Take Two (34 page)

“
You told her that
she
needed to come to
you
? I’m not surprised she didn’t show up.
”

“
She
clearly
doesn’t care about me anymore. I’m not putting myself out there again. She’s so—
”

“T
he word ‘
a
gain’ implies that you did it at leas
t once already
,” she adjusted
my cufflinks
. “Y
ou haven’t.”

“
You weren’t there! You don’t know!
”

“
I do know.
”

“Ten minutes
‘
til we start
the pictures
Mr. Sterling,”
the producer
poked her head through the door.

I looked over myself in the mirror.
“Be right there.”

“It’s never too late,” Joan kissed my cheek and dropped her car keys on the floor.

“Joan you dropped
your
—”

“No I didn’t,” she walked out.

Melody

“Dear Melody,

“
I know I hurt you
. Word
s can’t express how sorry I am
or
how
much I’ve missed you.
I’ll do everything I can to make it right, including canceling my wedding
to Selena
next week. If you have any feelings for me at all,
please
meet me at the coffee shop
on
Amsterdam Avenue
at six o’ clock. I
hope you’ll show up so we can be together again. –Your favorite actor, Matt Sterling.”

My heart nearly jumped out of my
chest
. I was ecstatic, overjoyed.
Some of the hurt and anger I’d
felt
started to melt away.

I
told Sophie I was leaving
work after lunch
and
practically
ran out of the building.
I went home and changed clothes.

I
t took me two hours to decide on the perfect outfit: A dark green summer dress with silver flats.

I arrived at
the coffee
shop an hour early.
I ordered a latte and walked around looking for a table.

I wondered if he would be wearing a disguise,
or
if he would send Joan in to get me and lead me elsewhere.
I’d been sitting for twenty minutes
when I heard other patrons
cheering and saw the flickering of camera flashes
.

I stood up and smoothed my hair
. This was it. He was
early and he was
coming for me, in front
of everyone.
I stood waiting
.

Maybe he doesn’t see me?

I picked up my purse and headed down to where all the commotion was. I made my way through camera happy fans and heard one of them scream, “Kiss me Selena!”

I paled. I cut through more fans and caught
a glimpse of her as
the clerk handed her
a smoothie.

“Miss Carter?” she
turned around and
beamed. “You really are good! I didn’t know you were keeping tabs on me!”

What?

She reached for my hand and led me away from her crazy fans. She pulled me into a small
side area
and thanked the manager for letting her use the room.

“Did Matt tell you that this used to be our spot when we first started dating?”

NO.

“Um, no he didn’t...”

“He must have! I know he probably made you promise not to tell me so don’t worry, I won’t mention it to him.”

“Thanks,” I offered a weak smile. “When you said that this was your
spot
what did you mean?”

“We used to come here all the time,” she sipped her latte. “It was between this shop and another one in Tribeca where we used to hide from the paparazzi. Then they found out about it so we gradually st
opped coming. They still make great coffee though, so occasionally I stop by and get some.”

“Thanks for telling me this,” I tried my best not to look upset.

“Not a problem! Well, it was nice seeing you hard at work! I’ll see you at my wedding,” and with that, she ventured back into the shop amidst the fans and outside into a black SUV.

The crowd fol
lowed her out and I stood still, w
anting to believe it was just a coincidence.

I couldn’t.

I left.

I sent Sophie to cover the wedding. I didn’t want to be in the same room with Matt, and I couldn’t bear
to watch him marry Selena
—real or fake.

I wondered if there was a world record for being left for someone else. If I counted my third and fifth grade boyfriends, I
would be up to four.

I stared at the clock on my wall until it
was five in the evening.
I
hoped Sophie would be quick coming back so I could
hear about everything
and start my article.

I bet it was extravagant. I bet they had a fifty piece orchestra and
a
sixty piece band. I bet they had
a hundred white doves and
a
million red roses.

I’m sure the food was amazing…I should have asked Sophie to bring me some back.

I pulled
When Harry Met Sally
out of
my
purse an
d put it in the
DVD player.
I was halfway through it when I heard Sophie’s faint knock on my door.

“Come in Sophie!”
I didn’t bother turning around, Sally was just about to demonstrate the fake orgasm in the diner.

“I’m beginning to think you
r
assistant is invisible,
” Matt’s voice forced me to change my mind
.

“I’m beginning to thin
k we need a new security system,
”
my voice cracked.

He shut my door and smiled.
“I take it you didn’t get me a wedding present?”

“I ordered arsenic but it didn’t arrive in time.”

“How were you planning to write about the w
e
dding from
here
?”

“My
invisible
assi
stant wa
s
there
tak
ing
notes
.”

“Well, I can’t wait t
o read it.
Would you like to hear about the ceremony?”

“Not really.”

He sighed. “I didn’t marry her, Melody.”

“What?”

“W
e didn’t get married.”

“What about your
contract
?”

“Are you going to let me tell you what happened?”

“Fine.”

“I spoke to her before the wedding,
right before we took our pictures
. I told her that I
couldn’t
go through
with it because the woman I fell
in love with might not ever talk to me again.”

Love?

He took a Twizzle
r from my vase. “I told her
it wasn’t fair for either of us to put on the charade anymore. I thought she would’ve bee
n mad
,
but she admitted
that
she
was seeing
someone
and he wasn’t feeling the whole pseudo thing either. Of course, she still wanted to go through with the wedding.
”

Did he
just
say he loved me?

“So
,
when it was t
ime to read my vows…
I told her, in front of everyone
,
that I didn’t love her anymore
and I couldn’t go through with it
. She put on the most Oscar worthy performance I’ve ever seen. She even slapped me,” he laughed.

“Can’t Oprah’s network sue you now? Aren’t they angry?”

“They’re
ecstatic
. Selena Ross le
ft at the altar
? They were the only people allowed to have cameras so I’m pretty sure their ratings will be through the roof whenever it airs.”

“What about Selena?”

“She’ll be made out to be the victim over the next month or two, and she’ll get loads of press.”

“And you think you won’t?”

“Yeah, but I won’t be around to see it.”

“Why is that?”

“I’m taking two months
off to think about some things,” he walked over to my side of the desk and pulled me to my feet.
“
I’m
going
on a long vacation.”

He ran his fingers through my hair and pressed his forehead against mine.

“Well, I hope that two month vacation goes well for you.”

“I’m sure you do,” he laughed. “I want you to come with me.”

“I can’t just quit my job, Matt. I mean, I love you, but—”

Shit! Why did I say that?

He raised his eyebrow. “But what?”

“I—I have a lot o
f work to get done around here, a
nd
I—”

He kissed me, grabbing fistfuls of my hair, locking me in his arms.

“I love you too
,
”
he slowly released me.

My heart exploded. I didn’t know what to say. I just looked into his eyes. I could feel tears falling down my face, but I didn’t make a move to hide them.

“I
knew you had a mushy side
,” he wiped my tears with his fingertips. “Can you come with me for an hour or two?”

I nodded. He took my hand and led me to the service elevator.

“Just so you know,
” I looked up at him. “
I put in a request for the maintenance department to install password codes on this.”

“Of course you did.”

When we reached the alley, he opened the passenger door to a silver BMV.

“Why do you need two BMWs?” I put on my seatbelt.

“I don’t. This is Joan’s. It was her Christmas bonus last year.”

“Oh. Where are we going?”

“You’ll see.”

We didn’t speak during
the car ride. He simply looked
over
at me
ev
ery chance he could and smiled.

“W
elcome
back
to Sterling Dance Academy,
”
he put the car in park.

“We’re going to a recital?”

“No,
no one is here today. They’re
all at my wedding,”
he laughed.

He opened my door and grabbed my hand. He led me inside the building and used his cell phone as a light. He opened the door to what appeared to be a ballroom and let my hand go.

I heard him walk up some steps, and then a blinding spotlight landed on me. I stepped away from it and heard the first few notes of Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”

“
Now,” he jumped down and brought me back
under the
spotlight,
“I’ve only do
ne th
is in movies, so
excuse me if it’s not as smooth
.”

“What are you talking about? We
’ve
danced
before
.”

He got down on one knee and smiled. “Melody, no one has ever made me feel the way you’ve made me feel these past few months…”

I felt the tears coming.

He continued.
“I know we haven’t known each other that long but I do believe that ‘w
hen you know, you know
,’ and I knew as soon as I stormed your office that day that you were someone special.
I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life getting to know you even better
.”

I froze. I wasn’t sure what to say.

“Oh yea
h
,” he pulled a ring box out of his pocket. “And I promise this is a ring you’ll
never
have to return
. Melody Carter, will you marry me?”