A beautifully familiar girl in a black vest and tights rolled off the stage, landing on the ball of her right foot, extending her left leg in a seamless high kick—and it was the combination of the move and her feline smile that earned her whistles and applause from the crowd. And suspended Leo right where he sat, thunder clapping in his ears.
It was her. Reese.
Not ten yards away.
The cellophane crinkled in his lap, thanks to his hard grip on the flowers. One thread of sanity held him to the seat when all he wanted was to rise, wrap her in his arms, kiss the mouth he’d missed like lungs without oxygen for a month and a half. Slowly but surely, the spotlight moved with her inside of it until she was dancing within arm’s reach, holding the audience members in the palm of her hand, disappearing into the role of jazz hall stunner.
At least until they made eye contact, her gaze softening, her arms falling down at her sides gently. In that moment, she was all Reese. His Reese. And when she walked toward him, crooking her finger at him as the spotlight fell away, leaving them in the dark, Leo was powerless to do anything but stand up and go to her. Her smile wobbled and she gave a watery laugh, his lips cutting off the sound. The taste of her ran through him like a riot, her curves turning pliant, giving against him, her back curving over his arm and they kissed. Great, devouring kisses that weren’t fit for public and made him wish like hell they were alone.
When she moaned in her throat, Leo forced himself to break away.
“Is this going to get you in trouble?”
“I cleared it with the director,” she whispered, her hands warm on the sides of his face. “She seemed to think it might sell more tickets if we started a rumor that the audience members might get a kiss at the show.” She wiped lipstick from his mouth with the pad of her thumb. “But it’ll only ever be you,” she said, a sheen in her eyes. “It’ll always be you.”
“That’s good,” he said, his voice vibrating with emotion. “Because it’ll only ever be you for me, too.” He stooped down to inhale her scent. “Christ, I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m proud of me, too,” she said, haltingly. “I had to do it on my own, Leo. Not because of anything you did or said. Not because of our fight. I want you to know that. I just needed to believe it was real. That I reached this goal because of effort. I needed it to be honest. Okay? I disappointed myself by lying to you.” She took a breath. “Relying on myself was how I needed to fix it. For me. For us.”
There was nothing that could ever completely alleviate Leo’s guilt over his part in their fight, but the earnestness, the truth in her eyes evaporated the lingering self-loathing in his stomach like sunshine. Because that’s what she was. Light and warmth and strength. The girl he wanted to stand beside for an eternity, basking in her glow. “Thank you for finding a way.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “God, sweetheart. Thank you.”
The overhead lights starting to flash, signaling the start of the show. “Meet me backstage afterward?”
He rumbled a laugh. “Try and stop me.”
She started toward the stage entrance, but paused to look back at him. “Missing you made me love you even more. I hope you’re ready.”
They could hear his heart pounding on the moon. He was sure of it. “I love you, Reese Stratton. I’m ready for every damn thing with you,” he managed around the obstruction in his throat. “Forever starts tonight.”
Her smile was the last thing he saw before she vanished into the dark.
And it was the first thing he saw every morning for the rest of his life.
Epilogue
Eight Years Later
Reese took her time walking uptown, a bag full of produce from the farmer’s market dangling in her right hand. The summer breeze swished the skirt around her ankles, her free hand lifting to brush the hair back from her daughter’s head where she dozed in her sling. They were another fifteen-minute walk away from the Cookie Jar, but as she often did, Reese detoured through Times Square, inhaling the chaos of the beloved district where she’d danced for the last eight years, before deciding that once unattainable dream had been duly fulfilled.
She stopped outside of the Bexley Theater and thought of the girl who’d missed her audition. A babe in the woods, wanting so badly to achieve a dream, but no idea how to proceed.
Well. If Reese had her way, she’d reach girls like her past self, one at a time.
She’d be the lifeline in this pitching ocean of a city.