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Her stomach knotted up at the same time as her heart danced. “Okay.”
* * * * *
TJ’s heart was still racing. It wouldn’t slow down, not after that kiss. Not after the way she’d kissed him back.
He hadn’t been planning on a kiss like that, but when he’d touched her and looked into her wide eyes, he knew he had to try. When he felt the tremble that wiggled through her body, he knew shewantedhim to try. That knowledge made the kiss easy. No “trying.” It had come naturally.
So had her response.
But now she was starting to freak out about their kiss. TJ could see it in the guardedness of her face as he ushered her out of Artisan’s Hope. Her mask was about to slip back on. His job tonight was to keep it off a while longer.
“How are you feeling now?” he asked once they were settled in his car. Since he’d stayed at her place until it was time to prepare for the play, they’d ridden together. It seemed to be a regular thing lately, and he didn’t mind. Not a bit.
“Better. A little. I almost forgot about my pain during the play.”
“I’m glad.” He started to make a left out of the parking lot, which would take them back to her house, then hit the brakes. He couldn’t end the night now. Not yet. “You want to go get a hot drink?” When she didn’t answer, he looked at her in the darkness of the car’s interior. He couldn’t make out the expression on her face, but her profile was tense. Her hands fidgeted in her lap. She was afraid.
“Just a drink, Mel. You deserve it after what this play has put you through.”
“Okay.” Her voice was scarcely a whisper, but she didn’t say no. That meant she wanted to be with him. His heart sang with hope all the while as he drove to his favorite coffee shop near his apartment and parked on the square. Caffeine didn’t bother him at night, but it would keep Melody up for hours.
“Hot chocolate?”
She met his eyes for the first time since before he’d kissed her onstage. “You know me well.”
Not as well as he’d like. He only smiled in response and put in their order. When he had both beverages in hand, he looked at Melody. “Would you go for a walk with me?” The weather had warmed considerably in the last few days since the heavy snowfall. Today had reached forty-five degrees at its high, but this late in the evening, it was probably heading below freezing. They were hearty Michiganders, though. They could handle it.
Fear, pulsing and palpable, flashed through her eyes, but she nodded. TJ let out a quick breath of air. He’d been expecting a refusal.
They set out along the square clutching warm drinks in gloved hands. He led the way to the sidewalk that meandered out toward the pier. What a far cry this night was from that of two weeks ago when Melody had been running in the blizzard.
“Thank you for everything you’ve done.” Melody’s ironically melodic voice spoke beside him after a long silence. The lighthouse loomed ahead in the distance, the sound of newly-melted water lapping under the boardwalk growing louder. “You did amazing tonight. You’re not as bad at acting as you think. You stole the show.”
He chuckled, then said softly, breathlessly, “Even the ending?”
It was so quiet he heard her swallow. “Especially the ending.”
“How’d I do with it?” His pulse roared in his ears as he waited for her answer, his breath so shallow his lungs hurt.
She darted a glance at him, then away. “Very good.”
“I’m glad you think so. Because.” He closed his eyes to pray for courage. This was so scary. “Because I wasn’t acting.”
Her laugh sounded nervous. “Well, then, you’re a very good kisser.”
Funny. He’d assumed long ago he was the worst.
“Did you think so in high school?”
A long pause ensued. Then, “Yes.”
TJ shook his head in disbelief. Her rejection, it seemed, hadn’t been about him at all. It had been about her. And he’d let it nearly derail him and dictate his life choices ever since. What a foolish, fear-frozen coward he’d been.
No longer.
“Melody.”
She turned reluctantly, no doubt picking up on the intensity with which he said her name. “TJ?”
