She looked up at him and asked, “What is all this? Why is everyone here?”
“To celebrate with you. Everyone is so happy for you.” Even me in my own way. Sofia grabbed hold of his forearm and swayed. He put an arm around her waist to support her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes. I still haven’t really eaten anything. And now I’m not sure I could. Dylan, you did all this for me?”
“Yes, but I had help. As you can see, decorations were handled by Charlene, and food by your parents and flowers by Rosslyn. But I handled the guest list. I knew this night was important to you and you’d want to shout out to the world. So I brought our world here.” He was having a hard time reading her. Her lips curled, but the smile wasn’t genuine. Had he played this wrong. Did she want to tell people herself? Of course, dumbass. This was her news, not mine. It was too late to fix that now.
She said, “This is all very nice.”
Nice. Great. He could tell just by holding her that she wasn’t comfortable with this. Dylan had no problem telling everyone to leave, but they weren’t going to go willingly. Everyone in this room loved Sofia and wanted to be here for her.
Charlene came over and gave her a quick side hug. Dylan wasn’t removing his arm from supporting her for anything. Even if she didn’t need him, he needed to hold her. It wouldn’t be long before he couldn’t any more.
“I’m so happy for you.” Then she whispered in Sofia’s ear but Dylan could still hear. “Glad you didn’t come in wearing the leather chaps.”
Dylan looked down at Sofia who blushed.
“Charlene, you’re horrible. But thanks for coming and thank you for doing this with Dylan. It means so much to me.” Sofia’s eyes were watering.
He knew this would be an emotional time, and he was prepared. He pulled out a tissue from his pocket and handed it to her. “I know, it’s been a crazy night, and it seems like it’s going to get even more so.”
Charlene cheered, “Speech. Speech. Speech.”
Sofia glanced at her and then up to Dylan. “I need to talk to you.”
“Now?”
She looked around the room while nodding. Her mother approached and said, “My daughter the movie star.”
Dylan felt her tense as she said, “No Mama. I’m not. I turned down the role.”
Maria looked shocked but nothing compared to how Dylan felt. “You what?”
She turned and looked up at him again. “Dylan, I can’t thank you enough for getting Paully Jones to come out to meet with me. No one has ever done anything like that before. It really showed me how much you listen when I talk. You really understood what my dreams were.”
“I thought I did. But you turned it down?” Dylan had no idea why. The role was perfect for her. She’d be in the spot light and it’d open up to so much more in the future. Exactly what she had said she wanted.
“I did.”
The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Should he ask why now? Might as well or someone else would. “Can you explain what you didn’t like about it?”
“The role was perfect. Everything was.”
“So why didn’t you take it?” he asked.
“Because it was my dream, but my dream has changed.”
Obviously I haven’t been listening as good as you think. Because I have no clue what it is.“Then what do you want?”
Her eyes filled with tears again and his heart ached to make it all better for her. Whatever she wanted, the moon, the stars, whatever, he’d get it for her to bring that smile back.
“You.”
He blinked. “Me? You have me sweetheart.”
“No. Not like I want. If I left, I’d be working endless hours on a set, and in different country. I wouldn’t be coming home to you. My dream is to wake in the morning and make you breakfast and at night after dinner, snuggle up on the couch and watch a movie, or read a book. I was chasing what I thought I wanted, but found something so much better. No spotlight could ever compete with the quiet nights we have alone. I wouldn’t trade them for anything.”
“You mean you want to stay here, with me?”