“Oh, just awful. I made the mistake of telling two girls I would go with them. That was an awkward limo ride.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Anna asked, and Drew smirked at her. “You’ve always been terrible, haven’t you?”
“Not always,” he told her. A memory of the little boy doing everything he could to make his mom smile passed through his mind again and he shifted his gaze to the plate in his lap, realizing he’d lost his appetite.
The three of them fell quiet for several moments, and Drew heard the faint sounds of music playing in the background somewhere. “Daddy used to dance with me to this song.” Anna announced, her tone sad. “It’s the only memory I have, really—he was holding me, and we were spinning around, and he was singing this song.”
He listened for a moment, committing it to memory.
Of course, it was a Beatles song. Here Comes the Sun—one of his favorites.
“He loved this song. Not as much as he loved you—but close.” Nana sighed softly, humming along with the song until it finished.
“Oh, Nana,” Anna sighed. Drew could hear the sleepiness in her voice. The wine was finally taking it’s toll on her. “I’m sad we’re leaving tomorrow.”
“Me, too,” Nana admitted. Anna fell silent then, and after several minutes, Drew stood up, seeing she had fallen asleep.
“I guess I’d better get her to bed,” he told the older woman.
“Go on. I think I’ll stay out here a bit longer.”
Drew nodded at her before he leaned down, scooping Anna up into his arms. She pulled herself closer to him as he made his way back into the house and down the hall, laying her in the bed. He sat beside her there, taking the image in.
He liked how peaceful she looked in her sleep.
His heart thumped loudly in his chest as he reached out and brushed her hair out of her face—and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to fall asleep next to her. Not like this.
He pulled the blanket up over her and turned back, heading the way he came. “Do you mind if I stay out here just a little longer?”
“You’re more than welcome, Drew.” He sat down in the chair he’d left only moments ago, pouring himself another glass of wine. “You’ve taken good care of my girl.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that—”
“No, you wouldn’t, which is why I will.” Nana turned to look at him, and he was startled by how much she resembled her granddaughter. Whoever ended up with Anna was going to be a very lucky man.
“I…I just like seeing her happy.”
“She is. She’s the happiest I’ve seen her in a very long time.” Nana sighed. “She reminds me of my Charlie, you know. Alice—she’s very much a product of me, which is why she and I butt heads so often. But Anna…I see her father in everything she says and does.” She turned her head, so that she could look up at the stars. “Do you know who you remind me of?”
“Chandler Duvet?” Nana laughed, and it was soft and elegant, just as he would have expected.
“No, no. You remind me of Charlie’s father.” Drew took a sip of wine. “Did Anna ever tell you about him?”
“No, she’s only talked about you and her parents.” He remembered when she’d told him about her parents’ death—and, regrettably, how much of a jerk he’d been.
“I wouldn’t expect her to—she never even knew him. Jack was my first love—tall, dark, passionate. I loved everything about him. He was drafted, and even though he hated everything about Vietnam, he couldn’t turn away. He was killed a couple of months after I found out I was pregnant with Charlie.”
“I’m sorry.” Drew whispered. He couldn’t imagine what that must have been like for Nana—and then, twenty years later, to lose her son too.
“It’s life.” She waved her hand in the air, much as Anna often did. “I’m not telling you this because I want you to be sorry. I’m telling you this because I feel like you need to understand something. I don’t know you, and I don’t know your story, so forgive me for being frank—but I feel like you could use a little wisdom.”
Nana turned to face him before continuing on. “I’m going to tell you the same thing I told Anna Marie. The heart wants what the heart wants, Drew. We can’t control that. Love isn’t about who is best for you, or what makes the most sense. Love is about passion. It’s about hunger and desire. It works it’s way in and it devours you, but it isn’t destructive.
“And when it’s right, it’s just beautiful. Because you know. I’m not saying it only happens once in a lifetime—but I am saying that, when it does, you should take full advantage of it, because you never know how much time you have.” The older woman concluded.
“Miss—I mean, Nana,” Drew was flustered now. “Anna and I—I mean—”
“Maybe it’s there, and maybe it’s not.” Nana shrugged her shoulders. “I’ve seen a heart like yours before, Drew. It’s a good one. Don’t be afraid to let it live a little.”
She set her empty glass down on the table, rising to her feet. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I hear my pillow calling my name. Good night, Mr. Whitman.”
“Good night,” he called after her, deciding to remain where he was.
He had a pretty strong feeling he wasn’t going to get much sleep tonight.
~*~
Even though he was beyond exhausted, Drew still felt better behind the wheel of a car than as a passenger. He was sure someone would say that it had something to do with the lack of control he’d had throughout his childhood, but he didn’t care.
He just didn’t like the thought of someone else driving—especially his vehicle.
Anna was riding quietly, perhaps a little hung-over from the night before. Normally, he would have given her a hard time about it, but he just didn’t have it in him today.
He’d spent most of the night thinking about what Nana had told him, and about what he’d overheard Anna telling her earlier in the day.
And he still didn’t know what he was supposed to think or feel or do—
The only conclusion he’d come to was that he really, really didn’t like the thought of Anna fading from his life.
He swallowed hard as he changed lanes, a bundle of nerves thriving within his chest.
“My mom died when I was fourteen.” He blurted out. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Anna lift her head and turn to him. He could see the surprised expression on her face.
“How?”
“Lung cancer.” Anna nodded slowly. Images of his mom flashed through his mind—healthy, sick, sad, happy. “I didn’t even know my dad before that. So when things started getting bad, I begged her to tell me who he was.” Anna said nothing, so he continued on, his heart pounding so hard it physically pained him.
“Tyler Whitman. CEO of Whitman Industries. She’d been his secretary, and when she got pregnant, he tried to pay her off and sweep it under the rug. So she quit, and she never asked him for anything. Fourteen years, she bent over backward to provide for me.”
“That’s a mother’s sacrifice.”
“She shouldn’t have had to.” Drew said with a shrug. His tone was very casual, though he was anything but. “So I left the hospital, and I found his building, and then I found his office.” He remembered he’d been dripping wet, barely even noticing the rain. He also remembered the security guards chasing after him, not catching up to him until he’d burst into the man’s office.
“I asked him if he knew who I was, and he didn’t try to deny it. I inherited his looks—so it would have been pointless for him to even try. He sent security away, and I told him why I’d come.”
“Why did you?”
“Because she’d never asked him for anything—and there she was, dying, worrying about where I was going to end up, and who was going to get stuck with her medical bills. I couldn’t stand it.” He didn’t realize how hard he was gripping the wheel until he glanced down and saw his knuckles turning white.
“I told him if he would give her some peace of mind, so that
she could die without worry—I would never ask him for anything else in my life.”
He’d been true to his word, too. The old man had taken him in, and he’d provided for him—but Drew had never asked for any of it. Even after he’d died, Drew had donated what little inheritance he’d left for him.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I don’t know. I just…I thought about my mom a lot this weekend. And you’re my friend.”
He’d never told anyone that story—not even Jeff.
“Well, your mom sounds like she was an incredible woman.”
“She was a good Mom.” It was all he could manage, and he let the subject go from there. They didn’t speak again until he was dropping her off in front of her house. He walked her to the door, giving his legs a chance to stretch.
“Thanks for inviting me up there. I had a really good time.” He told her.
“She worked you pretty good, didn’t she?”
“Eh, it was worth the trade. If nothing else, I learned about the wiles and charms of one Mr. Chandler Duvet.”
“Stop it.” She rolled her eyes at him before pulling the door open. He grinned at her before stepping off the porch. As he made his way back toward his SUV, he remembered something else.
“Hey, Annabelle?”
“What now?”
He stopped, sticking his hands in his pockets. “Are you busy next Friday?”
“It looks like I’m about to be—what’s going on?”
“There’s this thing at work—it’s nothing big, just a little gathering thing to celebrate the station’s accomplishments this year.” He shrugged. “I might hate it a little less if you came with me.”
“Well, I suppose I could do you that favor. You did, after all, nearly kill yourself for the sake of my Nana’s gutters.” She told him, the smile on her face contagious.
“See you later, Annabelle.”
He drove home feeling lighter than he had in quite some time, thinking that maybe, things might change a little.
As he neared his apartment, his phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, figuring Anna had forgotten something. “If you’re going to ask me to turn around, I’m going to demand gas money.”
“I’m not sure where you’re coming from, but I’m probably good for it.”
And then the other shoe dropped.
“Where’ve you been, Whitman? I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all weekend.”
“Oh, I—I was out of town. Terrible reception.” Drew rubbed his face with his hand, grateful to be stopped at a light. “What’s up, Jeff?”
“Nothing—I just haven’t heard from you in awhile. Wanted to check in.”
Probably because Drew had been working very hard at avoiding his friend’s calls.
“I’ve just been busy.” It wasn’t exactly a lie.
“With Anna?” Drew looked around before taking a left, his building coming up.
“I mean, we’ve hung out a few times.”
Yeah, that was an understatement.
“Is she doing okay?” Drew pulled into his parking lot and put the car in park, immediately hanging his head and massaging his temple.
“She seems good, Jeff. She seems happy.”
“Oh.” Jeff fell silent.
“Wasn’t that what you wanted?”
“Of course.” Jeff sighed. “Is she seeing anyone?”
“I don’t know, man. Maybe, probably.” He hated the tone of his voice. He sounded like such a jerk.
Oh right, because he was.
“I thought you said you were hanging out with her.”
“We don’t talk about that stuff.”
For all he knew, she really was dating someone. He’d made a point of not finding out.
“Then what do you talk about?”
“We play video games and watch the true crime network. It’s like having you here, only in a much smaller package.” He rubbed his face again, taking a deep breath. “Look—I hate to cut this short, but I’ve been stuck behind the wheel for like five hours now. I just want to go stretch out, watch some ESPN, and go to sleep.”
“Sorry. Just text me later on or something.”
“Will do.”
As soon as he hung up the phone, he felt that familiar weight settling within his chest again.
Well, it was nice while it lasted.
Chapter Fourteen
Anna was driving to work the morning of Drew’s “gathering”, his voice filtering through the vehicle. She listened as he and Dave debated the odds of the underdog team taking the final four championship—a topic which Drew had attempted to discuss with Anna two nights before.
She had quickly distracted him.
A smile touched her lips as she remembered laying breathlessly beside him on the couch.
Drew, she mused, was very easily distracted.
“Just a quick reminder to all of you kind hearted listeners—or for those of you who are just looking for a good excuse to get drunk—make sure you check out the charity auction over at Canon’s next weekend. All of the proceeds will go to the Innman Community Center, and yours truly will be there.”
“Don’t forget to mention that you will be up for auction yourself, Mr. Whitman.” Dave added.
“Of course—bring your checkbooks, ladies, because I expect things to get heated.” Anna rolled her eyes. That was Drew, cocky as ever.
Anna pulled into her usual parking spot and turned the car off, heading toward the door. Today was the last day of spring break, so as she stepped through the doors, she was greeted by laughter and high-pitched voices. They usually opened the center earlier during breaks from school to give parents a break from trying to find childcare.
“Hey Miss Anna!” Eddie, the little boy who had drawn the spaceship, waved to her as she walked in, running through the entry way toward the gym. Today, they had planned to spend the afternoon of planting flowers and trees in the yard around the center. “You gonna dig in the dirt with us?”
“Oh, I’m thinking about it.” She knelt down.
“I can do the digging and you can plant the flowers!”
“Well, that sounds like an offer I couldn’t refuse.” Anna reached out and ruffled his hair. “Let me go get rid of this stuff and I’ll be right back, okay?”
“Okay!” Eddie did a 180 and turned back, charging toward the activity room. As she passed the doorway, she saw a few kids in front of the TV, the familiar sounds of Call of Duty coming to life as the game loaded on the screen.
“Hey, why don’t you guys do something a little less aggressive first thing in the morning?” She called, poking her head into the room. “At the very least, you guys should be reading something.”
“We’re reading the dialogue boxes, Miss Anna,” Michael, Eddie’s older brother, told her. She glared at him for a moment before giving in. It was the last day of break—aside from the weekend—and they had spent the week doing all sorts of educational activities. One morning of mindless entertainment couldn’t hurt too much, Anna decided.
She headed down to her office, glancing through her messages and the notes she’d left herself to go over today. She had purposely scheduled a light day so that she could have some time to spend with the kids, having missed out on the last activity night because she’d spent the weekend in Michigan.
Everything was right on target, she knew. Sales for the prom were going better than she’d expected—including those from city hall she had personally invited. And the auction was coming together very well—quickly, yes, but well.
Nana had sent her home with a few records that had been signed by local musicians, along with a few of her personal pieces of art. Alice had contributed a few beautiful photos of the city they had grown up in, and Drew had come through with two sets of tickets for a couple of approaching baseball games—not to mention agreeing to putting himself up on the auction block. She couldn’t forget that.
She knew it wasn’t going to amount to quite enough, but she
was hoping that, combined with the serious discount Crystal’s brother had offered her once Anna had mentioned Drew’s advertising, and the sales and projected donations from the prom—the studio might be just within reach.
With a smile on her face, she headed down the hall, ready to have a little fun with her day.
~*~
Several hours later, Anna couldn’t help but notice the similarities between her group of immature teens and one certain blue-eyed radio personality. They were all talk and bravado, and she found she got as much a kick out of them as she did Drew.
She stood in front of the building, waving as parents came to pick up their kids. Her hands and the knees of her jeans were covered in dirt, and she was certain it was smudged all over her face—but she didn’t care. She’d had a ball today, and as she glanced around, she could see pops of color and brightness every where she looked.
It was worth it.
“Excuse me—are you Anna Maloy?” Anna turned to find a man, probably a few years old than her, but absolutely no worse the wear for it. He was tall, with sandy blonde hair and warm brown eyes, all accompanied by a dazzling smile on his face.
“I am; can I help you?” The man extended his hand toward her and she tentatively held hers up, showing him the layers of grime. He laughed and pulled his hand back.
“Hi—I’m Jonathan Young. Karen’s dad?”
“Oh! Mr. Young!” Karen had only recently started coming to the center, but from what Anna knew of her, her parents had recently divorced. “Hello, it’s so good to meet you.”
“Oh no, the pleasure is mine, really. Karen just loves this place. And it’s been a big help—you know, with work and all.”
“That’s right, you’re…” He opened his light jacket to reveal a t-shirt with the letters ‘CFD’ on the side. “A firefighter, of course.” Anna smiled warmly at him—finding that it was almost impossible not to. “Well, we just love having Karen here. She gets along well with everyone, and she’s always helping out with the younger kids.”
“She’s a good girl.” Jonathan nodded. “Listen—so I’ve heard about this auction thing you guys have going next weekend, and I was wondering if you could use any help with it?”
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