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I grab the handle of my door and open it, and from the sound of things, both my dad and Chloe do the same. Careful to pull the train of my dress away first, I slam the door shut and turn to face the venue—The Fleet Science Center at Balboa Park.
The building has a Spanish flair, with a whitewashed stone exterior and a red tile roof, but to tell you the truth, all it really looks like to me right now is intimidating.
I was already feeling nervous enough. Declaring your feelings for a man who is quite possibly the best, most attractive guy in the universe in a roomful of people who expect him to date other women is ominous all on its own. Add in a possible unplanned pregnancy? Yeah, I might faint.
My dad rounds the car and takes my arm, gesturing for Chloe to do the same on the other side, and I have to admit, even in the middle of my breakdown, the action makes me smile.
When he starts to walk, I have no choice but to put one foot in front of the other and do the same.
Ready or not, here we go.JakeWanting to make a production of the big reveal, the paper has been kind enough to keep me barricaded off in a side room in the venue, while the party guests gather on the other side of the glass wall that looks into the main space.
SoCal Tribune pulled out all the stops tonight. Flowers, photographer, and food, they didn’t hold back on the big Bachelor Anonymous reveal.
Normally, I’d be running in the other direction to be a part of something so insane, but tonight is important.
Seeing Holley is a necessity. Telling her how I feel, really truly feel, about her is just as important as fucking oxygen for my survival.
And I’m wearing a suit, which feels weird, but tonight required a balls-to-the-wall, put-everything-on-the-line kind of mind-set.
I’m certain of what I should have known weeks ago—I’m in love with her. I know we haven’t known each other long, but I also know that, for me, the sound of her laughter is one of the single greatest things I’ve heard in my entire life.
I know that when she smiles, my heart does a flip inside my chest, and when she hurts, I hurt more than I’ve ever hurt.
I know that I think of her when I wake up, and I think of her when I go to sleep, and I know that sending my daughter to her house tonight—taking the chance on welcoming her into my daughter’s life—has been one of the easiest decisions I’ve ever made.
Chloe’s right. She fits. Not just me, but us, and I swear to God I’ll do everything in my power tonight to make sure she believes me when I tell her.
A woman in a low-cut dress winks through the glass wall, so I turn to face the other direction immediately.
By God, the last thing I need is another one.
As chance would have it, the movement is almost cosmically ordained, happening at just the right time to clear my line of sight to the door all the way at the other end of the venue.
My heart trips over itself as Holley and Chloe walk in the door together, arm in arm with a suit-wearing, older, bald man. I don’t recognize him, but I don’t feel any sort of immediate threat from his presence either. And the truth is, when I get one look at the woman I’m waiting for, I can’t even pretend to pay attention to him anymore. In a long black dress with a plunging neckline, Holley’s everything I’ve ever dreamed of and more. Her lips are painted a dark red, her eyebrows heavy with attitude. Her jade eyes sparkle against the neutral background of the rest of her outfit, and it’s all I can do to keep myself standing.
A hand goes to my chest as my breath leaves, desperate to put some pressure on the rapidly forming void. I know what I need to fill it—I can’t take my eyes off her.
The three of them are stopped by a woman in a bright-red dress not far inside the entrance, and everything inside me vibrates. They unlink arms then, and the man—who, now that I look at him more closely, has got to be Holley’s father—turns to Chloe and says something to make her smile.
Holley chats with the woman in the red dress, her whole head bobbing animatedly in agreement with something she’s saying. I know Holley pretty well, though, and the wide, panicked set of her eyes tells me she’s not actually hearing much of anything the woman has to say.
I wait for her to make her way around the woman and into the main area of the party, but when she gets stopped again by a woman I know to be her editor, Gloria, from our earlier introduction, I make a decision.
