Chapter 12

Gideon’s eyes shuttered. “You don’t need to call me that here.” His voice was low, but somehow it cut through the clinking of glasses, the scooting chairs, and the chatter of voices, and hit her like a sandbag. Megs felt as if a hand reached inside her and yanked her insides toward the floor.

Before she could clear her head enough to respond, the woman Gideon had been standing with popped up across from them and stuck out her hand across the table. “Hi! I’m Alli.”

Megs smiled and shook it. “Megs.” It didn’t escape her that Alli didn’t introduce herself to Gideon.

“Ah, here we are.” Oscar Calloway swooped in next to Alli and pulled out her chair, then sat down in the chair opposite Megs. She glanced down the table and found Sean, Melissa, and Layla near the end. There were only sixteen people including the two women who seemed to be part of Calloway’s staff.

Megs sat next to Gideon. A woman in a sweater dress and her hair swept up in a claw clip sat on her other side.

“Is this our group?” Alli asked, pointing at Megs and Gideon.

“That it is.” Oscar grinned, pulled his napkin from the table, and spread it over his lap. “There are thirteen finalists. We have three groups of three and one group of four.”

Megs’ heart started to race. She needed to tell Oscar. If they had one group of four, that would be perfect. That one extra contestant could slide in and take her place in the group with Alli and Gideon.

“Oscar—”

“I think this worked perfectly, Gideon. I’m glad you let me know about the conflict.” Oscar was already talking and didn’t hear her say his name.

Megs’ eyes narrowed. “What conflict?”

Oscar leaned back in his seat as waiters and waitresses entered the room with plated salads. “Gideon texted and let me know there was something going on at work that wouldn’t allow him to get here by six. It was an easy adjustment, and I think it worked better for everyone to do it later.”

Megs turned her head. It was possible that Gideon had recording hours open and that was why he’d recommended a later time, but he knew she wasn’t planning to come tonight. He knew her class ended at eight. “Where do you work?” Megs didn’t actively decide to pretend she didn’t know Gideon, but once the words left her lips, she couldn’t take them back.

Gideon didn’t even flinch. “Champlain Community College. I’m a professor there.”

“Impressive. What do you teach?” Her chest warmed. Right then, only she and Gideon were in on this little secret, and it felt deliciously rebellious.

Alli jumped in, clasping her hands on the table. “He teaches audio engineering and recording.”

Megs cocked her head to the side. This gave her the perfect opening to dig. “Do you two know each other?”

A blush rose to Alli’s cheeks. “Just getting reacquainted, actually.”

What did that mean? Alli was probably one of the people on Gideon’s list, but how well did they know each other?

A waiter reached over her shoulder and set her salad in front of her. It looked good. Spring greens, mandarin oranges, and roasted beets. Free dinner, she repeated in her head. This didn’t have to be any deeper than that.

Gideon fidgeted with the corner of his napkin and moved his foot back under him. Alli kept accidentally hitting his shoes with hers. He’d seen her name on the list of finalists, but nothing had clicked until he’d shown up and seen his friends together in-person. Once he’d figured it out, he’d tried to get Matt alone, but either his famous friend was oblivious or he knew that Gideon knew.

Matt had darted away at every opportunity, diving into conversations with passing waiters if it meant avoiding a conversation with Gideon. Now, here they were seated across from each other, and he couldn’t say anything without making it awkward for Alli. Based on what he knew about Megs, she’d probably enjoy the drama of it all. He could already see her green eyes lighting up at the first mention of an ulterior motive for this competition.

Gideon didn’t doubt that Matt was using this competition to build buzz for his series and find a narrator, but this had Stewart, or now Calloway, written all over it.

“Megs, right?” Matt picked up his fork and speared a beet. Megs nodded. “I was blown away by your audition.”

Megs’ hand paused as she spread her napkin over her lap. “Thank you.” She looked momentarily confused, and Gideon had to force a smile from creeping onto his lips. That flicker wasn’t contrived, he’d seen the same look when he’d complimented her in the parking lot. Megs didn’t know how good she was, and it was both stupefying and adorable.

“It was very conversational,” Matt continued. “I say that as if I’m an expert on what makes a good narration, but I’m just repeating what I read in a Buzzfeed article.”

Megs laughed, and Gideon tensed. He didn’t like that she thought Matt was funny, even though he was. Doesn’t every girl have a secret fantasy that their favorite teacher will fall for them? That line ran through his head every single time he saw her, which wasn’t helping with his commitment to upholding the boundaries. Wednesday night, he’d tossed and turned in bed after sending Matt the message about his school conflict.

He’d already booked his evening off, but when Megs said she was dropping out, he hadn’t thought twice about opening his recording hours back up. That way, he hadn’t lied in his text message. If anyone thought to check the details, they’d find everything lined up. Nothing suspicious. Only he knew that the reason they were meeting at eight-thirty instead of six was purely so he could see Megs outside of class.

“So I shouldn’t pay any attention to your compliments,” Megs replied and took a drink of her Coke.

“Right. They mean nothing.” Matt flashed a wide grin.

Gideon cleared his throat. “What about you, Megs?” He wasn’t trying to kill their almost flirtatious conversation, but he wasn’t not trying.

“What about me?” she asked.

“What’s your story?” Gideon put a forkful of greens in his mouth.

“Well, I’ve been acting for most of my life and I hoped to make a career out of it, but that didn’t quite work out as planned.”

“I love that you tried,” Alli said. “I didn’t have the guts to do anything that wasn’t practical.” Having Alli and Megs talk was almost worse than Megs and Matt. He didn’t want pieces of his past exposed at the moment, which meant sitting here with these three was his own personal house of horrors.

“What do you do?” Megs asked.

“I’m an executive assistant. I work for a corporate real estate firm in Burlington.”

Gideon took another bite. Alli had always wanted to be a singer. Matt had been one of Gideon’s freshman roommates along with Randall, who was sitting at the end of the table across from his old girlfriend Cassie.

“Do you enjoy it?” Megs asked.

Alli shrugged. “It pays well.”

The three of them had gone to Chicago with big dreams. They’d started performing at a pub on the north edge of campus within weeks of the semester starting, and that’s where they met Alli and Cassie. They were always playing before or after each other, which meant they spent hours together most weekends.

Alli’s vocals were smoky and raw, and Cassandra had always worked magic on the guitar. It was a surreal two years creatively. Before the real world set in.

“I need to make a visit to the restroom.” Megs set her fork down and scooted her chair back. A light floral scent wafted toward him with her movement, and that night at Sammy’s slammed back into his mind. She’d smelled like that when they stood in the parking lot. Light and fresh. He wondered if it was her lotion or hair products.

“I’ll come with you.” Alli stood and followed Megs.

“I still don’t understand why women do that.” Matt chuckled, but Gideon wasn’t going to let him get away with small talk.

“Interesting mix here, don’t you think?”

Matt grinned. “So much talent.”

“And relationship potential?”

Matt took another bite of his salad. “I wouldn’t know about that.”

Gideon shook his head. “You’re going to play innocent?” Matt looked up and shrugged as he chewed. “Did you think this would work?”

Matt set his fork down and sighed, glancing at the contestants to the right and left of them before leaning toward him over the table. “All I want is for my friends to be happy. I don’t think that’s a crime.”

Gideon lowered his voice. “You thought putting us together in a romance novel would rekindle our relationships from college?”

Matt looked a little sheepish. “It’s what I do, Gid. I bring people together in every book I write and—”

“Those are fake people.”

“But stories like that happen in real life, and I know you all gave up on living your dreams, but—”

“Gave up?” Gideon tensed. Was that what Matt thought happened when he stopped playing gigs and got his masters? “I didn’t give up. My dreams just changed.”

“It was your dream to work at Champlain? Was it Alli’s dream to work as an executive assistant in Burlington?”

Gideon exhaled. “Matt, we aren’t kids anymore. I—”

“Those faucets were worth the trip.” Megs slid back into her seat, and Alli was only a few seconds behind her. Gideon ground his teeth.

“Yeah?” Matt’s face lit up.

“It was a hand-washing waterfall.” Megs scooted back in close to the table.

Matt whipped out his phone. “That’s going on my list.”

“What list?” Megs grinned.

“My idea list. Might end up in a novel.”

“And I’ll get a cut of royalties, right?”

Matt laughed. “Of course. Point one percent.”

Gideon pulled his foot back as Alli nudged his shoe again, and that time he was convinced she was doing it on purpose.

Megs left class on Monday as fast as possible to force herself not to talk to Gideon. After sitting next to him all night at dinner, it was getting more and more difficult not to text him or talk to him like a friend. He’d been quieter than usual, especially after she and Alli returned from the bathroom. After talking with Alli by the waterfall faucets, she understood why.

Alli and Gideon had been together for two years in college. Two years. They split up only because Alli backpacked through Europe for six months after she graduated. When she came back, Gideon was working on his master’s and she took a job in Chicago.

So, Gideon was seeing her for the first time while sitting next to a random girl he kissed at a burger joint. She couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss at the burger joint. Which was probably why she found herself parking her car in the lot at Sammy’s.

That night had been surprising and perfect in her memory, but maybe it was only because it came on the heels of a terrible moment. Perhaps it was a good thing she was forced into this class because it had built-in brakes for their relationship when Megs would’ve gone full speed ahead with Gideon. Maybe this was the universe helping her stop jumping into things without thinking. Maybe it was just the burger she wanted and not the professor who came with it.

This time there wasn’t a line at Sammy’s and only a few people were sitting in the booths inside. Strange since it was three-thirty on a Monday. Megs ordered the exact combination she’d had that night with Gideon, then took her ticket and claimed the same booth they’d sat in. The only difference was that today she was wearing more appropriate footwear for the fall weather.

Megs pulled out her phone and opened her TikTok. She had a few comments on the videos she’d made about Oscar’s competition and saw she’d been tagged in a video that one of Oscar’s media gals made at the restaurant the other night.

She’d started to tell Oscar at least three times that she wouldn’t be able to continue with the competition, but each time, Oscar had a rebuttal. When she mentioned she had classes the coming weekend, Oscar had asked if her class was on Wednesday night or Saturday morning. Apparently, those were the days for their coaching session and train ride. She should’ve said yes, but Gideon was sitting right there and would’ve known it was a lie.

Oscar had assured her the train would be back at the Sugar Creek station by three o’clock, which would give her an hour and a half before she needed to leave for Champlain. His exact words were, “Even time to take a shower.”

When she said she would likely be overwhelmed with starting a new job and finding an apartment, Oscar said they could celebrate her new job at the bonfire and corn maze Tuesday night.

That was the final event and then they’d record their final audition live with Oscar on Wednesday and he’d announce the winner in time for the Saturday paper. While all of his reasons were well thought out, Megs would’ve continued pushing had it not been for his final announcement.

The winner of this competition would receive the five grand and the opportunity to record this book, but Oscar would also sign them on for the Heartsong series. A series that was plotted out to be fourteen books over three years with a contracted rate of four hundred dollars per finished hour.

She’d sat there and done the mental calculations. Based on the research she’d done before her audition, she knew that Oscar’s books would probably be around eleven hours of finished audio. Which meant she could earn over sixty thousand dollars recording that series. After that number landed in her brain, she hadn’t said another word about pulling out.

Megs’ ticket number was called out over the speaker. She put her phone next to her waist bag on the table and stood, then froze. Gideon stood there in front of her with a ticket in his hand.