Heartsville 02 - Unscripted (Nico Jaye) (5 page)

Nodding, Carter said seriously, “Well, it sounds like you’re well on your way with a plan for entrepreneurial success.” Teddy tried not to be charmed by the smile flickering across Carter’s face.

“Thanks, Carter!” Dawn beamed, oblivious to the fact she was speaking to one of the most successful businessmen the state had ever seen. “Um, I still have a lot more posters to place before I head home, so I’d better get going with that. It was really nice meeting you!”

“You too, Dawn.”

“Bye, Teddy, see you next week!”

As Dawn made her way down the lobby, Teddy and Carter stepped out of the front door into the late-afternoon sunlight. A shiny black town car was parked illegally at the curb, but Carter made no move to leave yet.

“She certainly seems determined,” Carter remarked.

“Yeah, she’s a good kid,” Teddy said, shielding his eyes against the glare of the setting sun.

“But… volunteers? How many people do that?” Carter’s tone of voice conveyed his puzzlement.

“More than you’d think,” Teddy said, smiling. “People like to do good for their community and see the fruits of their labor. We have volunteers who help with fundraising and marketing.”

“Mmm,” Carter hummed thoughtfully. “So that’s why the theater’s books balance so well.”

“That’s not the only reason,” Teddy said with an edge to his voice. “The books balance well because the Oasis is doing well. We run a tight ship and have employees where we need them, but we’re blessed to have the attention of the community too. We’re a nonprofit theater, Carter. We’re not here to make a million dollars.”

Holding up his hands in front of him, Carter made a placating sound. “It’s certainly… different,” he ultimately said.

Teddy took a calming breath. “Yeah, well, we like different.”

Carter seemed to weigh those words a moment before finally nodding. “I have to be back in the city soon, but I’ll see you next week. One o’clock?”

“Sure, that’s—oh, shoot.” Teddy nibbled his lip.

Carter, who’d turned away already, looked back and raised his brow in query.

“There’s a big meeting with a potential sponsor on Thursday at noon. I might not finish before one, and even if I do, he might want to do lunch afterward.” Teddy debated whether to suggest outright Carter come at two or three instead or let him suggest—

“So I should be here at noon, then,” Carter said.

“You should—what?”

“If it’s a big meeting with a potential sponsor, then I should be here for that, don’t you think?”

“I mean, I guess, but….”

“But what?”

“But I don’t want you sabotaging it either!”

“Teddy,” Carter said slowly, as though explaining it to a nitwit. “I don’t want to sabotage the Oasis. I own half of it—it’s in my
worst
interest to sabotage it.”

Teddy stifled the retort that was on the tip of his tongue.

Carter took a deep breath. “What? Out with it.”

So Teddy thought,
Fuck it
.

“I’ve read enough stuff about how you do business to wonder if you’re going to sabotage this meeting with the CMT so that you
can
find a reason to sell the Oasis.” Teddy looked skyward and blew out an irritated sigh.

There was a long pause, and Teddy finally lowered his gaze to meet Carter’s. There was frustration there and—something that almost looked like admiration.

That couldn’t be right.

With an intense look, Carter moved forward slowly, his hand coming up to rest on Teddy’s shoulder. It was so light Teddy could barely feel it, but Carter’s presence in front of him—and that light, masculine cologne—was practically tangible on its own.

“I don’t offer this lightly,” Carter said in a low voice. “I give you my word that I don’t have any plans to sabotage the Oasis and that any thoughts of selling it are on hold for now. I really do want to learn more about what goes on here.” Carter’s smile was small, almost sad. “Uncle Richard would want that.”

Teddy searched Carter’s gaze a moment before nodding. “Okay. Okay, I believe you.”

With a squeeze of Teddy’s shoulder and a quirk of his lips, Carter stepped away.

“Next week, noon,” Carter said with finality as he walked toward the sleek black car.

“We’ll be here,” Teddy called after him.

Carter gave him one last look before sliding into the backseat, and moments later the car took off.

Teddy turned on his heel and made his way back into the lobby. He saw that Dawn had disappeared, likely hitting up the usual spots in the neighborhood where they distributed posters for their shows. As he made his way back to the office on the second floor, Teddy considered the day’s surprising turn of events.

While it wouldn’t do to get ahead of himself and celebrate the Oasis’s victory, Teddy was cautiously optimistic about the whole thing. Carter had, after all, come to him with the proposal—without prompting from anyone, it appeared. Now Teddy could finally admit that he’d been worried what would happen the next time he and Carter talked. Namely, whether it would be the last time, and Carter would present him with a buyout offer Teddy couldn’t afford to counter.

This trial-slash-observation period, though…. This was better, Teddy thought as he entered the office.

When Teddy was about to take his seat again, he remembered how Carter had paused by Richard’s desk. With an instinctual glance around to confirm he was alone, Teddy bypassed his own desk and walked toward the far side of the room. He’d of course seen the wall of pictures before, but he’d never inspected them. In fact, since Richard’s passing, he hadn’t touched the desk besides the occasional sifting through for an important record or phone number.

He supposed he’d have to do that soon.

As Teddy scanned the wall, his gaze stopped on the corner on which Carter had been focused. Teddy gasped softly and crouched down for a closer look, his hand lifting of its own accord to touch the edge of one snapshot.

Tacked to the wall was a small color photo, clearly predigital era and faded in a way suggesting its exposure to the sun over the years. It showed a young boy holding hands with a Pink Lady—Rizzo, if Teddy had to guess from her makeup, short dark hair, and sassy look—and Carter, who couldn’t have been more than eight or nine at the time, had a carefree grin on his face.

Teddy dropped his gaze and choked back a laugh at the picture right below it.

A solo shot of Carter, who was even younger than in the previous picture, wearing a huge, frizzy wig whose bright orangey-red color even years of sun exposure couldn’t fade.

Grinning to himself, Teddy straightened and slowly returned to his desk.

He’d thought Carter would need a chance to see the Oasis with his own eyes, but he was wrong.

What Teddy needed to do was remind Carter of the magic to be found here.

The magic the Oasis continued to bring to Heartsville.

Chapter Four

With so many amateurs taking the stage for the talent competition, the
Heartsville’s Got Talent
event required a lot more hand-holding production-wise than most shows to which the Oasis played host. Teddy had to be there for the auditions on Saturday and the actual event on Sunday, so by the end of the weekend, he was exhausted and unfortunately had also missed family dinner on Sunday night.

Monday sparkled on the horizon like a glittering gem of relaxation in a coal bed of hectic workdays. With the Oasis’s unpredictable schedule, Teddy’s days off didn’t necessarily mean the Oasis had a day off. Teddy remained on call, but his artistic director, Malik, was in charge. Luckily for Teddy and the Oasis, Malik was a theater veteran who’d relocated from Los Angeles and who, over the years, had proven he could be trusted with that responsibility.

Teddy woke up at his usual eight o’clock and went to his Monday morning yoga class, which he attended with Aaron down at the community center. Bryce, the instructor, was adorable, and Teddy might’ve indulged in a tiny crush if Bryce weren’t fresh out of college and the same age as Teddy’s younger brother. Teddy gave a mental shudder. As it was, Teddy simply enjoyed Bryce’s enthusiasm and how fun he made things; Shake Your Asana was the most cheerful, upbeat yoga class Teddy’d ever taken.

“Okay, ladies and gents, let’s get our asanas into gear! I’ll demonstrate, then you’ll follow after me, okay?” Bryce beamed at the class, which consisted of about a dozen or so regular students—grandmotherly locals, college students, and everyone in between—and slid fluidly into motion. Teddy watched and listened as Bryce narrated through a series of four poses. When Bryce bent into one of the numerous ass-enhancing positions he tended to encourage in the class (“
They’re really good for your back and posture!
”), Aaron caught Teddy’s gaze and waggled his eyebrows. Teddy rolled his eyes and sent him a stink-face look, which only caused Aaron to chuckle under his breath. Aaron knew about Teddy’s noncrush and never failed to tease him about it, the bastard. Teddy swore he wouldn’t be friends with the guy if it weren’t for those amazing lattes and damned chocolate chip muffins.

After their class had finished up, Teddy walked with Aaron back to the café, where Teddy was gearing up for a latte and a bite of gossip about Aaron’s blind date. However, when they found a last-minute catering order and an unusually long line at the counter upon their arrival, Teddy had to settle for a bite of the pumpkin scone Aaron slipped his way instead. He was walking back to his flat and mentally running through his to-do list and Netflix queue when his phone rang.

Stuffing the remaining half of the scone back into its takeout bag, Teddy fished his cell phone out of his jacket.

Grinning, he slid his thumb across the screen.

“Hey, Eli, long time no talk! How’s it going?”

“Not bad, not bad. How are things with you?” There was always a smile in Eli’s voice, which brought Teddy back to his college days when he and Eli had been roommates together here in Heartsville. Even though they’d had nothing in common—Teddy’d been a scholarship kid glued to Havenston’s monthly arts programming schedule and Eli’d been a science boy wonder—they’d somehow managed to form a friendship that’d survived years beyond college.

“Good, keeping busy,” Teddy said with a playful grimace. “Things are a little crazy around here. You?”

“Same, same. Actually, I’m working on a project to send everyday folks to the moon. It’s pretty freaking awesome.” The enthusiasm in Eli’s voice was infectious, and Teddy could imagine the excitement with which he tackled the project. When Eli committed to something, he committed big-time.

“That’s great! I remember you wrote your senior thesis on space stuff, right?”

“
Modeling X-Ray Spectra for Solid Lubrication in Space
,” Eli rattled off. Teddy grinned, and Eli continued. “Seriously, I don’t know how I got this lucky. Listen, I called because I really want to catch up, and I was wondering if you’re around tonight. I know it’s last minute, but I’ve had these
Lion King
tickets for weeks. Sydney can’t make it because she has this closing at her law firm that’s just not gonna let her go, but I’d hate to have the tickets go to waste. Do you want to come? We could grab some food beforehand.”

Teddy wasn’t one to pass on a night at the theater, even though he’d already seen the musical the first time it’d been in Chicago.

“Sounds like fun. What did you have in mind?”

After agreeing with Eli on the time and place to meet, Teddy hung up with a smile of anticipation on his face. His marathon of
Alias
reruns would have to wait.

***

“So, what’d you think?” After filing up the aisle toward the exit, Teddy looked over at Eli as they swarmed out onto the sidewalk.

They paused under the marquee, and Eli glanced at the large poster on the wall. He turned back to Teddy with a smile. “It really brought me back to my childhood, but, um, a grown-up version if that makes any sense?” Eli cocked his head and frowned thoughtfully. “And it’s gonna sound crazy, but I swear I started to get all choked up when Mufasa died. Again.” Eli paused. “Like I did when I was eleven.”

Teddy grinned because, yep, he completely understood. “That’s the beauty of theater and spectacle and drama. It’s okay,” Teddy said, leaning in conspiratorially. “I get chills every time they do ‘Circle of Life.’ Even if I’m just watching a video of it on YouTube.”

Eli’s face lit up with excitement. “Hey, did you see that video? The one where the cast is at the airport and just go for it in the middle of the baggage claim?” He sang the opening vocalization with relish and watched Teddy expectantly.

Rather than be embarrassed by Eli’s antics, Teddy laughed. The enthusiasm was classic Eli, and Teddy hoped he’d never change.

“Oh yeah, saw it and then put it on repeat. Then repeat one more time.” He leaned in again, wide-eyed. “Got chills each time,” Teddy whispered before straightening right into a solid body that knocked him sideways.