BREATHE: A Billionaire Romance, Part 3 (4 page)

Luckily, I was able to get Jim and Abigail to come on such short notice.

“Sure!” Jim had said over the phone. “We never get to do anything!”

And that was all that he said. He seemed incredibly appreciative. Heck, by the way he acted, I wondered if he was ever invited to anything, especially by someone close in age to him. I wondered if he had friends, but then I realized, that he probably didn’t. He had two jobs and a daughter to care for. I could barely juggle Derek and Polly at the same time… let alone add in a child to the mix and another job.

But regardless, I was glad to have him.

It was nice to have him as a buffer between the dog-hating Derek and the annoyance he caused me. It was also nice to have someone else there when the car ceased to move amongst a herd of traffic-stopped cars.

We were in the car, heading towards the opening performance of
Mountains
. Fredrick was driving once again. I was impressed by the fact that although we hadn’t anticipated the fact of having Jim and Abigail attending, there was still plenty of room. And it was a good thing, because we were stalled in the busy streets of the city.

I was getting antsy, annoyed even.

I hated the city sometimes.

I would have never had any issues like this if I had stayed put in my small farming town.

“You all look really nice,” Fredrick said, likely trying to smooth over the fact that I was nervous about missing the opening curtain of Polly’s play. He was right. I was proud of the fact that everyone had gussied up. For Derek, it wasn’t a big deal; for Fredrick, he usually wore a suit as part of his uniform; but for me, it was a big deal. I mean, sure, I wore business-appropriate attire every day, but that was nice and conservative workplace clothing. It wasn’t anywhere near to the bombshell of a dress that I had on for Polly’s play.

It was black and seemed to graze my hips with excellence, as it form-fit to my body. That very dress and my work-skirt were probably the only two article of clothing that I owned to which I deemed to be incredibly well-fitting. It had a high neck, a low back, and hit perfectly at mid-thigh.

It was gorgeous, and I felt gorgeous in it.

So yeah, it was a big deal that I dressed up. And I bet the same could have been said of Jim and his beautiful little girl, Abigail. I bet they rarely dressed as impressively as they had that evening.

Jim, with his white button down and blue bow tie accompanied by his grey vest and slacks, looked incredibly dapper. And Abigail…my goodness. She was more beautiful than I ever would have imagined in that moment. She was small, and beautiful, with loose curly hair, a lighter complexion than Jim’s and wore a blue dress, likely to match her father’s tie.

I smiled, seeing the two interact.

A tear welled up in my eyes, and I realized how much I missed my own father, and how much I wished that I had had a relationship as wonderful as that with him.

“We’re going to be late!” I growled, nervously looking out the tinted windows at the traffic.

“Doubt it… the stagehands and actors will be late too…” He was amused by it, and I was unamused by the fact that he was amused. “Don’t worry…” he laughed. “Seriously, there are hundreds of plays going on tonight in this city, and everyone knows New York traffic sucks.”

I growled at him.

“Maybe I should have been scared of you instead of the dog…” He was smirking and I could tell that he was trying to ease my spirits. All the while, I was treating him like an asshole.

I sighed. “Maybe you should have been.”

I meant for it to sound like a joke of equal light-heartedness, but it came out sounding more like bitterness.

I cringed, especially when I noticed how tense the air around us got, and noticed that everyone else was quiet.

“We should be there soon, Ms. Zoe,” Fredrick said sweetly from the front seat. I smiled. The man’s voice was the epitome of kindness. It was like talking to Santa Clause. He was jolly, kindhearted, and above all, he was compassionate.

I really envied Derek for having such a kind man in his life, but I was also glad for it. He needed that. Especially during such a difficult point in his life.

And he was right.

They were all right.

I had no reason to be uptight. Everyone had somewhere to go. Even if I missed curtain, I would still see her perform.

I knew better to worry. I just felt so damn bad about it. But instead of saying anything else, I sighed and looked out the window. And just as I did, I noticed that we were turning into a bright illuminated parking area, an old-school theater’s roof radiating just beyond it.

“Wow…” I mused, noticing how nice the theater was. It was far from Broadway; but I was proud that it was at an actual playhouse; and not just any playhouse… a nice one.

Hell, even the ticket booth seemed to be lined up a lot farther out, with a lot more people occupying the line than I would have thought for something that Polly was in.

I squealed out in delight and ignored everyone’s snickers to my sudden noise.

I didn’t care.

It was all such a pleasant surprise. I was happy for her.

And, I also squealed for another reason; the fact that there were people outside buying tickets meant that—with any luck—that the play hadn’t started.

And it also made me feel thankful. Not just for Polly and her pending success; but also because the flood of people made me realize how incredibly lucky we were to find a parking spot. When I looked around at the circling vehicles, that thought was reiterated. I knew as I watched several vehicles drive around and around, that had we just a moment or two later, we may not have been so lucky.

“We need to get in there before it starts!” I whined, flopping my seatbelt hurriedly off of me.

“Zoe, you’re going to have to calm down,” Derek sighed.

“Yeah, you’re being a little uptight,” Jim agreed.

“I’m sorry guys,” I apologized, taking a breath, as I looked around at all three men and the small girl standing in front of me as soon as I exited the town car.

“It just means a lot to me,” I sighed, slamming the car door.

“You’re just going to have to take deep breaths,” Abigail’s sweet voice reassured, as we walked towards the large theater.

I sighed deeply and straightened the skirt of my dress; I needed to compose myself a little bit better. I needed to be sane and just enjoy the show.

We were there.

I had to stop being an uptight psycho.

Derek’s arm draped over my shoulder, and he led me towards the theater’s entrance. I took a deep breath, and before I knew it, we had already made it to Will Call and grabbed our reserved tickets.

A rush of relief washed over me when we were immediately turned over to a small-bodied, baby-faced, young man so that he could usher us to our seats. I always hated trying to find where I was supposed to go in a theater—especially one as surprisingly large as this one.

“This way,” the young, baby-faced boy instructed, using his hands to signal us.

He guided us down the hall, and through a large set of double doors, leading into the auditorium. And I gasped at the size of the auditorium that we had just walked in.

I knew it had to be big, based on the size of the theater, but I definitely wasn’t expecting something quite as large as it was.

The ceilings were high, and there were VIP boxes on other floors, and I could tell that it also must have been used as an opera house.

I looked around, my mouth agape in awe, hardly paying attention to the young man that was leading us towards the front row. “Ma’am?” he called, and I noticed that I was in front of our group, and that he was clearly talking to me. I blinked, focusing on him as he pointed down to the center of the front row. “Center stage. They say ‘Reserved’ on them.” He smiled and pointed to the empty seats, empty seats right next to a group of people I didn’t recognize, surrounded by one person I did recognize.

Polly’s older brother, Cameron.

“Hey Cam!” I called, waving like a teenage girl at a school retreat. He smirked and nodded at me, acknowledging my presence, but I could also tell that he didn’t necessarily want to make it a social visit.

He never was the social type.

Not like Polly.

In fact, they were polar opposites.

“See, Zoe,” Abigail said sweetly, as she moved passed me to claim the seat I was headed for as her own. “We made it on time.”

I smiled down at her, wondering why she wanted to sit in the seat that I was aiming for. “You’ll want to sit next to your boyfriend; and I wanted to still sit next to you.” She smiled up at me, her eyes pleading with me not to get angry, or say otherwise.

But looking at the girl made me wonder how anyone could possibly ever say no to her. She was the epitome of cute and sweet. I’d be hard pressed to say that it’d be difficult for me to ever say no to her.

“Abi…” Jim said, moving passed me to catch up to his daughter. “You’re going to sit next to Daddy.”

Jim moved to take Abigail’s seat and swiftly moved her small body next to him so that she sat one more seat towards the aisle. “You can still sit next to Zoe, but she’s not going to watch you. Daddy is,” Jim whispered sweetly, and just like that, for the second time, the seat I was going for was claimed by Abigail.

I laughed, letting the girl settle in before I took a seat right next to her. The play was going to be great, I thought, as Derek’s warmth enveloped me from the other side. On one side I had a cute little girl, on the other I had the man I loved, and in front of me was going to be my very best friend in the world performing her little heart out for the entire arena to see.

Almost as soon as we were settled, the lights of the large arena-esque theater began to dim. The small chatter that filled the room quickly died down. I gripped the Playbill tightly with my sweaty palms. I was nervous. Nervous for her.

I couldn’t dare flip through the pages; I couldn’t look at her name. I felt the butterflies fluttering in the pit of my stomach enough without doing anymore to remind me of the fact that she was in a leading role.

I felt a large lump in my throat, a lump so large that I couldn’t even swallow it.

But almost as if on cue, Derek’s hand found mine. He gripped my balled up fists firmly and pulled it open. The Playbill dropped to the floor, and I felt my hand relax within his almost instantly. He was good at making me forget.

“She’s going to do great,” he whispered, and as soon as he did a piano began playing softly. All of a sudden, a sound of a whirling wind came across, and I couldn’t help but wonder how they had mimicked it. Were they using a fan? What were they using? Nothing sounded motorized… it just sounded like a heavy wind.

And all of a sudden, chills ran over my flesh and I realized that I was cold.

Snowy hills appeared with a backdrop of mountains and a gorgeous blue sky. And then there stood Polly. She wore heavy gear, and although I had no idea what mountain climbers wore, I assumed the costume was probably pretty accurate.

I couldn’t help but curve my lips in a smile as I watched her look out in the audience just before she was accompanied by another actor.

He came up from behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. He was good-looking. Tall, with dark features, and a gorgeous-looking physique. I actually felt like I was looking at a man who climbed mountains in his free time.

Polly leaned into him, lovingly.

“It’s so beautiful, Tim,” she sighed, continuing to look out into the audience.

“You’re beautiful,” he said, and immediately my eyes rolled to the back of my head. A love story? Really?

Polly sighed contently, just before pulling away so that she could turn to face him.

Their eyes locked, and I shuddered at how convincing she was.

I felt like I was watching an actual corny scene take place, rather than a made-up one.

I watched, mesmerized, as the man lifted her chin with his finger and thumb, and found myself sitting at the edge of my seat when her eyes closed longingly and he leaned in and kissed her.

I was surprised by the kiss so soon, or their confessions of love at all, for that matter. I wondered if that meant the play might lead into some sort of treacherous zone. I mean the main characters never got together until the end, unless something bad was going to happen. And I knew, right then, that I was already intrigued. I was in it. I was in the story. It had enveloped me.

My hands gripped the arm of the chair so tightly that my knuckles turned red then white.

I could hear Derek chuckle from beside me.

I couldn't tell if it was me that he was amused with, or if it was seeing Polly so intimate with someone in such a cheesy love scene. Regardless, my eyes remained forward.

“I don’t think anything is going to spoil this!” Polly giggled, pulling away from the kiss.

“Five months in paradise, babe!” Tim countered, grabbing onto her shoulders. “It's going to be a dream come true.” He smirked in what I could only call a perfect Derek-esque fashion.

“You’re a dream come true,” she said with a smirk, pulling him into another embrace.

“I love you, Julia,” he whispered, but only faintly.

I scoffed, despite the tenderness in the moment. I couldn’t blame her and all the canoodling with such a hunk of man. He was hot, and it looked super cold on that “mountain”. I was cold just sitting in the audience of a play about a mountain. If I was actually smack dab on something with snow all over it, I would have stayed huddled up to him the entire time. That was for sure.

“Are you checking that dude out?” Derek whispered, feigning offense.

“I was!” Abigail whispered in response.

I nudged them both lightly, laughing. “Watch the play, guys!”

And then the piano started playing once again—funny, because I didn’t realize that it had even quit in the first place—and the lights on the stage went black once again.

And when they turned back on, we were in a different scene, inside what looked like a cabin. Julia and Tim sat at a small round wooden table, and they were talking in hushed, but easy and light-hearted tones.

Yeah, their fates didn’t look good.

Was this a horror play? Was a monster or Yeti or even a crazy, risen-from-the-dead slasher man going to murder them?

I should have taken bets.

I watched as the actors conversed. They leaned close to one another, their body language reading like two people in love.

“I just can’t believe we’re here,” Julia said to Tim, as they sat at their adorable little cabin table. She reached out and grabbed his hand.

“We just need to get out on that mountain,” he replied. “We only have a few months of leave to conquer that bad boy.”

“My mom thinks we’re crazy,” she said and laughed, pulling their intertwined hands up, kissing the back of his.

“I think everyone thinks we’re crazy,” he said and smirked. “It’s a long vacation on a mountain, secluded from the entire world.”

And that’s all I needed to know. From there, I had a pretty good idea that someone was going to die on that mountain. I sat further up in my seat, invested.

“Darn, she's good,” Jim whispered several times—over and over—after Polly spoke, and I could do nothing but smirk in response. He must have trained himself not to curse in front of his daughter. Seriously, who used the word “darn” otherwise?

The stage went black again, and again, and although I had seen performances before, I couldn’t believe how different Polly was in her role as Julia.

Julia was such an adventurer, energized, open with her emotions, and accepting of newness. Polly was almost the direct opposite; that’s why it was so incredible that she was pulling it all off.

“They have a lot of chemistry,” a woman in front of us whispered. “I wonder if they’re sleeping together.”

I was a little frustrated by what she said…

Just because they had chemistry, they were automatically having sex?

But then again, I realized that I wouldn’t know.

Ever since dealing with Derek, I really hadn’t been there like I should have been. I had no idea what was going on in Polly’s life. It was a miracle that I even knew the name of her play. And I forgot that she had been taking care of a dog for me for months.

It was incredible how clueless I had been and how terrible of a friend I was.

And although Polly was good, and I was actually really enjoying myself and the play, I couldn’t wait for it to end.

I wanted nothing more than to just hug her, congratulate her, and douse her with warmness. She deserved it. She deserved a good friend.
She
was a good friend.