Center Stage
Page 3

At that moment, the door flew open and Curtis stood there, frozen with his face paralyzed in what appeared to be a panic.
Regan sat up straighter and then quickly relaxed. “What’s wrong? Simone? Is she okay?”
Curtis only nodded. “Girl.”
Arianna watched as Regan’s face softened. “You have a baby girl?”
Curtis nodded.
Arianna laughed. He was a trauma doctor stunned by the birth of his own child. “Congrats, Daddy.”
Curtis wiped his hand over his head. “I think I should sit down.”
Zach hurried to him. “Rookie. C’mon, let’s go see this princess of yours before the rest of the family wakes up.”
“Curtis.” Arianna waited for him to turn toward her. “What is her name?”
“Oh. Yeah. Avery. Avery Emily.”
“I’ll be down there next to meet my niece.”
He only nodded again and let Zach help him out of the room.
Regan laughed. “He’s doomed. Absolutely doomed.”
“We think Simone has him wrapped around her finger. Just wait until Avery needs something.” She held Spencer’s little hand. “I can’t believe you both had your babies on the same day.”
“That will be a special bond between them.”
The door opened again, and this time their parents walked in with Tyler holding tightly to his grandmother’s hand.
Regan reached her arms out to him and tears rolled down her cheeks as Tyler ran toward her. His grandmother helped him onto Regan’s bed and she wrapped her arms around him. “Look, Tyler, you’re a big brother.”
Tyler lifted his head and looked at the baby in Arianna’s arms.
“His name is Spencer,” she told him as he rested his head on his mother’s shoulder and quickly fell asleep.
Their mother held out her arms. “Let me see my grandson.”
Arianna handed her nephew off to her mother and turned to hug her father. “I’m going to go meet my niece and then head home. I’m exhausted.”
“Thank you for being here,” Regan whispered as not to stir Tyler or Spencer.
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world. I’m very lucky to have made it for both.”
Arianna walked out to the hallway and followed the sounds of her brother’s voice.
Curtis was seated in a chair, his arms resting on his knees, and Zach hovered over him with a glass of water.
The sight nearly had her busting out in laughter.
Simone shook her head. “You would think he did all the work.”
Arianna wondered if Simone had seen a mirror. Her long, black tresses were matted down to her skin. Her face was still flush, and her eyes were bloodshot. However, Arianna thought she’d never looked better.
She walked to Simone’s bedside and took her first look at her beautiful niece. “Hello, Avery.”
“Is she not the most beautiful girl in the world?”
“She just might be. May I hold her?”
Simone was not as quick to give up her first child to her doting auntie as Regan was, and that was expected.
“Oh, Simone, she is just wonderful.” She looked up at Curtis who was now sitting upright. “You can mend severed limbs, but a baby does you in?”
“Don’t give me your grief. You weren’t here.”
She looked down at Simone. “Was it that bad?”
“They have drugs for mothers, not for fathers.”
Arianna laughed, but kept it quiet. “I never thought you were a wimp.”
“In my defense,” he said as he stood, “I didn’t like that it caused her pain. I caused her that pain.”
Arianna felt the sting of tears now. Her brother had sincerely meant what he said, and it moved her.
She gave Avery a kiss on the top of her head and handed her back to Simone.
“Congratulations. I’m so very happy for you.”
It was six o’clock in the morning when Carlos dropped Arianna off at her house. She was sure that was the longest day of her life, and she knew long days.
She pushed open the door to her house and looked around. Whose stupid idea had it been to rent out the house and get rid of the furniture? Oh, yeah, hers.
The door closed behind her and she turned to lock it. Her footsteps echoed as she walked toward the kitchen. At that moment, she wished she’d stopped by McDonald’s for a coffee. And, in that instant, she realized not only would her coffee maker be another few days out from arriving, but she had no bed.
Carlos certainly wasn’t going to turn around and head back to pick her up and take her to his house. And she was so tired she didn’t even care. She’d sleep on the pile of clothes in her suitcase if she had to.
With that thought, she wondered where John had left her suitcase. She walked toward the stairs and could see it at the top. How generous of him to have carried it up because, at this point, she was so tired she didn’t think she could have made it.
She climbed the stairs slowly. When she reached her bedroom, she noticed the door was open and someone had taken the time to put a blow up bed in there and make it up with sheets and blankets.
A chair sat next to the bed with a lamp, a small digital clock, and a note.
She walked in and picked up the note.
I realized you didn’t have any furniture. This bed is yours for as long as you’d like. I also left some beer in the fridge and a cold pizza. John.
She held the note to her chest and breathed in. Could he be more amazing?
She looked down at the note again and ran her finger over the words.
He’d been thinking of her enough to do something so thoughtful. Was it possible he’d been thinking of her as much as she’d been thinking about him? Perhaps—but had he been thinking the same thoughts. Arianna knew her thoughts had kept her up nights in need of a cold shower.
Her stomach grumbled. As much as she’d like to just fall into the bed covered in John’s sheets, she really wanted a piece of that pizza, and perhaps a beer would help her fall asleep. After all, her body was so tired it wouldn’t know it was only six-thirty in the morning.
Chapter Three
John scrubbed his hand over his face and zipped up his coat. The only part about working construction that he didn’t like was that damn trailer he called an office.
In the summer he baked, and in the winter he froze. It didn’t really matter if you had air conditioning or heat. The temperatures just got to a man once in a while.