Mark Conroy. She had her production script still clutched in her hands, its corners intensely thumbed, stuffed full of notes and research, as she stepped right up to Dylan.
‘I just wanted to say—’
It was the first time Kenzie had seen her anything other than completely composed. And, indeed, adequate words seemed to have escaped Lexi. She held the script up between them and gave it a bracing shudder before curling the script in hard against her breast. Letting her emotions do her communicating.
Body language was such familiar territory to Dylan, he simply smiled and said, ‘You’re very welcome. I hope it’s enough.’
And then Lexi was gone.
And it was just him, and just her. And Phantom.
And the ghost light standing centre stage awkwardly wishing it was anywhere else.
‘You lied to me,’ Kenzie whispered.
Dylan’s eyes dropped. ‘I lie to everyone. All the time. An astonishing amount for a man that doesn’t say anything to practically anyone.’
‘Is that why you revealed yourself. To end it?’
‘That’s just a bonus. I revealed myself to start something, not end it.’
‘With me?’
His smile was so sweet it made her heart hurt. ‘Or with Lexi. Whichever of you I bumped into first.’
Phantom leaped up and barked playfully as Kenzie punched his left shoulder.
‘Yes, with you, Kenzie. Only you. It’s only ever been you.’
‘You’re a famous, well-travelled, rich guy. You could have anyone you want.’
‘Good news.’ He stepped closer. ‘I choose you.’
‘A veterinary technician from an outback small town?’
His brow furrowed. ‘Is that a question?’
‘Other than attraction. I get that part. But … marriage? Seriously? Or was that just theatrics?’
‘I’ve never been more serious.’
‘Really? Cos you looked a little surprised to have said it.’
He took both her hands in his. ‘I had an idea in my mind how tonight was going to go. I’d kind of … written it in my mind. And a bit of marriage proposal improv wasn’t in my mental script.’
She peered up at him.
‘What was? Read it to me.’
It took Dylan a moment to gather his thoughts but, this time, Kenzie wasn’t afraid of losing him in the silence.
‘I was going to tell you how nothing has made sense in my life since Jake stepped out onto that street. Not a damned thing. But you poked your pretty face through those shrubs out the back of Rivervue and everything just … fell into place. Like the perfect ending to a play I didn’t know I’d been working on.’
She concentrated hard not to let her fingers shake where his curled around them.
‘I was going to tell you that I’d emailed my parents about you, asking their advice, warning them I might not be home for a while, and that both of them told me not to come home until I had you with me.’
No wonder he was such an amazing human being, with parents like that.
‘I was going to tell you that I don’t want anyone else cast in my life story but you, and that if I couldn’t have you, I’d … pull the production.’
Wow. ‘That seems overly dramatic, Dylan.’
His smile made her heart hurt.
‘I was going to tell you I love you, Kenzie. So damned much. And as weird as it sounds to say it, it’s totally amazing to feel it.’
Thud, thud, thud.
‘And were you going to let me say anything in this scene?’
The smile made an encore. ‘No. You were pretty much going to stand here looking heart-achingly beautiful. And then you were going to fall into my arms and it was going to bring the house down. The end.’
Her nose scrunched. ‘Yeah, you really don’t write love scenes, do you?’
‘How do you see it playing out?’
She took a moment to gather her thoughts from among the adrenaline-soaked feelings of the past half-hour.
‘I think the Kenzie character would be silent for much of it, because she’s scared. I think she’s been scared since the day she first realised how hard she was falling for the Dylan character. And because it’s hard to trust after all the secrecy.’
He went to interrupt, yet she pushed on. ‘But … I think Kenzie also knows that people have secrets—some you keep, some you just can’t, some you shouldn’t. That’s just people. And I think she’s seen the impact of secrets in her own family and, in her heart, would know after all the tears and raging had dried up that … he’d done his best. And with the best intentions.
‘But here’s the thing … The Kenzie character was near destroyed when Dylan left, and I think that scared her even more: knowing that another human being could make her feel that way. I think that’s what affected her more than anything else, because she hasn’t felt that before. Ever. And it’s such a big thing to give someone that kind of power. And maybe she convinced herself that being alone is the safer bet. Maybe she just talked herself into that.’
‘Kenzie—’
‘Ah, but that’s the great thing about the Kenzie character,’ she breathed, smiling. ‘She’s pretty adaptable. And she’s kind of courageous. I think you could sell her backflip to an audience, because hopefully they also know what she’s known all along.’
‘Which is what?’
‘Which is that she loves the Dylan character, heart and soul. Flaws and all. And not just for his dog.’
Dylan’s chest rose and fell in the charged silence that followed, but he didn’t move to embrace her, and he didn’t cut her off.
‘So, I think that she maybe would fall into your arms at the end.’ She glanced around. ‘Except we don’t have a house to bring down.’ She stepped in and breathed against his lips. ‘It’s only us here. And the ghosts.’
It would take nothing to close that tiny gap and seal it shut forever. To have his kisses back, after all. Kenzie only had to lean in, to trust. To believe.
‘Do you think we could have an audience come April?’ he murmured.
‘You seriously want to get married? Here?’ Wasn’t that just theatrics?
‘I seriously do. I’ve travelled the world, Mackenzie Russell, and failed to find a single other human being who touches me the way you do. Or who teases me. Or delights me. Or who tells me how it is.’
‘Well, the Dylan character is kind of hard to like …’
It was Dylan’s turn to punch her shoulder, but it was gentle and turned into more of a caress before it even hit her. His knuckles came up to brush her jawline.
‘I may not write love scenes well, Kenz, but I’ll do better with the real thing. Promise.’
Kenzie studied him seriously. ‘Jeez, I hope so. I’d hate to have to recast the lead.’
‘I’m sure Yeates would jump at it.’
‘He totally would. T
his is going to be very bad news for him. He doesn’t like to miss out on any role.’
Dylan swept her up into his arms, shoving all thoughts of Richard Yeates out of this conversation. This moment. It was only for the two of them. His lips sealed hard against her own and he brought her body into the hard warmth of his, lifting her 1950s costume shoes up clear off the stage.
Kenzie wrapped her arms around his neck and half consumed him, making up for all the time that they had lost, for all the kisses she’d feared she would never experience again. These kisses—this man—was all that she needed for the rest of her life.
After an age, her eyes fluttered open as she surfaced for breath. Either she was harbouring a shocking case of oxygen deprivation or she was going blind. The lights around them were sinking in a painfully slow—but altogether obvious—fade.
Oh, God …
She pulled her head free and called out. ‘Are you still up there Bruce? Gabe?’
The silence managed to be both guilty and awkward at the same time.
‘Sorry,’ Bruce cheerfully called over the PA. ‘There was no good time to … um … we have some staging and LX tweaks we need to make yet tonight.’ Behind him, Gabe scolded him in a badly disguised whisper. ‘Okay, yeah, We’re going now. We’ll do it in the morning.’
‘What did you think?’ Dylan called out, smiling. ‘Of our scene?’
No getting around the fact the two of them had probably seen and heard it all. Theatres had a way of capturing sound and sending it to the furthest corners. And, of course, there was still the humming stage mics either side of them.
The speakers crackled again. ‘If I’m honest? Not Draven’s best work.’
The big guy sounded so sheepish and reluctant it was impossible not to laugh aloud.
‘That’s okay,’ Kenzie murmured sotto voce. ‘We’ve got until April to workshop it.’
And, with luck, rehearsals would be long and utterly absorbing.
Thanks for reading Tread The Boards:A Rivervue Community Theatre Romance, Book 1. I hope you enjoyed it.
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Discover another great read from Escape Publishing …
Set The Stage
Daniel DeLorne
He’s the Banksy of the international theatre scene – daring, anonymous, renowned. So when playwright ‘Draven’ bequeaths his latest play to the rural Rivervue Theatre, the stage is set for drama.
While the redevelopment brief for Rivervue Community Theatre moulders on his desk, a phone call from an unrequited past love sends architect Gabriel Mora running back to his artsy hometown. Afraid of worsening his mother’s health, Gabriel is forced to hide his involvement in the redevelopment. It’s just one more secret to keep, along with his feelings for a certain red-headed stage manager.
Bruce Clifton can build anything. But the jobs mean nothing if he’s not getting paid. On the cusp of losing his home, Bruce needs to find a way to call in those debts without showing his community how much trouble he’s got himself into. With Gabriel’s return to town stirring up past hurts, soon it’s not just his home Bruce has to worry about losing, but his heart.
Can Bruce and Gabriel work together for the good of Rivervue, or will their hope for a second chance exit stage right?
A Rivervue Community Theatre Romance, Book 2. Find it here.
Take A Bow
Fiona Greene
He’s the Banksy of the international theatre scene – daring, anonymous, renowned. So when playwright ‘Draven’ bequeaths his latest play to the rural Rivervue Theatre, the stage is set for drama.
Creative director Lexi Spencer stands centre stage in the fight to save the iconic Rivervue Community Theatre from redevelopment by the local council. With Draven’s new play, Lexi’s got the weapon she needs to keep Rivervue open. She just needs to ensure it remains a secret. Staging the controversial Larrikin is guaranteed to cause trouble, but it’s a risk she’s willing to take. She’s already lost so much in her life, losing the theatre isn’t an option.
Council CEO Mark Conroy is new to artsy Brachen, but not to dealing with passionate constituents who disagree with his decisions. And he’s definitely not new to Lexi Spencer. Over a decade has passed since he ruined his relationship with Lexi, but old feelings aren’t as easily written off as a building. When they’re forced to become allies, the town’s secrets aren’t the only ones at stake.
Can they pull off the impossible and save Rivervue, or will their past bring down the curtain on a shared future?
A Rivervue Community Theatre Romance, Book 3. Find it here.
ISBN: 9781867201809
Title: Tread The Boards
Copyright © 2020 by Nikki Logan
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