Opening his eyes, he was saved from either fate when he saw her luggage coming down the baggage carousel. Releasing his arms from around her, he stepped forward and reached out, grabbing both easily.
"My, my, my. Isn't that chivalrous?" an older woman who was standing next to Becca observed, smiling up at Brian, her deep-set eyes sparkling with life and surrounded by wrinkled skin.
"He's not my boyfriend," Becca blurted out.
Brian glanced down at her, his brows raised in surprise. He'd heard her say those same four words at least a hundred times over the years, but never had they held such a defensive tone before.
Looking up at him with a sheepish expression on her porcelain face, Becca brushed her hair behind her ear and shook her head a little. "Sorry. Brian, this is Stella. Stella, this is my friend Brian."
After setting one of the suitcases he'd just retrieved from the rotating conveyor belt down on the linoleum floor, Brian extended his hand. "Nice to meet you, Stella."
"Oooh, and manners, too. This one is a keeper." Stella winked and smiled as she placed her hand in Brian's.
Becca sighed and shrugged in resignation, clearly conveying that she was giving up. He wasn't exactly sure what the conversation had been leading up to his arrival, but something told him that what he'd heard had not been the first time Becca had informed Stella of their relationship status.
"Thanks." Becca's vivid blue eyes peeked up at him from beneath thick, dark lashes as her hand gestured to the bags he'd gotten for her.
Brian smiled down at her with every intention of saying, "You're welcome." But as his eyes drifted down past her button nose to her cherry-red lips of their own accord, he completely lost his train of thought. He was drawn to her mouth like a moth to a flame. Like her lips were the pied piper and he would mindlessly follow them anywhere. He didn't want to look but he didn't seem to have control over his optical nerves at the moment.
"Brian?" Hearing his name on Becca's lips, even in a questioning tone, was one of the sweetest sounds in the world.
Forcing himself to push on and move through the lust fog that had rolled in the harbor of his brain, he managed to raise his gaze up as he asked, "You ready?"
He was met with a look of confusion.
"Yeah," Becca answered slowly. "It was great meeting you," she said warmly as she turned and hugged Stella goodbye. "Are you okay? Is there someone meeting you?"
Brian had always loved the way Becca connected with people. Every time they went anywhere, she would learn someone's life story. If she hadn't always wanted to be a pediatrician, Brian would have suggested that she go into counseling. People trusted her, opened up to her, and she really and truly cared about each person who came across her path.
Stella returned her hug. Then, as she pulled away, she patted Becca's cheek affectionately. "Oh, you sweet dear. Yes, my Robbie is parking the car. He texted me while you two lovebirds were saying hello."
"We're not lovebird-" Becca started but then sighed, mumbling under her breath, "Oh forget it." Grabbing the carry-on that was sitting by her feet, Becca lifted her hand in a little wave, "Let me know how everything goes."
"I will, dear." Stella nodded somberly.
As they began walking away, Brian waved as well. "Nice meeting you."
"You too." Stella raised her hand and wiggled her fingers.
"Everything okay?" Brian asked as they made their way through the crowded airport.
"Yeah, why?" Becca asked. Again, her tone was a tad on the defensive side.
"Nothing, I just … You asked her to tell you how everything goes," Brian explained, not really sure where her attitude was coming from.
"Oh, that." Relief fell over Becca's face, which made Brian suspect that everything was not okay and that she absolutely did not want to talk about it with him. "She's here to go to see an oncologist at Grace Memorial to run some tests."
"Oh." Brian nodded. He'd just met the woman, but he felt his chest tighten. Both his parent's health had not been so great over the years, and he hated thinking of anyone suffering.
"Yeah. Her son Robbie is a second-year resident there," Becca smiled. "Luckily, I think the distraction of getting to see where her son, her doctor son, spends ninety-plus hours a week is working to help offset some of the fears she has."
"That's good," Brian said as they walked through the sliding doors into the hot, muggy air that instantly caused sweat to form on the back of his neck.
"Oh man. I'm gonna call Riley and Chelle to see if they mind me taking a dip in their pool when I get home. This heat is no joke." Becca stuck out her bottom lip and blew a puff of breath up so that the hair that had fallen in her face lifted up off her forehead.
As much as Brian would love to invite himself over to swim at Becca's cousin's house, if not for the sole purpose of being able to spend time with a bikini-clad Becca, he, unfortunately, had other plans.
"Actually, I was kind of wondering if you could go with me to this thing-an audition. They are seeing people until eight, so I can take you home and come back, but if you wouldn't mind hanging out-"
Becca's brilliant, blue eyes widened. "Of course I will. I'm not going to have you drive all the way to Harper's Crossing and then drive back to the city. That's ridiculous."
"Are you sure?" Brian didn't mind the drive. And it wasn't like he really wanted to book this gig, but it did pay good money, and with his student loans coming due since he'd had to take so much time off to care for his parents, he felt like he at least had to go and check it out. Plus, the gig would give him an excuse to be out of Harper's Crossing the majority of the time Becca would be home this summer.
"Yes!" she enthused as they walked through the parking garage. "What's it for? I didn't even know you were still pursuing acting."
He wasn't. Brian had briefly considered being an actor his senior year of high school, but after booking two commercials and a small part in a pilot that didn't get picked up, he'd spent enough time on sets to see that what he really wanted to do was direct. Directors were the ones who not only set the tone for the entire project, but also, in most cases, had the greatest creative control.
"It's not really acting. It's a reality show, and I'm only going to check it out because the prize is half a million dollars," Brian explained as he pulled out his fob and clicked the unlock button for his Jeep.
"A half million dollars," Becca repeated slowly.
"Yep," Brian confirmed as he picked up her largest piece of luggage and threw it in the back.
As she clapped her hands together, her face was shining with support and excitement, and she said encouragingly, "That's awesome! You could pay off your student loans."
"Yeah. That's what I was thinking. But I'd have to get cast first, and then I'd actually have to win." Brian didn't mean to be a downer, but he was a realist, and the chances of that happening were slim to none.
"Of course they're going to cast you. Look at you." Becca waved her hands up and down. He knew that she was just being supportive, but he still liked it. A lot. "And it doesn't matter what challenges or races or whatever they throw at you are. You're good at everything. Remember, at the summer festival, they disqualified us from participating in the egg toss, the three-legged race, and you from the obstacle course when we were ten because everything you entered you'd won since you were six. And you were going up against fourteen-year-olds."
The corners of Brian's mouth turned up as he remembered how angry Becca had gotten that he'd been, in her words, "punished for being awesome." She'd always had a strong sense of right and wrong and had never had an issue speaking up if she felt there was an injustice occurring.
"We made a good team." He opened the door for Becca, and as she hopped into the passenger side of his Jeep, she spun around.
"No, I was just along for the ride. You were the athletic one. You're totally gonna walk away with that money," she declared as if it were a done deal.
Brian shut the door, walked around to his side and climbed behind the wheel.
As he put the key in the ignition, Becca asked, "So what is the show about? Is it like Survivor or Top Chef?"
"No. I wish." Brian would actually not mind competing on a show like that, where there was actual skill involved and real competition. "It's a dating show, kind of like The Bachelor meets Temptation Island. The spin on this one is it's set in a castle and everyone who is cast will either be a princess or a prince. And wait for it … " He paused and looked over at her. "The name of it is … drumroll … Fairytale Love."