Center Stage
Page 35

“You have certainly showed me your potential. Your uncle will be very proud of you.”
“I hope so. Maybe he’ll give me a reference into Virginia Tech.”
John felt the unmistakable warmth of pride in his chest. “I’m sure he will. And you can expect one from me, too.”
Eduardo’s head snapped up. He was suppressing his grin. “Really?”
“I know what you’re capable of. You and Zach are very alike, you know.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Shows you just how old I am. I remember Zach learning the ropes.”
“This is what I want to do.”
“And you’ll do well. I can’t wait to see your aunt’s face when she looks at this place.”
Eduardo’s shoulders dropped. “I wish I could see her expression.”
John contemplated for a moment. “Call your dad and tell him I’ll bring you home. Let me get your aunt down here.”
John walked out into the lobby, which was looking very good if he did think so himself. He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Arianna. She had to come down now. Eduardo deserved to see her face.
John had felt bad about disrupting her afternoon. Arianna had just filled a bubble bath and poured a glass of wine, she’d told him. But he promised it would be worth it, and that when they got home, he’d join her for the bubble bath and that glass of wine.
That had worked for her, and she was on her way.
By the time she pulled up in front of the theater, the last of the construction crew was pulling away. John smiled as he opened the front door and watched her climb out of her car. The place wasn’t so eerie anymore. It didn’t have that inhabited feel.
He kept the smile on his face even though he was thinking about the night that someone had tried to hurt Arianna and April. It hurt to think that someone would break into the building and deface it after they had put so much work into it.
She hadn’t said much more about the phone calls or text messages she’d received, and he knew she would no longer keep them a secret from him. She understood the severity of the situation. But that part still haunted him. Someone had taken a lot of time to mess with her and follow her. All he could hope, as she walked toward him with her hair piled on top of her head and her feet clad in UGG boots, was that her terror was over. It was time for Arianna to become part of the community again and to do what she wanted to do.
Arianna walked up the steps. “I got a phone call from this location. A man said to meet him here, and he’d make it worth my while.”
John laughed when he noticed she had on flannel pajamas under her coat. “I see you dressed up for the occasion.”
“Well, only the best for you, dear.”
She kissed him softly on the lips, and it warmed him throughout.
He shook his head. “What if I was going to take you out to a fancy dinner?”
She gave him a look over from head to toe. “With an inch of construction dust on your shoes, and what is this?” She reached up to his hair and pulled out a small piece of wire. “Do I have lights?”
He nodded. “Yes, you do.”
“So why am I here?”
“Another birthday surprise, but the person in charge of it wanted to be here when you received it.”
He stepped back through the door and closed it behind Arianna as soon as she crossed the threshold.
She looked around. “It’s starting to look very nice in here, Forrester.”
“I aim to please.”
“And please you do.”
“C’mon.” He took her hand.
He led her down the hall toward the office and very calmly led her in, but she gasped and stopped at the door.
“Oh, John! This is wonderful.”
He smiled. “I know.”
Eduardo moved around the wall and walked toward them. “Do you really like it?”
“It is perfect.” She turned to John. “This is my surprise?”
“Yes.”
“So who wanted to see my face?”
John pointed to Eduardo.
She turned to look at her nephew. “You did this?”
“Yes.”
“You and John?”
John shook his head. “Oh, no. I gave this young man a project. I asked him what he’d see in here and told him he had a week to make it work. I think he did an excellent job.”
Arianna moved through the office right to Eduardo and wrapped her arms around his neck. John laughed when he only staggered back, trapped by his aunt’s embrace.
“I love it, Ed! You’re amazing. Just amazing.”
“Thank you,” he said, muffled against her.
Arianna pulled back. “Let me see. Creative colors. A window in the wall so I can see the door, but the room is still one room. Two more desks for others to work here. A table to lay my stuff out on. And, is that a closet to store stuff?”
John chuckled, shoved his hands in his pocket, and leaned back on his heels. “Well, Eduardo, I’m very impressed. You did see exactly what she’d want.”
She turned back to Eduardo, who had managed to move at least two feet away from her. “That’s what you’d told him?”
“Yes.”
“I think you’ve found your calling.” She threw her hands in the air. “We need to take him to dinner to celebrate.”
“You’re in your pajamas,” John reminded her.
“And you have construction crap in your hair.”
Eduardo cleared his throat. “I skipped school today, and I have a test tomorrow. So I’d better go home and study.”
Arianna smiled. “You are your father’s child. School first.”
Eduardo shrugged.
“Well, we have to celebrate.” She thought for a moment. “Ice cream on our way to take you home?”
“Can’t turn that down.”
Arianna drove home after they had treated Eduardo to ice cream, and she’d convinced John, one more time when they went back to the theater to pick up her car, to go in and look at her office. She couldn’t believe how well it fit her, and she couldn’t wait to move in and start working. John wasn’t going to get rid of her now.
She turned up the radio when she heard the familiar voice of Luke Bryan, and she was in the kind of mood that a good southern twang made her heartbeat kick up a notch. But she knew it was because it reminded her of John. And even though he was only a mile ahead of her, thinking about him made her happy too.