I roll my eyes. I should have known she would ask me that.
“I will call you tonight,” I repeat.
As soon as I hang up, I jump out of bed to find something to wear. Thank goodness all my lessons are this afternoon. I can’t remember the last time I was this excited. As I’m getting ready, I pick up a blanket and some songbooks off the floor. Underneath one of the song books is my grandmother’s journal. I notice that it’s open to the last page. The last line she wrote catches my eye once again.
I have learned that true joy will come if you . . . follow your heart.
I let out a sigh. The dream I had last night has been in the back of my mind all morning. Of course, I was completely distracted by Zack last night, but I know there has to be something to it. The fact is I can’t put off talking to Trevor for much longer. If we were truly meant to be together, it would have happened by now. It’s obvious he can’t stay away from Giselle, and if that’s what’s meant to be, it’s not my place to stand in the way.
Meeting Zack has definitely changed things, at least for me. I know he’s leaving today and this could be it for us, but for right now I’m not going to worry and enjoy the time I have to spend with him.
Chapter 18
Breakfast is absolutely my favorite meal of the day. And this morning could be my most favorite breakfast ever. Zack takes me to Sarabeth’s, a restaurant I’ve been dying to try, and now I’m obsessed. The thing that’s so nice about spending time with Zack is how it feels so relaxed. I don’t feel like I have to act a certain way to make a good first impression on him. I think it’s safe to say that all the awkwardness went out the window when I accused him of trying to cheat on his sister with me. Seriously, I don’t know if I’m ever going to get over that.
After breakfast, we take a walk through the theater district where I point out all the shows I’ve seen and the ones I can’t wait to see. At one point, I catch Zack laughing.
“What?”
He shakes his head.
“I’m just enjoying watching you. I can see how passionate you are about this. It’s really sexy.”
I give him a funny look. “What’s sexy about it?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “Watching your face light up when you talk about this. I just find it very sexy when a woman goes after what she wants.”
I can feel myself starting to blush.
“Well, thanks.”
I glance at the time. Ugh, I need to get ready for work. This really sucks.
“You have to go, don’t you?”
I frown. “Yeah, I have a few lessons this afternoon.”
He holds his hand out to me, and without saying a word, I put my hand in his.
When we return to my apartment, I gather my things for my afternoon lessons. I sit down on the edge of my bed. I really hate that I have to say good-bye to Zack already. I know it’s not the last time I’ll see him, but he’s done a lot for me in such a short amount of time. He’s listened to me whine and offered me advice about my job dilemma, even before we became . . . friends? I guess that’s one way to describe him.
When I walk out of my room, Zack is packing up his bag. He looks up and winks at me. Damn, I’m really going to miss those dimples.
“You okay?” he asks.
I shrug. “Yeah.”
He grabs my hands and leads me to the couch. When we sit down, he puts his arm around me. I lean my head against his shoulder.
“I wish I didn’t have to leave.”
I’m so sad I feel like I could cry right now. “When do you think you’ll be back?”
He lifts my chin and kisses me. “Definitely sooner than I expected.”
I can’t believe this is happening. As if my life wasn’t complicated enough, I didn’t expect to meet Zack and I especially didn’t expect to have these kinds of feelings so quickly.
“Let me know how things go with Liv. And don’t worry, you’ll make the right decision. You just need follow your heart.”
I gasp and he gives me a funny look.
“What’s wrong?”
That’s the message my grandmother has been telling me in every dream I’ve had about her and it’s in her journal.
“It’s nothing.” I hesitate. “You just reminded me of someone when you said that.”
“That’s good I hope.”
I force a smile as I hold back tears. “It’s very good.”
~*~*~
“How was that?” Reagan asks.
Crap. I can’t tell her that I wasn’t listening to her song because I’m too busy moping over a guy.
“Excellent,” I say flatly “Let’s do one more run-through.”
She begins her song again, and I’m really trying to listen but my mind continues to wander. I never thought that saying good-bye to Zack would be so difficult. Normally, I would have put up a wall as soon as I felt a single heart flutter, but not with him. And not only that, I’m a little freaked out over him telling me to follow my heart. There’s no way he would have known about my grandmother, so it has to be some crazy coincidence.
“Miss Maris?” Reagan asks, waving her hand.
“Yes, that was very good,” I say. I breathe a sigh of relief when the timer goes off because I couldn’t be happier for this lesson to be done. I’m really no good to anyone today. I would have called in but I’m still trying to replenish my bank account from my extended trip home for Beatrice’s funeral.
I’m in my office when my phone rings. A part of me is hoping it’s Zack telling me he’s staying longer, but unfortunately, it’s not. My heart begins to beat faster when I see that Liv is finally calling me back. I contemplate letting it go to voicemail, but I have to get this resolved as soon as possible.
“Hello.”
“I know I owe you a big apology,” she exclaims as soon as I answer the phone. “I should have called you back sooner. I’ve just been dealing with one crisis after another, which I should have known, starting a company is quite an undertaking.”
She doesn’t stop talking and I kind of tune her out while I search for the script I wrote up. My brain is so foggy right now I will probably make an ass out of myself if I don’t have a script.
“I was starting to get concerned when I hadn’t heard from you,” she says. “Your email said you had some things you wanted to discuss. Talk to me so we can get you up and running.”
I clear my throat about five times. I follow my script almost to the tee, and when I come to the part about Ash, I’m very careful with my words.
“This doesn’t surprise me at all,” she says nonchalantly. “I’ve worked with many musicians in my life and the competition can be fierce. I can assure you there will be a precedent set up front for everyone on our team. And I won’t put up with any of those games like Lucy did.”
Okay, so this was easier than I thought it would be.
“I appreciate you bringing these concerns to my attention,” she says sincerely. “There’s nothing worse than being in a hostile working environment. I want you to love your career and be happy working at LivElle Performing Arts.”
“Where?”
“Oh, we finally came up with a name for the company. It’s LivElle, we combined my and Giselle’s names. What do you think?”
Holy crap, Giselle has her name on the company? I guess there couldn’t be a more perfect introduction into the topic that is Giselle.
“That actually has to do with my next concern,” I say nervously. I take a deep breath. “Giselle and I have a bit of a rocky past. I’m not sure how much you know about my connection to Trevor’s family. Or my . . . friendship with him.”
She starts to laugh. Did I say something funny?
“It’s interesting you should bring this up because Giselle and I were just discussing this. She’s very worried that you won’t be coming on board because of your past interactions with each other.”
What? Giselle is worried? Maybe she’s worried that Liv will get pissed and kick her ass to the curb should I n
ot sign. I’m so confused.
“It has been weighing on my mind,” I admit. “I just don’t want to be the cause of problems within the company.”
Liv is quiet, and I’m nervous. I know that if it came down to her making a choice I don’t stand a chance.
“I think we all need to meet in person to discuss this. Giselle and I have to get back to Manhattan. I will move the trip up as soon as possible.”
“You don’t have to do that,” I insist.
Ugh. I’m already showing signs of being high maintenance. Maybe I should keep my mouth shut and pretend everything is awesome like Ash does.
“I don’t want you to worry.” She adds, “You just be ready to sign on. I need you at LivElle.”
Liv continues talking about all the meetings they’re having with various performing arts schools, agents, and producers. I have to say she does make it sound exciting and even a little glamorous. The best news is that they are for sure opening a Manhattan office, so I won’t have to move home and in with Cassie.
I’m actually hopeful that Giselle and I can come to some kind of a truce or agreement so I can work with Liv. Unfortunately, she hangs up before I’m able to tell her about Selena’s news. Although, I have a feeling I will be seeing her sooner rather than later.
~*~*~
“It’s about damn time,” Georgie yells.
“Why are you yelling?” I ask her calmly.
“Hello, you were supposed to call me back last night.”
She’s right. I promised her I would call her back. Unfortunately, between moping about Zack leaving and my conversation with Liv, I completely forgot.
“So, tell me about your roommate’s brother and why he came into your room so early.”
I sigh. Where do I begin? I guess from the beginning is the best place to start. I tell her about thinking Zack was Layla’s boyfriend, and then about all the meals. Then, I describe our insane attraction.
She’s hysterically laughing. “So you’re telling me that this hot ass man comes in your room to talk and you kick him out because you think he’s your roommate’s boyfriend, and they’re really brother and sister?”
“Yeah,” I say glumly. Maybe I should have just taken it to the grave without telling Georgie.
“How did you not know? They had to have said something at dinner that would have implied them being siblings?”
“Nothing. I mean, they made a few comments to each other, but I still had no clue. And they each thought the other one had told me. Ugh, it’s awful, I know.”
When I tell her about Kyle showing up, she gasps.
“You had dinner with Zack and Kyle. Whoa, that must have been uncomfortable.”
“Just a little.”
Next, I tell her about my dream of Trevor and Giselle and how I went to the kitchen in the middle of the night.
“He did that on purpose,” she interrupts. “He met you in the kitchen shirtless so you would see what his body looks like. Men totally do that stuff, too. Dr. Scott would purposely do his rounds wherever I was working.”
She’s right. He heard me go to the kitchen, so he had plenty of time to put a shirt on.
“Anyway, so after spending an amazing morning together, he had to go home last night.” I can almost hear the wheels turning in Georgie’s mind.
“So, where did you leave things? When is he coming back?”
I wish I knew.
“He didn’t say exactly. He’s working on opening this second location, and I need to make a decision about Liv’s company. The timing is really bad for both of us. Or maybe it was just a weekend fling.” As soon as I say it, I feel completely deflated at the idea of that.
“I don’t know, Maris, I haven’t heard you talk about anyone like this in forever. You never described Trevor with this much enthusiasm.”
As soon as she mentions his name, I feel that lump in my throat.
“That’s because it’s never been easy with Trevor.”
And maybe there’s a reason for that?
“Anyway, can we just change the subject away from my personal life?”
Georgie gladly changes the subject to her wedding, which is going to be here before we know it. She reminds me about my last fitting with my sailor bridesmaid dress. Honestly, I think I blocked it out.
“Why don’t you bring Zack to the wedding?”
I roll my eyes.
“Georgie, we just met,” I exclaim. “I’m certainly not going to ask him to go on vacation with me.”
In other words, I would love more than anything to bring him on a vacation with me.
“Okay, just remember you have a few more weeks to decide.”
Well, I suppose a lot can change in a few weeks. Although, who knows if I will even be speaking to him in a few more weeks. For all I know, it really was just a weekend fling.
Chapter 19
This is exactly why I shouldn’t have acted so recklessly with Zack. I knew him for five minutes before I was rubbing my hands all over his bare abs. Okay, so maybe it wasn’t reckless but it was definitely out of character for me.
It’s been a little over a week since Zack left, and we’ve texted a bunch of times and spoken on the phone twice. He’s been busy at the restaurant, and I’ve been covering for another instructor at the studio. I’m certainly not complaining because I welcome the influx of cash.
Liv and Giselle will be here in two days, and I’m only slightly freaking out. According to Liv, they’re coming to woo me. (That’s what she said anyway.) She also claims that Giselle wants to start fresh with me and she really wants us to work together. I don’t believe that for a second, but I’m certainly not going to tell Liv that I think Giselle is a liar.
On a positive note, Cassie and I finally made up. I was shocked to get a phone call from her a few days ago. She claims that her aura has been off since our fight (whatever that means). We both apologized, well, she apologized and I said “me, too” because I still don’t think I did anything wrong. I was extra careful not to unload any of my recent drama for fear she might accuse me of being selfish again or worse.
When I arrive home from work, I drop my bags on the floor and lie down on the couch. I had twelve lessons today and I’m completely spent. I’m just about to doze off when my phone rings. Without looking at the screen, I answer it.
“Hey, stranger.”
I cringe when I hear his voice. I haven’t spoken to Kyle since that night he showed up while Zack was here.
“Hey, Kyle.” I’m trying not to sound so disappointed that it’s him, but I’m just so exhausted.
“I’m back in town. Any chance you want to grab some dessert later tonight?”
I think back to the night that Kyle crashed my evening with Zack. Even though I’m exhausted, this talk is way overdue. I agree to meet him at seven thirty at a little bakery about three blocks from my apartment.
I’m still in the same spot on the couch when Layla comes home.
“Hey, Maris.”
I hold my hand up and wave.
“Whoa. Did you have a bad day?”
I shake my head. “No, just long. And now I have to get up and go meet Kyle for dessert.”
She gives me a funny look. Crap. I don’t want her thinking anything is going on between us.
“It’s not like that. Kyle and I are just friends and that’s all we will ever be.”
She nods. “That’s good to know because I think my brother likes you.”
I can feel my face get hot. I wonder how much she knows or if she knows anything. I haven’t brought it up to her because I didn’t want to make things awkward should things not work out with Zack. When I was in high school, I had a crush on my friend’s older brother and things got really weird with my friend. Granted, we’re adults now, so I know I shouldn’t be worried about it.
“I better get moving,” I say, groaning. “If I don’t get off this couch now, I may never.”
She gives me a sympathetic look. “That reminds me, can you
thank Kyle for me? He really cheered me up the other night.”
I finally force myself to sit up.
“What ever happened with that whole thing anyway?”
She rolls her eyes. “I was pretty distraught.”
I snort. “That was obvious.”
She pulls her knees to her chest. “Anyway, after Kyle talked to me, I finally had the courage to get rid of Bobby once and for all. It’s pretty cool what a difference it can make talking to someone with an unbiased opinion, someone who doesn’t know you or your past. My friends and family have been trying to convince me to get rid of Bobby forever. I always pushed back, but for some reason talking to Kyle made a lot of sense.”
See You Later Broadway (Broadway Series Book 2) Page 12
