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“Good morning, Brooke,” he greets and reaches out to gently squeeze my shoulder. “It’s the big day, and you’re already looking beautiful. Are you excited?”
I smile with a shrug as Benji huffs out his own sentiments. He’s borne witness to it all. All I can do is admit, “It’s possible I’ve been a bit of a basket case.”
Chase’s responding smile is so, so comforting. “I wouldn’t dream of it going any other way.”
“Par for the course, huh?”
“It’s you,” he whispers then, a reverence in his voice so obvious that even the manicurist raises her eyebrows. I do my very best to ignore the vulnerable feeling.
He stares at me for a long moment before nodding once, a mere resolute jerk of his chin. “Okay, then. I’m going to leave you to it for now. But I’ll see you tonight. I’ll be in the car with you on the way to the red carpet, okay?”
Gah. I really want him to stay.
“Where are you going now?” I ask, a desperation in my voice no one could miss.
Chase smiles, and Benji moves from his spot by the sofa to crowd my legs, just in case. “To work on Clive and River.”
My breath catches again on the feeling of my lies lodged in my throat.
“And then to get ready for your big night,” he adds with a little wink.
All I can do is nod.
Chase bites his lip with a shake of his head and then reaches out to squeeze my shoulder again. “Can’t wait to see you tonight.”
Oh, Chase Dawson. Can’t wait to see you is an understatement.
Photographers gesture toward us, pulsing their arms together to suggest we should slide into an embrace, and both Chase and I pause to check with each other before doing so.
It’s both awkward and cute, and I appreciate that someone is feeling as out of place as I am right now. Once in proximity, though, Chase wraps a warm arm around me and tucks me into the side of his body. His tux is crisp, fancy fabric, and I can feel it through the cutout in my lavender silk gown. Both that, and the warm smoothness of his long-fingered hand.
As the night goes on, the distance between us is closing.
When we started the red-carpet walk upon our arrival, Chase hung back for most of the time, smiling when I would look back at him in sheer disbelief at the whole dog and pony show.
I was on a red carpet tonight.
Me, Brooke Baker, on a freaking red carpet in the middle of an LA premiere for The Shadow Brothers.
Famous actors walked next to me, even pausing and asking to take pictures with me every now and then.
Photographers yelled toward me, and several red-carpet interviewers stopped me to ask questions. It was all so surreal.
Perhaps most dreamlike, however, was seeing my very own Shadow Brothers come to life on the big screen. It was all I could do to sit through the screening without crying loudly enough to disturb everyone.
Thankfully, I had the two best men any girl could ask for by my side the entire time.
Benji stayed put by my feet, and Chase held my hand while two very palpable tears carved rivers down my fully made-up cheeks and I didn’t care.
This is big, dammit, and for the first time since I landed the deal, I let myself feel it. I forgot about my makeup and the lavender dress I picked out because a certain someone told me he liked that color on me.
I didn’t worry about what anyone thought of my tears.
I just let myself savor the moment.
I mean, I wrote a book that they turned into a show. Just a small-town girl from Nowhere, Ohio, living the biggest of fucking dreams. And tonight at midnight Pacific Time, it’s going to be live everywhere in the world, for all the people to watch.
Every time I’ve let myself think about it since those tears inside the theater, I’ve started to shake.
I did it. Just like Sammy said, I really did it.
Chase and I smile for the cameras a few more times before stepping away from the crowd and walking off the red carpet and climbing into the waiting car that’s ready to take us away from the Hollywood glitz and glamour and back to the motor home, just outside of the city.
The moon is full and the stars are big, and I’ve got full-blown hearts in my eyes as Chase scoots closer to me and we drive away.
He is quiet as he takes my hand in his own and holds it tightly, rubbing his thumb against the line of mine. I breathe deeply into the silence while Benji watches me from the far side of the limo.
“Do you ever…” Chase starts to ask into the otherwise silent car before stopping himself. He shakes his head, but evidently, the motion isn’t enough to clear it. “Do you ever imagine what it would be like to be Clive and River?”
