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“This is sweet, Derek, but I don’t understand. Why do you even want me to come to your play?”
“Because I was wrong. I’m not very good at this dating thing, Katie, a fact which my friend Edith illuminated for me recently, but I’d really like to try. I’d like a second chance.”
“I don’t know, Derek.”
He cuts me off. “You see? I have learned that statement is you trying to let me down easily which is what you were trying to do with your ex though I didn’t know that at the time.”
Despite my apprehension, I smile at the glimpse of the old Derek, the very analytical one. “Okay, that’s a good lesson to learn and your friend Edith is right…”
“Ask the ball please,” he says, cutting me off and pointing at the toy. “Ask it if you should give me, give us, a second chance.”
His eyes are so serious that I feel like I’m getting a glimpse into his soul. “Why would I ask it that? You said you’re going to be gone for most of the year and starting a relationship would be a distraction.” I’m trying to be strong, but I can hear the slight shake of my voice.
Derek comes around the small desk and kneels in front of me. Good gravy, he’s not going to propose, is he?
“Because I’ve realized in the last few weeks that my life is lonely without you. I miss your spontaneity. I miss how you challenge me and how you see the world differently, and I don’t think I can go on tour without knowing that I’ll be coming back to you.”
I blink at him as I try to process his words. I don’t know what happened to him or what Edith said - I’ll have to thank her later - but I feel exactly the same way. My lips curve into a smile as I decide to tease him just slightly. “So, if I wanted you to stay, then shouldn’t I just say no?”
He places his hands around my hands covering the ball. “Just ask it, please?”
“Fine. Should I be Derek’s girlfriend?” I turn the ball over and ‘Yes! Yes! Yes!’ fills the screen. I laugh and shake my head. “Okay, I know that was not one of the original options. What did you do to this thing?”
I’m turning it over in my hands when Derek takes the ball from my hands and places it on the desk. Then he grabs my hands and pulls me up beside him. “A magician never reveals his secrets,” he says, running his hands up my arms to cup my face.
A shiver races down my spine and that familiar feeling of Jell-O-knees takes over. “You’re not a magician,” I manage to whisper.
“Are you sure about that?” he asks, tilting his head, “because I’m pretty sure I managed to change your heart.” Then, before I can say anything more, he leans forward and claims my lips. He’s hesitant at first, but when my arms - those traitors - wind around his neck, he deepens the kiss and pulls me closer. Once again, Mrs. O’Toole must be rolling in her grave, but I don’t care because here in Derek’s arms is where I want to be.
We’re both a little breathless when we finally pull back, and Derek smiles as he pushes hair behind my ears. “I can’t promise I won’t mess up again, Katie, but I promise I’ll work on communicating better. I really want this to work.”
“Me too,” I say and kiss him again.
A light tap on the door pulls us apart and Edith sticks her head in. “Sorry to interrupt, but I think there’s about to be a meeting and I don’t want the boss walking in on you.”
“Guess that’s my cue,” Derek says, placing a final kiss on my lips before pulling back. “Dinner tonight?”
“Only if I get to choose,” I say with a smile.
“As long as it’s not citrus, I’ll let you choose every time,” he says.
And then he’s gone. Edith grins and flashes a thumbs up and then she disappears as well, leaving me alone in my office with a happy heart, tingling lips, and a mysterious eight ball. I turn it over without asking a question and ‘My sources say yes’ fills the screen. Then ‘It is decidedly so.’ Then ‘There’s no doubt in my mind.’ I smile as I set the ball back on the desk. I don’t know how he did it, but he rigged this eight ball to always say yes.
I’m floating on cloud nine the rest of the day, but when I arrive home that evening, I realize I have to tell my friends and I have no idea how they’re going to take the news.
“Oh good, you’re just in time,” Hannah says as I step through the front door.
“Just in time for what?” I ask, setting my bag on the floor and closing the door behind me.
“For dinner. We made your favorite,” Belle says.
“Oh.” I feel bad that they made my favorite dinner. I should have texted them, but I felt this was too big to share over text. “I can’t stay for dinner. I have plans.”
“What plans?” Charlie asks, folding her arms across her chest.
“Plans with Derek.” Then, before they can say anything more, I launch into the story ending with pulling the new eight ball from my bag. For a moment, there is silence as the girls stare at me and then at each other.
“I knew it,” Hannah says, breaking the silence. “Didn’t I tell you they’d get back together?”
