AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He told me he’d meet me there, and we disconnected the call. I was nervous about what I was going to do, but Ali had told me to come to her. She had told me to ask her to dance, so that is what I was going to do. I owed her this plus a huge apology.
When I arrived at the restaurant, I parked out front on the street and walked down the alley. Mike was parked back there, and he was setting up some speakers and the spotlights that he had brought under a little tent. We were going to start with one light, and then he would turn on two more to brighten the entire area so we could see in the alley. It wasn’t a spiffy hotel ballroom, but I hoped that she would appreciate the gesture.
The rain was coming down lightly, and I hoped that it didn’t stop her from taking me up on my offer. I had a feeling that it wouldn’t, but I could be wrong. I sure had been wrong about things before.
Mike knocked on the back door to the restaurant, and a younger guy opened it. He wore a t-shirt and messy apron around his waist. I could just make out what Mike was telling him.
“We need you to do us a favor. Can you give this to Ali Davidson?”
“What’s this about?” he asked as I stepped out of the shadows. The kid grinned. “Oh, man! Yeah, I’ll give it to her.”
“Thanks.” The kid turned and disappeared into the restaurant again. Mike dashed off to the side where his car was parked, and I stepped back into the shadows again. Last night in the middle of the night, I had come here and walked the dance, making sure we would have the room and that it wouldn’t be a safety issue. It was perfect.
It was a minute before the door flew open, and Ali stood there. Her chef’s coat in one hand, the invite in the other, as she searched the darkness. When she noticed the spotlight, a smile began to slip over her face.
“Ali Davidson, I owe you an apology,” I called out from the other side of the alley.
“Do you, Harvey Melton?”
“Yes, I do. I jumped to a conclusion. I should have asked. I’m sorry.”
“How are you going to make it up to me?”
“May I have this dance and show you?”
I saw some of her coworkers peeking around her into the darkness. Ali stepped forward, and someone leaned against the door to hold it open.
“Here?”
“Yes, here.”
She looked up at the rain and laughed. “Why not!”
“Music, Mike.”
A moment later, the music started, and Ali was grinning as she pushed her chef’s coat into someone's hands and began to walk toward me. We met in the spotlight just like we had on the ballroom floor, and this time, when she lifted my chin, I knew that I had won as I stared into her eyes.
As Ali twirled away from me, Mike hit the switch, and the alley lit up. I noticed briefly that there were several people off to the side, watching us, but I didn’t care. I wanted everyone to see us. I wanted everyone to know.
Ali and I danced even better than we originally had. It didn’t matter that we weren’t on a fancy floor or that it was raining. Our bodies fit against each other, and there was a stronger connection now than there had been that night.
By the time we were done with the dance, we were breathing hard and soaked, but we stared at one another as I cupped her cheek. “I’m so sorry, Ali. I was a bastard for how I treated you.”
“I forgive you. I know you didn’t know. I figured that out. You thought I was cheating on Blake.”
“I’ve had it done to me; I couldn’t do it to someone else. My conscience just stabbed me in my gut that night. As much as I wanted you, I couldn’t because I didn’t think you were free.”
She ran her fingers over my cheek, blinking back the raindrops as they fell against her lashes. “I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you. I should have.”
“When you were in the kitchen, later that day, I heard what you said. I did feel it. I do feel it. I feel so much when I am with you, Ali. I think that day that we first ran into each other in the storm, well, I think I felt it then too, but I was distracted.”
“I think I did too, Harvey.”
I leaned my forehead to hers. “Ali, I want to get to know you better. I want to learn everything about you and fall in love with you, build a future. It just feels right.”
She wrapped her arms around my neck. “I’m pretty sure I agree with you, but there is one thing that I need to know before I commit to anything.”
I leaned back and frowned. “Okay, what? Anything.”
