Never is a Promise(56)

“What are you doing here?” My eyes lit up like a kid at Christmas.

“Thought you could use a date,” he said.

“You assumed I came here alone?”

“I talked to Addison. She told me.”

“She knew you were coming?”

“I told her not to tell you.” Beau slipped his hand around my lower back as the corner of his mouth twitched upward. “I tried to get here sooner, but my tour bus got a flat on I-80 just west of Pittsburgh.”

“Thank you,” I said, inhaling him.

“I’m not going to ask you any questions tonight, Dakota. I’m not here to pressure you into giving me an answer,” Beau said. “I’m in town for the show, and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself for not escorting my future wife to her sister’s wedding when I had the chance.”

I rolled my eyes, laughing and swatting his shoulder. The wedding singers on stage began belting out a Tony Bennett classic, and Beau lifted a single brow. “Shall we dance?”

Leading me out onto the dance floor, he pulled me close, pressing his body against mine and keeping it there for the better duration of the evening. Across the dance floor I spotted my mother dancing awfully close to cousin Theo, her cheek pressed against his broad shoulder and a medicated calm yet drunken smile plastered across her face. I had to commend her for temporarily setting aside the majority of her craziness for Addison and Wilder’s sake. It wasn’t until the wedding band crooned their very last song and Addison and Wilder had long since said their goodbyes to their guests when Beau and I headed outside.

With the cool night air ruffling my hair, I stared into the eyes of the man who could very well be my future or the biggest mistake of my life.

Traffic whirred past us and horns honked. I opened my mouth in an attempt to invite him over, as I wasn’t ready for the night to end yet, but he silenced my words with a soft kiss. With his hand against my cheek, he leaned into me and breathed excitement and life into my bones with a single, solitary kiss.

When he was finished, he reached into his back pocket and handed me a small plastic card. “This is a backstage pass for the show tomorrow night.”

He glanced over my shoulder at the passing Yellow Cabs.

“You have to go?” I asked.

“Yeah, big day tomorrow. Got to get up early, rehearse, all that.” He lingered for a second, and I’d never wanted him to stay more than I did in that moment. Being with him again that night, dancing and laughing the way we used to, I’d never felt so alive.

Or so sure that I wanted to be with him.

“Goodnight, Dakota.” With that, he stepped toward the curb, hailing a cab and disappearing inside. As the taxi carried him away, a pull from inside my chest dropped down into the pit of my stomach.

“I want to be with you, Beau,” I mouthed, my voice barely audible. I had to say it out loud. I had to see if it felt just as real on the outside as it did on the inside.

I hailed a cab back to my apartment, itching to get out of my dress and heels. Pulling my phone out of my clutch, I saw I had a missed call and a text message.

From Harrison.

YOU GOT THE PROMOTION.





“Thank y’all so much. Really. Thank you. You’ve been wonderful.” I tipped my hat to the roaring crowd and ran offstage, following security back to my dressing room.

That was it. My last show. Ever.

It felt good.

It felt exactly how I thought it would.

I tasted freedom in all her glory.

Maybe I was an ungrateful bastard for looking fame and fortune in the eye and walking away, but not a single part of me thought I was making the wrong decision.

Security unlocked my dressing room. The second I shut the door, my heart thundered in my chest. Dressed in a gauzy white dress with long dark waves cascading down her shoulders was my Dakota.

“You came.” I removed my hat and set it aside as she stood up and walked my way. She hadn’t smiled yet, but I was confident that I could change that in two seconds flat. My hand cupped the side of her face as I Ieaned in to taste her sweet lips.

“Wait.” She stopped me. “Before you kiss me – before you say anything. There’s something I have to tell you.”

Staring her square in the face, I lifted my brows. There wasn’t much she could say to me to change how I felt, but I’d entertain her anyway. “All right then.”

“I got the promotion,” she said.

“Congratulations, Coco.”

She still didn’t smile.

“You going to take the job?” I asked.

“I don’t know,” she said. “They want me to start this fall, but I have to decide by the end of the week.”

“Does it feel the way you thought it would?”