His nineteen-year-old daughter for the lead? For fuck’s sake…It’s a Broadway production, not a kiddie special for Disney junior.
I rise to my feet, still silent. Her eyes dare me to deny that her performance blew me away. That challenge… It reaches into my guts and makes me almost desperate to take back my words. It makes me wish we’d met someplace else, somewhere I wouldn’t have dismissed her without seeing what she could do.
“Congratulations.” My voice fills the silent expectation in the room. She breathes, something like relief causing her body to loosen. I’m still holding her gaze, and I smile, just a little.
She turns away.
Arthur shakes her hand. “Welcome to the team,” I hear him say. Cruz climbs on the stage and goes to shake her hand too. McKay is saying something, but I’m not listening. I’m already leaving. I have work to do, and somehow, remembering the look of challenge in her eyes, I know my work has just got a whole lot harder.
Chapter Five
Liz
“So, you don’t like him anymore?”
“No,” I snort. “He’s a jackass.”
“A hot jackass.” Fiona leers at me from among my pillows. “I’m sure you still want to tear his clothes off. Aidan, oh Aidan!” She mimics my voice and rolls around my bed in mock ecstasy. “I love you. I need you!”
“Not even if he were the last guy on earth,” I retort, annoyed. Fiona is my best friend, but sometimes, like now, she gets on my last nerve.
“If you say so.” She grins. “You showed him though, and I’m proud of you. That was a Pride and Prejudice moment right there. You overhear him talking smack about you, and then you make him eat his words.”
I can’t help snickering at the reference. “In vain I have struggled. This will not do...”
Fiona joins in. “You must allow me to tell you how ardently I love and admire you.”
We both burst into laughter.
“Would be nice if he came back begging on his knees. I’m so sorry for the things I said, Liz. I love you too much to survive without you.”
“Don’t be silly,” I snap, annoyed again. Hearing Fiona describe the unlikely scenario that’s so close to my fantasies is making me feel silly. “Stop infecting me with your overactive imagination. Go write a romance novel, or something.”
Her lips curve. “I will.” It’s all she wants to do—write romance novels like the ones she loves to read. She has the imagination, and if writing chops are hereditary, well, her dad is a successful playwright.
“What will you do now?” she asks, “about school and everything.”
“I’m putting school on hold as soon as rehearsals start.” My drama program was always nothing more than a concession to my father, and I don’t really care about finishing my degree. Experience is the only education I want now. “Dad’s office is taking care of all the business aspects, union membership…all that.”
“Lucky you,” Fiona grins. “I can’t wait for your play to open so I can tell everyone my best friend is a Broadway star.”
“Well, soon you’ll be a bestselling author, and I’ll be the one boasting about you.”
She holds up crossed fingers and I do the same.
“But seriously Liz. Even if he was the last guy on earth?”
I throw a pillow at her head. “Shut up.”
Walking into the theater as part of the cast in a play is a whole different feeling.
“Hey you!” Freddy exclaims from his security desk. “I hear you work here now.”
“I do!”
“About time too.” He hands me a keycard for my dressing room. “You aren’t sharing,” he adds, sounding impressed. He goes through options for delivery, food, and such, and I listen patiently, though I can hardly wait to race into the elevator and go check out the room.
“You’re not gonna need a tour,” he tells me. “You know this place better than the rest of us put together. House manager will probably give you a mini one though.”