The Accidental Encore (21 page)

Melissa pointed to the corner of the room to a set of double
doors. “Up those stairs and out back to the deck.”

He nodded and navigated through the crowd, past funky
couches and an elevated seating area set for the bride and groom whenever they
made their grand reentry. He pushed open the doors and felt the cold air hit
him as the scent of cigarette and cigar smoke lingered in the air. Allie stood
in the corner of the deck next to an enormous metal replica of the Eiffel tower
with a gorilla climbing its side, staring out at the skyline.

When he tapped her on the shoulder, she let out a startled
gasp and then gave him a brilliant smile that didn’t reach her eyes. He handed
her the glass of wine. “You okay?” he asked.

She nodded and took a sip. He slipped his suit coat off and
draped it over her shoulders. “No,” she said. “I’m okay.”

“You’re shivering, Allie.” He walked behind her and ran his
hands up and down her arms. He didn’t know what had happened to upset her, but
he would do anything to see the sparkle back in her eyes. “So what happened?”

“Nothing. I just…” She lifted her shoulders, let them drop.
“I just needed some air.”

“Allie.” He gently turned her to face him. “What’s wrong?”

She sighed and took another sip of wine. “My ex-boyfriend is
here. I didn’t think…it was…unexpected. I don’t know why I’m upset.”

“Do you still love him?”

She let out a startled laugh. “Love him? No, I don’t think I
ever did. I thought I did when we were together, but it wasn’t love. I’m not
quite sure what it was.”

“Then why do you care that he’s here?”

She looked over his shoulder. “It’s painful to see him, to
remember how vulnerable I was. He made me feel so small, so absolutely
pointless.”

For that and for putting the sad look in her eyes, Craig
wanted to punch him. “You don’t need me to tell you you’re not pointless.”

“No. I don’t, but I appreciate you saying it.” She grabbed
his hand and squeezed. “I’m feeling sorry for myself, and I’m just about done.”

“Is he still here?” Craig asked.

“I’m sure. It wouldn’t faze him to see me. As a matter of
fact, I’m sure he’d waltz his date up to my face just to make me squirm.”

“He sounds like an ass.”

“He was. He probably still is.” She turned around and leaned
against the deck rail. “I don’t want him, Craig. I’m so glad to be rid of him,
but…it hurts my pride that he didn’t want me. That he tossed me away as if I didn’t
mean a damn. And I should be ashamed of myself saying this to a man who lost
his wife. I’m sorry.”

Craig didn’t think. If he had, even for a second, he
wouldn’t have let compassion and an odd need to soothe overrule his common
sense. “My wife cheated, Allie, and I didn’t have a clue until after she was
dead.”

Her gasp of surprise nearly did him in, but the pitiful look
in her eyes and the trembling fingers that grazed his face had something inside
of him cracking. He could almost feel the fissures in the wall he’d built
straining for release. “Oh, Craig.”

“Three months after I buried her, I found some emails on her
computer. I didn’t know who he was. It didn’t matter. It still doesn’t matter,
but knowing she’d turned to someone else made everything we had feel like
less.”

“Yes,” she said. “That’s exactly it.”

He felt fate connecting them, like a spider making a web
around the two of them on the deck under the watchful eye of the gorilla.
Standing under the starry sky with Allie’s hand on his chest and her heart in
her eyes, he didn’t know why he’d told her what he’d never told anyone else,
but he knew the rest had to stay with him.

“Only I don’t have to run into her at parties and put on a
happy face.”

“Oh, Craig.” She kissed his cheek and rested her forehead
against his. The web became tighter and much more dangerous. “I wish you could
see her at parties. I don’t like Nick very much, but I don’t wish him dead.”

“In a way, I’m glad that choice was taken out of my hands.”
He wrapped her shoulders in his arm and plucked the empty wine glass from her
hands. He didn’t know what was making her get to him, but he needed to break
free of the web for some distance. “You’re freezing. Come on,” he said and
pulled her toward the building. “You hardly ate and you’ve sucked down that
glass of wine. If I don’t want to have to carry you out of here—and I
don’t—you’d better put some food in that belly.”

***

Melissa watched them reenter the room, Craig’s arm draped
over Allie’s shoulders, their faces red from the cold. Allie didn’t look so
unnerved, and she didn’t even look around the room for Nick like Melissa
expected her to do.

“Boy, it must be freezing out there,” Melissa said as Allie
slipped out of Craig’s coat and handed it back before taking a seat at the
table.

“It was. Thank goodness it’s not in here.”

“Not with all the dancing going on.” Melissa nodded with her
head to the dance floor where couples were dancing to the eclectic mix of tunes
from the DJ that had her toe tapping under the table. “Your food’s got to be cold.
Why don’t you get another plate?”

Allie shrugged and glanced back toward the buffet. There
were only a handful of people in line. “I guess I should.” She looked at
Craig’s empty plate. “Do you want seconds?”

“No, I’m fine.” He stood up when she did. “I’ll get you a
drink.”

Allie settled a hand on her stomach. “Just water for me,
thanks.”

When they both left the table in different directions, Ben
leaned over and pulled on a lock of her hair. “What’re you thinking?”

“Huh?”

He patted her temple with his finger. “The wheels are
turning in there, Mel. I can see them. What are you planning?”

“Nothing. I don’t think I have to plan anything.” She pushed
her plate away and picked up her wine glass, turned to face her husband.
“They’re more than friends, don’t you think? I think they really care about one
another.”

“So?”

“So I think Allie is falling for this guy in a normal,
healthy way.”

“Then why do you look like you’re going to stick your nose
in where it doesn’t belong?”

“Because that’s what friends do.”

“Melissa…”

“You know Allie, Ben. You know how she’s her own worst enemy
with guys.”

“Craig doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who spooks easily,”
Ben said.

“He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who sticks his neck
out at all. From what Allie’s told me, he’s pretty closed off with women. He
likes her. A blind man could tell he likes her.”

“So why don’t you let them figure it out themselves? If you
stick your nose in, you’re going to be the one they blame if it falls apart.”

“I’m not going to stick my nose in,” Melissa said as she saw
Craig returning to the table with a glass of water for Allie. “I’m just going
to give him a gentle prod.”

Ben stood up. “I’m not going to be an accessory. I’m getting
another drink, and when I get back, you’re going to dance with me.”

Craig set the water down and took a seat, but not before
glancing over his shoulder to where Allie stood talking to a college friend.
“So which one of the guys in here is the prick who broke Allie’s heart?” he
asked without preamble.

Good, Melissa thought. He was making this easier than she
could have hoped. She twisted in her seat and studied the crowd. She spotted
Nick near the edge of the dance floor with a brunette beauty wrapped around his
arm. She turned back to Craig. “Behind me,” she said. “Ten o’clock. Dark suit,
pink tie, with a Megan Foxx lookalike on his arm.”

Craig’s eyes narrowed as he locked on the target. She only
hoped Nick saw him and squirmed under his stare.

“He sure likes the pretty ones, doesn’t he?”

“He likes himself, mostly.” Craig’s glare shot to hers. “I
didn’t care for him. At all. And he didn’t break Allie's heart, but he sure
gave it a nice big bruise.”

“How long did they date?”

“Over a year. Allie expected a proposal after she’d molded
herself into what she thought he wanted her to be. Instead he told
her—without remorse—that she wasn’t enough for him and that he’d
met someone else. The guy’s dirt.”

“No argument here.” He sat back after finishing off the last
sip of his beer.

“They made a stunning couple and, on paper, they seemed
destined for a Cinderella wedding. He was all wrong for her and she wanted so
desperately to be in love that she couldn’t see what an ass he was.”

“I think she sees it now.”

“Yeah. She’s better now. Happy in her own skin. Most people
can’t understand how someone so physically beautiful could be unhappy. Allie
doesn’t feel beautiful, she just feels unloved.” Melissa scooted her chair
closer to Craig and leaned in so she wouldn’t be overheard. “Do you know what
she told me once?”

Craig lifted his brows and tried his best to look
uninterested, but Melissa could tell by the way he shifted toward her that he
was more than curious. “She asked me if the guys I dated—back when I was
dating—ever closed their eyes when they kissed me because the guys she
dated never closed their eyes. She said she couldn’t relax because they always
watched her, and she couldn’t stop thinking about what she looked like and how
they expected her to act.”

Craig gave her a look that said, “So?”

“No one has ever kissed her and made her stop thinking.”
Melissa took a sip from her wine and tipped the glass in his direction. “I
think you’re the man for the job.”

He lifted his hands from the table in a gesture of
surrender. “We’re just friends.”

“You’re friends, but I don’t believe the just.”

“Believe it or not,” he said as if he could have cared less.
“Trust me, I’m the last person Allie needs in her life.”

“If I believed that, Craig, you wouldn’t be sitting here
right now.”

Chapter 23

As soon as Allie sat down, Ben came back from the bar and
whisked Melissa into his arms for a turn around the dance floor. Allie smiled
as she watched them until she saw Nick and his date talking with another couple
by the dance floor.

What a creep. His date must be his girlfriend as her dress
perfectly matched his tie. She remembered how important it used to be for Nick
that their outfits coordinate. What had she ever found appealing about him in
the first place?

She shook thoughts of him away and let the bombshell Craig
had dropped try to settle in her head. How had he done it? How had he survived
after discovering the worst thing about the person who’d sworn before God to
love, honor, and cherish him when she wasn’t around to defend herself or
explain?

“You keep scowling into your food and people are going to
think the stuff is bad.”

Allie grinned up at Craig. “Sorry.”

He lifted a shoulder and flashed her a dimple. “I’m not the
caterer.”

“It’s actually very good. Of course, I was starving, so that
might factor in.”

“Did you skip lunch again?”

He paid too much attention. “Yes.”

“Why do you do that? If you tell me you’re dieting, I’m
going to punch you.”

“I’m not dieting, I just forget to eat. By the time I
realize I’m hungry, it’s too late to have a meal, so I wait for dinner.”

“You need to take better care of yourself.”

 
She pushed her
plate away and rested a hand on her full stomach. “I could stand to lose a few
pounds.”

Craig punched her lightly in the arm. “Allie, you’ve got to
be kidding me.”

“I am. Sort of.” She glanced at Nick as his hand sneaked
around his size two date’s waist. “Nick used to encourage me to lose weight.”

“If you believed him, I’m losing respect for you by the
minute.”

“It’s hard not to believe the person who sees you naked.”

Allie watched as Craig shifted in his seat, scanning the
room with his jaw clenched. She felt uncomfortable for revealing too much of
herself to him, especially about Nick.

“Since I haven’t seen you naked, I can’t really comment, but
I’m more certain than ever the guy needs glasses. For you to spend a moment of
your time second-guessing your looks is absurd. You’re the most beautiful woman
in the room and that includes the pixie stick your ex is draped over.”

She felt her cheeks heat. “I wasn’t fishing for compliments,
Craig. I know my weight is fine. He just gets to me; he gets inside my head.”
She rested her elbows on the table and set her chin in her palm. “How did you
get through discovering your wife cheated? How were you able to move on and
have normal relationships?”

“Who said I have relationships?”

“Well, you want a relationship, don't you? Isn't that why
you signed up at LoveFinders?”

“I signed up at LoveFinders to get Mark off my back. He's
happy now, married and looking toward the future. He wants the same for me.”