Center Stage
Page 20

“Really? You have them already?”
“They’re public.”
She was certainly new to the whole construction world.
Zach carried Tyler into the room and set him in a chair. “Ed’s going to help on the renovation. Is that okay with you?”
“Of course. This is a family theater. All the better if my family is in on it, right?”
“Clara wouldn’t shut up about acting last night,” Eduardo said. “She was driving me crazy.”
“And tonight you’ll drive her crazy talking about the blue prints, won’t you?”
He chuckled. “Probably.”
“What about Christian? Does he have a part in this?”
“I told him he could sell popcorn at intermission.”
They all laughed at that.
“Christian doesn’t have time for anything other than baseball,” Eduardo added.
“We all have our callings.” Arianna looked up at John, who looked down at her. And she knew, at that moment, her calling was to be his.
Mary Ellen ordered in Chinese food, and the group spent the next three hours going over plans for the theater. Arianna was pleasantly surprised at how many times John would ask Eduardo’s opinion on an item and accept what he had to say.
The electrical would have to be completely redone. All of the seating would need to be replaced. The stage needed to be rebuilt, and of course, the lobby would need to be gutted and redesigned.
“The craziest part about this building is that the curtains are in good condition. They just need to be cleaned,” John added.
Zach looked at Arianna. “You’ll still want to replace them, I’m sure.”
“Oh, I don’t know. Wouldn’t that be fun to keep? I’ll think about it.”
Regan left with her boys and Eduardo. Arianna stayed with John and Zach to discuss a time frame for the theater to be ready.
“We’re looking at July at the earliest,” John said as he tipped back in his seat. “It’s almost as though we’re starting from scratch.”
“We are,” Zach commented as he picked up a leftover fortune cookie and broke it open.
Arianna leaned in and rested her arms on the table. “July? That would be enough time to put together something fun for the grand opening, and then, maybe by October, we can have the first, full production ready.”
John looked at her with eyes that smiled. “I’m glad to see you get excited over this. You’re always beautiful, but talking about this makes you almost sparkle.”
She felt the heat rise in her cheeks. “I love what I do.”
Zach pushed away from the table. “Arianna, I don’t know if I should kiss you for making this fool so happy or send you packing since his head is in the clouds.”
“You and Regan set us up, remember?”
“I just didn’t think he’d get all soft on me.” He stood and walked toward his office. “I’m going home to snuggle on my boys.”
“I’ll lock up when we leave,” John offered.
Zach disappeared into the private elevator in the corner of his office. The building had become quiet.
John stood from his seat and pulled Arianna from hers. His mouth was quickly pressed against hers, and her body settled against his.
He rested his forehead against hers. “I’ve waited all day to do that.”
“You haven’t had enough of me yet?”
“The plan is to never have enough of you.”
Arianna rested her head against his chest. “So, this is how it will be? You build all day. I’ll perform all night?”
John lifted her chin with his finger. “And we will share a bed every night for the rest of our lives.”
“The rest of our lives?” She hoped her voice hadn’t cracked, but her body shook, so she was sure it had.
“If you’ll have me.”
“Doesn’t this seem sudden?”
He pulled her closer to him. “Honey, we’ve been working on this, very poorly, for the past four years. I don’t ever want to be with anyone else.”
“Then, every night for the rest of our lives sounds good to me.”
He held her tightly before stepping back and looking at her. “Why were you coming to see me today?”
Warmth filled her knowing they were in love. The moment was perfect. The timing was right. “I’d planned to ask you to move in with me. Upstairs, that is.”
“It sounds like we have the same plans.”
“Who would have thought it would come together so quickly.”
John kissed her again. “You know, Zach has a Murphy bed in the other room.”
Arianna slapped his arm. “Let’s just get home, quickly.”
“To our home?”
“To our home.”
John had followed Arianna out to her car and continued to follow her all the way home. She hadn’t mentioned that she’d received any more texts or phone calls all day, but he wasn’t taking any chances. At least for the next six months, they would be in the same place, and he wondered if that, too, was some of Zach’s plan.
Zach had a vested interest in the theater nearly as much as John did. But John knew keeping him near was as good for business as it was for family.
He reached over and turned down the heat in the truck. His body seemed to be plenty warm at the moment, and that was all courtesy of Arianna.
There had been a moment in the conference room where he’d actually contemplated proposing to her, but common sense took over quickly. Neither one of them needed that. They knew what the other wanted. No marriage. No babies. But a commitment was a commitment.
Arianna turned down their street, and he continued to follow. The theater would be their baby. Its conception was in her notebook and in his renovation plans. Its birth would be the grand opening. Its life would be the many lives it could touch.
Their marriage would be their commitment to each other. They’d share a home, a business, and a life.
He watched her park her car in the driveway, and he pulled up behind her.
Her birthday was coming up. He was sure he’d remembered Regan talking about a party for her with Mary Ellen.
She’d need something nice. Just because they weren’t going to get married, it didn’t mean she couldn’t have a really nice ring to wear.
Chapter Eleven