20. Twenty

20

TWENTY

L eo opening up to me broke my heart. My upbringing had been idyllic. Yes, I was boring and never got in trouble—something that seemed to amuse him to no end—but the most traumatic thing that had ever happened to me was when I went to camp for a week and started my period. Technically, I knew what menstruation was, but I’d panicked in the moment and told anyone who would listen that I was hemorrhaging. They’d laughed. I’d been mortified. It was nothing compared to what Leo had been through, though.

The fact that he was still standing seemed like a miracle to me.

“Stop looking at me like that,” Leo complained as he led me into Turner’s Seafood. He had a firm grip on my hand—actually, he’d barely let go of it all day—but there was a devilish look on his face.

“And just how am I looking at you?”

“As if you want to skip dinner and get naked.”

I rolled my eyes. “That is not how I was looking at you.”

“Then how were you looking at me?”

“I think you might be a superhero.”

He paused just on the other side of the door. “What?”

“You’re a superhero. It’s amazing to me that you’re still standing, let alone thriving given what you went through as a kid.”

He shook his head. “People make it through way worse than me.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” I was firm on that. “You’re a miracle.”

He gave me an odd look.

“What?” I demanded when he didn’t immediately speak.

“Nothing. It’s just weird. I was thinking that exact word earlier when we were on the trolley. You’re my miracle.”

He didn’t mean it the way I wanted him to mean it—there was no way—and yet everything inside of me went soft at the words. “See. You’re sweet.”

“Shh.” He lifted his index finger to his lips. “Don’t let that get out. I’ll never live it down.”

“Whatever.”

The hostess was all smiles as she glanced between us. Her gaze, of course, lingered on Leo. I didn’t blame her. His hair was windswept from the trolley. His smile was bright enough to illuminate the entire restaurant. When he laughed the day got brighter.

“Two?” she asked, her eyes moving to our joined hands.

“Yes,” Leo replied, seemingly oblivious to her interest. “You have stuffed lobster, right?”

The hostess seemed thrown by the question. “Of course.”

“Just checking.” Leo’s smile was easy.

“Do you like stuffed lobster?” The hostess almost looked dreamy. “That’s one of my favorites.”

“I could take it or leave it,” Leo replied. “Sam here needs it to make her night perfect, though.” He sent me a fond look. “Isn’t that right?”

“Oh, I’m not falling for that trap.” I shook my head. “I want to see the whole menu before I order. I might find something else I want to eat.”

Leo didn’t look convinced. “Whatever.” He turned his smile back to the hostess. “Can you seat us right away?”

If I wasn’t very much mistaken, the hostess turned wistful. “Sure.” She grabbed several menus. “Just follow me.”

The ambiance wasn’t exactly romantic, but there was a candle flickering in the middle of the table.

Leo reached for the drink menu first. “What’s your poison?”

“Oh, um, something fruity.”

His forehead creased as he perused the options. “Are you sure? They have something called the Turner’s Hot and Dirty and I feel that fits your mood.”

I made a face. “I feel that fits your mood.” Despite that, I was intrigued. “What’s in it?”

“Tito’s vodka, olive juice, cherry pepper juice, and blue cheese stuffed olives.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Absolutely not.”

“Well, that’s what I’m getting.” He handed me the cocktail menu and watched with a great deal of interest as I looked over the offerings.

“I’m getting the raspberry gin martini,” I announced.

“Is it pink?”

“Yup.”

“I figured.”

We placed our drink orders and then proceeded to pore over the menu.

“Let’s go big,” he said. “I’m talking appetizers, entrees, and dessert.”

“Doesn’t that mean you’ll have to get up early tomorrow to work out so you don’t lose that eight-pack?” I teased.

“I plan to work it off later with you.”

“Good answer.” I winked at him. “I’m going to have to start running again if I eat that many calories.”

“Live a little,” he prodded. “I know this is the sort of business where we have no choice but to watch what we eat, but we can have a splurge night.” He looked so excited at the prospect, I couldn’t turn him down.

“It’s sort of been a splurge day,” I hedged. “We might as well finish it out, though.”

“Definitely.”

I made a popping sound with my lips as I looked over the appetizers. “I can’t do raw oysters,” I warned. “I know they’re supposed to be an aphrodisiac, but they’re gross.”

“They taste like snot,” he agreed. “Besides, we do fine on our own. We don’t need help in that department.”

I grinned. “I like clams. Can one of them be clams?”

“Yup. How about the Clams Casino and the crab cakes?”

“Sold.” Despite my bold talk in front of the hostess, my heart was already set on stuffed lobster. The menu—which was extensive—had a lot to offer. I couldn’t get my mind off the stuffed lobster, though.

“Just get it,” Leo prodded when I sighed. “You know you want to.”

“It’s expensive.”

“This is on me.”

“Oh, but that doesn’t seem fair.”

He made a face. “It’s on me. Don’t be weird.”

“What are you going to get?”

“Surf and turf. If I’m going to be bad, I might as well go for the red meat.”

“That sounds good.” I cocked my head, considering. “I’m still getting the stuffed lobster.”

He laughed really hard, which happened to coincide with our server’s return.

“You guys look like you’re having a good time,” she said as she delivered our drinks. My pink martini had a huge heart drawn on the surface with what looked to be a syrupy white sugar concoction.

“We are having a good time,” Leo said. “I always have the best time with her.” He ordered everything. He didn’t even give me a chance to order something else—not that my heart would’ve been in it anyway. Once the server left, he focused on me. “Tell me something.”

“I’m going to eat my weight in food tonight and you’re going to have to carry me back to the hotel,” I replied, not missing a beat.

“Not that.” He shook his head. “Tell me something that nobody else knows about you.”

He needed me to confide in him, I realized. He’d told me the worst thing that had ever happened in his life, and he needed me to reciprocate. There was just one little problem.

“My childhood is going to seem very Full House to you.”

“ Full House ?” His brow furrowed. “You mean that terrible television show with Uncle Jesse?”

“That would be the one.”

“That’s okay. I still want to hear about it. I’m not asking for terrible memories.”

“Just something embarrassing?”

“That would work.”

I didn’t have to think on it long. “I could tell you about the time I first got my period and told the counselors at the camp I was at for the week that I was hemorrhaging.”

He chuckled.

“That story is only funny for about a minute, though,” I continued. “I guess I could tell you about my senior prom.”

“Did you wear pink?”

“Yes.”

“I knew it.”

“I didn’t actually make it to the prom, though.” This wasn’t a happy memory, which was why I’d landed on it. He needed me to be vulnerable, and this was the best option I had. “I was really excited for the prom—Tad Daily invited me, and he was the most popular boy at school—but I never got the dream dance that I thought I would.”

He frowned. “What happened?”

“It turns out he only invited me because all the boys in school had a bet to see who could … deflower, for lack of a better word … me before we graduated. When I informed him that my parents weren’t going to let me stay at the hotel with everybody else, he decided that he wanted to take someone who he could score with and he stood me up.”

Leo’s lips turned down. “This is not a fun story.”

“Your story wasn’t fun either,” I reminded him.

“No, but now I want to find Tad Daily and punch him in the face.”

“Oh, I would like that.” I managed a soft smile. “It hardly matters, though. I spent the entire weekend in bed after I was stood up—my mother kept bringing me brownies to try to perk me up—and when school rolled around again, I didn’t want to go. I was certain that everybody would be making fun of me when I walked through the door.”

“Your parents didn’t let you stay home from school?” Leo looked appalled at the news.

“Well, if I skipped, I would’ve missed my perfect attendance certificate.”

“Oh, geez.” His smile was back. “I should’ve known you were the one in your school to get that certificate.”

“You really should have,” I agreed. “I got it every year. I could’ve had malaria and still made it to school. That’s who I was.”

“I almost got charged with truancy when I was still living with my parents.”

“Yes, well, I was encouraged to be a good girl. You became a good man all on your own. That’s the better accomplishment.”

“Don’t sell yourself short.” He was firm. “Tell me what happened with Tad the cad.”

“Nothing happened. He didn’t even apologize. Everybody laughed because they thought it was funny I believed he could be interested in me. I cried when I got home. Then it was done.”

“And yet even now you want to make everybody happy, even if it’s at your expense,” he mused.

“I am a people pleaser. That’s why I think being here will be good for me. This is something I really want. This place … it just makes me feel good about myself.”

“You should always feel good about yourself because you’re the best person I know.”

“I think that’s a bit of a stretch. What about Officer Sturges? Are you still in touch with him?”

“Yup. Once a month he calls me on the phone. He wants to make sure my head is in a good place. He actually came to see me after my meltdown that one time. He always makes time for me.”

“He sounds like a good man.”

“He is.”

“You’re a good man, too.”

“I want to be.”

“Well, give in to that feeling. You won’t regret it.”

“So you keep saying.”

I ATE SO MUCH THAT I HAD NO CHOICE BUT to walk it off after dinner. Leo picked the direction, and I wasn’t surprised that we ended up near the Derby Wharf Light Station. There weren’t a lot of lights to distract us—or call attention to us—and the smell of the salty air made me feel as if I had endless energy.

“What are you doing this weekend?” he asked after we’d gone a full five minutes without speaking.

“What do you mean?” I cast him a sidelong look. “I’ll be here.”

“I know that. I mean … um … I have to go to New York City this weekend. I thought you might want to go with me.”

It was not what I was expecting. “You’re going to New York City?”

“Honesty, right?”

I swallowed hard. Was he about to drop some big truth bomb on me? Did he have a girlfriend in New York that I didn’t know about? That would be my luck.

“I have an audition for a movie,” he explained. “It’s kind of like Mission Impossible , but without Tom Cruise. I wouldn’t be the lead, but it would be a good role.”

“Oh.” I let out some of the air I’d been holding in. “It would be a good stepping stone for you.”

“It would. I don’t want to miss time with you, though.”

“And in New York, nobody knows anybody else, so we could do whatever we wanted without having to worry about our co-stars stumbling across us,” I deduced.

“I thought we could make a whole weekend out of it,” he said. “Go Friday and Saturday nights. Then we could drive back Sunday. There’s good food. My audition is Saturday afternoon, but it shouldn’t be more than a few hours. I just … don’t want to go without you.”

If he’d said he didn’t want to go alone, I would’ve understood the sentiment. He was trying to do something important with his life right now, it made sense that he wouldn’t want to do it alone. The fact that he said he didn’t want to do it without me caught me right in the feels, though.

“So … it would be like a weekend of fun, food, and debauchery as soon as your audition is over,” I prodded.

“Well, we could go out for dinner and a drink or two Friday night, but I can’t really cut loose. I need to be fresh for the audition.”

“I get that.” I did. “Would we be in the same room? I only ask because I’m not sure I have the money for a New York hotel room—at least one that wouldn’t terrify me—on my own.” Shame flooded my cheeks.

“Baby, don’t worry about that.” He pushed my hair back from my forehead, and I could tell he was pained that I’d turned the conversation to something so serious. “I’ve got the hotel room. Please, don’t worry about stuff like that. I’ve got the food … and the entertainment. I just want you.”

I exhaled heavily. He was so earnest I couldn’t tell him no. Sure, a weekend trip to New York would fill my head with fanciful ideas—like could we possibly make this work beyond the expiration date we’d set for ourselves?—but I would never hurt him by saying no.

“I think that sounds amazing,” I admitted. “I haven’t been to New York in years.”

“Good.” He looked relieved. “I checked the schedule. Our last scene on Friday is at noon. If we figure two hours to film it, we can head back to the hotel and get showered and changed and leave around three o’clock.”

“How long is the drive?”

“Four and a half hours.” He was rueful. “That gets us there in time for dinner and a drink or two.”

“Then bed,” I teased.

“Then bed. I swear I’ll give you the time of your life on Saturday, though. Just as soon as my audition is over with, it will just be you and me.”

Honestly, now that he was laying things out, I found I was looking forward to the trip more than anything in recent memory. “I’m in.”

“Awesome.” He looked so much more relaxed, that it relaxed me.

“What are we going to tell everybody else, though?” I asked. “I mean…don’t you think they’re going to notice that we’re leaving together? How are we even going to get there?”

“I’m renting a car. As for everybody else, have you met our co-workers? They’re far too involved in themselves to worry about us.”

He had a point. Still… “What about Daisy and Jax?”

“They already know we’re together. Jax brings it up every morning when we’re working out.”

“Daisy doesn’t mind her own business either,” I agreed. “Should we tell them, though?”

“That’s up to you. I have no problem telling Jax.”

I tried to picture Daisy’s face when I told her I would be going to New York City with Leo. She would be far too happy at the prospect. “Somebody should probably know where we are,” I replied. “Just in case Miles goes looking or something.”

“Plus, Daisy is going to figure it out anyway,” Leo said. “That’s what you’re not saying.”

“She is quite invested. She keeps asking me for details.”

His eyes narrowed. “What sort of details?”

“Well, she has a theory that all Hollywood actors are lazy when it comes to sex. She keeps picturing you making me do all the work.”

“She tells you that?” Leo burst out laughing. “That’s freaking hilarious.”

“There isn’t a thought that she’s not afraid of sharing.”

“Yes, well … she hasn’t told anybody else in the cast about us yet. I think she’s probably trustworthy.”

“And she can run interference if Miles decides he wants us for another photo op,” I added. “I’m not sure what she’ll tell him, but I bet she’s good at distracting people if she puts her mind to it.”

“Miles can worry about himself for the weekend.” Leo slid his arm around my waist and tugged me flush against him. “How about you and I worry about us this weekend and we leave the others to do … whatever it is that they do. I honestly have no idea what that is.”

“I think I can probably be persuaded to focus on you for a few days,” I replied. “It might take some work, but I’m sure you’re up to the task.”

“Oh, I’m up to whatever tasks you have planned.”

I grinned when he leaned in for a kiss. “Things are already looking up, aren’t they?”

“They most definitely are.”