InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (26 page)

            “We’re at “The
Prom,’” he said, “I meant to give this to you much earlier, but then…”

            Tia hopped on
the first step to their tent and turned toward Dylan. They were eye to eye, and
she put her hands on his shoulders, pressing her forehead to his. “Listen,” she
whispered. “Remember what you said this morning, about not knowing what love
was when you woke up in the morning?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Times about a
million,” she smiled, putting her hands behind his neck and pulling him in for
a soft kiss. “You’re an incredible man, Mr. Miller. I am so beyond lucky to
have you in my life.”

            Dylan grabbed
her around the waist and swept her into his arms. “Why don’t you show me?” he
murmured against her neck.

            “Over and
over, always and forever,” she replied, as he swept her into his arms and
carried her to their bed. 

            The tour of
the coast ended way too soon, with a trip to the summit of Genoa Peak in
Croajingolong National Park, a snorkeling excursion with the seals in the
crystal blue waters of Montague Island, and a dolphin spotting off the shores
of Jervis Bay. As they had in Europe, Tia and Dylan discovered that they were
compatible in all the ways that mattered, and each and every night, he kissed
her under the stars before they returned to their room to make love;
rediscovering the scents, tastes, and contours of each other’s bodies.

            It was the
perfect mix of adventure and down time, and in the many hours they spent in the
car they chatted about mundane things like favorite ice cream flavors (Tia,
cookie dough, Dylan, rocky road) to favorite books (Tia,
The Stand
,
Dylan, the one Tia was going to write about their romance because he couldn’t
wait to see how sexy she made him out to be) to Dylan’s ranch in Colorado that
Tia would soon make her own. She had marveled so many times at how much they
still had to learn about each other, but by the time they got to Sydney and she
got her first views of the incredible city, she felt as as if they’d known each
other all their lives.

            “Hey, good
evening everyone, and welcome to
After Dark
!” Tony crooned after he
finished his monologue and took his usual place behind the big desk. “I’ve got
a great show for you tonight—the last one of the year. It’s all about
deception, secrets, and finding lost love.”

            “Ooooh…” the
audience responded.

            “Yeah, it’s
big stuff, right? And speaking of big stuff, the news just came out that
authorities are very close to striking a deal with the government in New
Zealand to extradite Penelope Valentine. Apparently, they’re going to settle
for an “undisclosed fine;” I’d hate to have to pay that bill! Now, if you saw
my special last week—and I’m sure you did—you got to meet Tia Hastings, the
woman at the center of this whole controversy, for the first time right here on
this stage. You heard her say that there was only one person outside of the
band who knew about her relationship with Dylan Miller—her best friend, who was
sworn to secrecy for almost seven months…” the audience groaned in reply… “I
know, seven months! Can you imagine having to keep a secret like that? I don’t
think I could do it!” He paused to let the audience react.  “My first guest
tonight is arguably the best friend anyone could have; not only did she keep
that secret, but she was there for the early days of their relationship and was
the only one Tia could turn to after the allegedly fabricated break-up. Here to
share some inside scoop about the story no one can seem to get enough of these
days is Tia’s best friend…please welcome Lexi Summers!”

            Lexi pasted on
her best smile as she walked onto the stage toward Tony’s outstretched arms,
trading the requisite air kiss and light hug before taking her seat on the
couch at his right. She soaked in the cheers of the crowd while she tried to
settle her heart—she was a lot more nervous than she thought she’d be. She
looked damn good though, thanks to the knockout of a dress she’d picked up in a
little boutique on her shopping spree yesterday; which helped to boost her
confidence a little.

            When the
“applause” light went out and the audience quieted, Tony smiled and shook his
head at Lexi. “Seven months,” he stated with disbelief. “You knew about their
relationship for more than half a year, and never told a soul. How hard was it
to keep a secret like that?”

             Lexi answered
with a sardonic grin. “Definitely the hardest one I’ve ever had to keep. One of
the first things I said after I found out about her and Dylan was that I couldn’t
wait to tell everyone, but she swore me to secrecy on the spot.”

            “Take us back
to that day,” Tony prodded. “I mean, how do you react to that kind of news?
Your best friend…what…calls you up and tells you that she met Dylan Miller last
night and that they had a date later that day? Did you even believe her?”

             Lexi smirked
before answering; she’d rehearsed the questions Tony would ask and how she’d
respond with the producers. “Well, that’s not exactly how it happened, Tony,
and I’m still kind of pissed about it, actually...but looking back, I guess I
kind of deserved it.”

            Tony leaned in
anxiously and waited; tenting his fingers under his chin. Automatically, a good
number of audience members leaned forward in their own seats, mimicking his
stance. “I have a feeling this is going to be good,” he grinned.

            “It was for
her—she really nailed me, that’s for sure. So, the Friday night of Memorial Day
weekend was the one-year anniversary of the day Tia’s fiancé died.” Murmurs of
sympathy rose up from the crowd. “Tia decided it was time to get her life back
on track, and she decided to go to this little dump of a bar; to just kind of
be a barfly and get out into a crowd. When she told me where she was going, I
pretty much begged her not to go there—it’s kind of a shady place, and she
hadn’t been out alone for a long time.” Her mind wandered for a moment as she
considered, for the first time now that she’d voiced it, how different their
lives would be if Tia had listened to her that night. She took a deep breath
before she continued.

            “I was worried
sick because she said she’d only be out a couple of hours, and she didn’t call
until around three in the morning—that’s when she told me she met someone. I
started giving her a hard time about it—told her she could do a lot better than
some guy who hung out at that dump. Maybe that’s why she didn’t tell me. She
just let me figure it out for myself.”

            Tony looked
puzzled. “How did she do that?” he asked.

            “Well,” she
said, playing it up for the cameras, “we had tickets for the InHap concert on
Saturday night. Tia canceled our dinner plans and told me that she was hanging
out with her new guy that day because his band had a gig that night, too. She
tried to convince me to come out with them after the show—it was the drummer’s
birthday, she said, and they were having a party, but I told her there was no
way I was going to be a third wheel on their first date. Plus, I still thought
they were some grungy pub band, and had a horrible picture in my mind of how
that would play out. Then she told me that this guy had an ‘in’ at the venue
and had upgraded our seats—but even while I was sitting front and center of the
stage, it never even crossed my mind that her new guy could possibly be Dylan
Miller…I mean, how likely would that be?”

            “Not very,”
Tony agreed.

            “Tia met me at
our seats right before InHap took the stage, and I told her that Dylan had
looked right at me and smiled when he was onstage with the opening band—that
he’d noticed me in the crowd…” She stopped for a moment and chose her words
carefully, “…and she just laughed at me. InHap played a few songs, and it was
like Dylan was singing right to us; I even suggested we try to get backstage
after the show. The third song they played was
I’ll Pull You Up—
the
crowd went crazy, because they’d never played it live before—and right then he
dedicated the entire show to her in front of sixty thousand people. His eyes
never left hers throughout the entire song, and all I could do was stare at
them both, my mouth hanging open like a complete idiot. I mean, I was totally
blown away! It took pretty much the whole song for it to sink in that he was
the guy she met the night before.”

            “Wow. And she
swore you to secrecy right then and there?”

            Lexi nodded.
“Oh yeah! She made me pinky swear, and anyone out there who still has a friend
from middle school knows that there’s no stronger bond!” The audience agreed
with a smattering of applause.

            “Why do you
think she did that? I mean, most people would want to announce something like
that on the evening news, don’t you think? Why the secret?”

            “Well, at the
time, she figured she’d get to be with Dylan for a day or two at the most—InHap
had one more show in Chicago the next night, so it was possible they’d see each
other again; but after that they were going to tour Europe, so of course Tia
thought that would be it. She was worried about how people would react, and she
wanted to keep him all to herself for the short time they did have.  So I made
the promise. At the time, I figured I’d only have to keep the secret for a
couple days, so it seemed doable.”

            “But then he
invited her to Europe,” Tony said, “and a couple days turned into a couple
months.”

            Lexi nodded.
“You know, it all happened so quickly…it had to. They had an intense connection,
and Tia going on the tour was the only way they could figure out if it was
real. Dylan wouldn’t be back home for a year between the tour and the movie,
and lucky for her she has summers off, so she headed off to Europe, where they
obviously decided it was the real deal.”       

            “Which meant
that you still had to keep the secret while Dylan was New Zealand.”

            Lexi answered
with a smile and a nod of her head.

            “And we’ll
hear more about that when we get back from a commercial break,” Tony smiled
into the camera. “Stay tuned, folks…we’ve barely scratched the surface of this
story!” The audience clapped, and the camerawoman indicated “cut!” with the
swipe of a finger in front of her throat.

            Bo sat
fidgeting in his dressing room. The video feed was broken so the monitor was
blank, and he was flipping absently through a month-old issue of
Rock’s
Finest,
waiting for someone to come and mic him up for his stint. It had
been a fluke that when Granger had called him he’d already been in LA, playing
a few gigs with one of his former band mates from the old days. Dylan had more
than given him carte blanche to appear on his behalf; in fact, he said he’d be
doing them a favor by taking some of the heat off of him and Tia. Finally, the
door opened, and a cute little brunette walked in with his microphone.

            Tony leaned in
and patted the back of her hand. “You’re doing great, Lexi—you’re a natural at
this!” He motioned to an assistant who ran up with a cup of water.

            “Thanks,” Lexi
said, gratefully draining the ice cold liquid. She was really having fun with
the whole thing and her heart had settled, but her mouth felt like the freaking
Sahara.

            “Ten seconds,”
said a disembodied voice over a speaker. Tony shifted in his chair and turned
on his TV smile as the cameraman counted down and then motioned that they were
rolling.

            “Welcome back
to
After Dark,”
he began. “My first guest tonight is Lexi Summers, best
friend of America’s newest sweetheart, Tia Hastings.” He turned back to face
Lexi. “So, Lexi,” he said, “before we went to commercial, you were telling us
about how Tia surprised you with the identity of her new beau…”

            “Blindsided me
is a better word,” Lexi laughed.

            “You also said
that before you figured it out, you had decided not to join Tia that night for
the drummer’s birthday party. Was it really his birthday, and did the fact that
you’d be hanging out with Incidental Happenstance change your mind?”

            Lexi hesitated
for a couple heartbeats; they hadn’t rehearsed that question, but it wasn’t a
hard one to answer. “Absolutely!” she exclaimed. “That was a complete
game-changer. I was beside myself going backstage to meet them all—I was still
in shock, I think. But they’re all such nice guys; they made me feel completely
comfortable in no time. Especially Bo; the birthday boy.”

            Tony smiled
wide—his surprise question provided the perfect segue into the next segment.
“On that note, Ladies and Gentleman, I’d like to introduce my next guest,” he
said into the camera, watching Lexi from the corner of his eye and catching the
slightly confused expression he had hoped for.  In the conversations he had
with Dylan, he had heard a lot of little sidebars comments about the quirky and
unique friendship that Lexi had forged with Bo Collins. He thought it would be
fun to bring them back together for the show, without either one knowing the
other was here. Bo was probably bored to death by now in the room with the
‘broken’ monitor and a few old magazines, and he couldn’t wait to see how they
reacted to each other. “Please help me welcome one of Dylan’s best friends,
drummer for Incidental Happenstance, Bo Collins!”