InHap*pily Ever After (Incidental Happenstance) (9 page)

Lexi
curled her arm around Dylan’s waist. “There you are!” she said brightly. “Oh my
God, Ryan, I can finally tell you everything! I’m so excited to finally
introduce you to…”

“I
know who he is,” Ryan snapped. “You want to tell me what the hell is going on?”
He couldn’t believe she was standing there, with a fucking smile on her face,
introducing Miller as if he’d be happy to meet the man!

Lexi
interpreted the look on Ryan’s face and immediately guessed what he was
thinking. “Oh Ry,” she giggled. “He’s
Tia’s
Dylan, you
idiot
,”
she said, moving to wrap her arm around Ryan after giving him a pretty good
punch on the arm. “He’s here because…” she looked at Dylan. “Why are you
here
,
exactly?” she asked, frowning toward the direction in which Jace had just fled.

“Meeting
the parents,” Dylan smiled, extending his hand to Ryan. “Nice to meet you
Ryan—I’ve heard quite a lot about you.”

Ryan
took a deep breath, recovered his composure and shook Dylan’s hand. “Really?
Tia’s Dylan?” The relief was evident on his face. “Shit. I’ve heard a lot about
you too, but not…”

“I
know,” Dylan interrupted. “Not who I actually was, right?” Ryan looked to Lexi
for an explanation, but Dylan provided it. “That’s been the general MO,” he
said. “Tia swore Lexi to secrecy—it wasn’t easy for her, being the only one who
knew about us. Even Tia’s parents just found out exactly who I am a couple
hours ago.”

“Unfuckingbelievable,”
he smirked, exhaling a relived sigh and looking at Lexi. “You actually kept a
secret like that?”

She
gave him a little shove. “Yes, I obviously did since you thought Dylan was here
to see me.”

“Whatever,”
he joked back, but he found he had to swallow around a sizeable lump that had
formed in his throat.

“Wait,”
Lexi said, turning back to Dylan. “So you already met Will and Danielle? What
are you doing hiding out in the locker room, then?” Her eyes got wide. “Oh
crap, did something go wrong?”

“No,
no,” Dylan quickly reassured her. “Everything’s great. We did the meet and
greet, filled them in on the last seven months in one breathless tornado, and I
figured that they could use a little time to talk about me behind my back,” he
smiled. “It was a bit of a shock, as you can imagine, so I figured they needed
to do some family regrouping. I’m going to go sneak out the back door and head
back over there now, actually,” he added. “I just wanted to catch a glimpse of
my new friend’s retreat with his tail between his legs first.” He turned his
eyes in the direction Jace had fled, and Lexi understood immediately.

“Now
that they’ve had a little time for this all to sink in, I need to give her dad
a chance to get to know me a little and explain that my intentions are pure—why
don’t you give us a half hour or so and then join us?”

Lexi
looked at Ryan and he shrugged, turning the corners of his mouth down in
agreement. “See you in a bit then!” she said. “And Dylan? I’m so glad you’re
back, but I’m not kidding—you really do have a lot of explaining to do!”

“Go
get a copy of today’s
Person to Person
,” he suggested. “It’ll tell you a
lot, and then I won’t have to rehash the whole story again—we can just fill in
the gaps.” She looked confused for a moment, then turned and headed for the
girls’ locker room to see if she could scrounge up a copy.

Dylan
made it back to the DND without incident and dropped a kiss on Tia’s head. “I
just saw Lexi and Ryan,” he said. “I think maybe the sight of me stopped his
heart for a second or two when he saw her hugging me, but she managed the
introductions.  They’re going to join us in a little bit.”

“I
completely forgot that she never called me back!” Tia answered.

“Something
about an opera, a taxi, and a lost phone,” Dylan said. “I’m sure she’ll fill
you in. She obviously kept the secret; he didn’t have a clue.”

“I
have to tell you,” Tia smirked, “I definitely had my doubts that she could
actually pull it off. She did so much better than I expected!”

 Dylan
turned to Will. “How about us guys get to know each other a little bit? I
imagine you must have at least a million questions for me. Can I buy you a
drink?”

“Absolutely,”
Will replied. “I could definitely use one.” He stood, excusing himself, and led
Dylan over to the little private section of the bar.

As
soon as the men left the table, Danielle lit up. “Oh my goodness, Tia, he’s
gorgeous! I didn’t want to say with your dad here, but…wow…yummy!” she giggled
like a schoolgirl and Tia smiled.

“Well,
he is the Sexiest Man on Earth as voted by Person to Person readers,” she said.
She never got tired of saying that.

“Oh,
and the accent—it’s like melted chocolate. I could never get tired of listening
to him talk.”

“I
know, right? I’m so lucky, Mom; I don’t even know how I could be so lucky.”

“But
most importantly, it’s pretty obvious that you make each other happy. I can’t
believe my baby’s in love.”

“I
know, Mom,” she said, unable to tramp down the huge smile on her face. “He’s
just the most amazing guy…”

“Oh,
I’m just so happy for you!” she exclaimed, squeezing Tia’s hand. “I was so
worried after Nick died…”

“Me
too,” Tia confided. “Oh Mom, you know how I was! I really didn’t think I’d ever
be able to fall in love again. But Dylan is so…” she searched for the right
words, but only one came to mind. “…perfect.” She glanced over to where he and
her dad were in deep conversation. She’d never seen Dylan look so serious; it
had to be disconcerting to be meeting your girlfriend’s father for the first
time in an ordinary situation, but this one was beyond extraordinary. Her
stomach fluttered at the thought that he was so nervous. People tend to think
that celebrities are just oozing with confidence, but she knew better. He
caught her eye and smiled, tossing her the look he reserved just for her.

“Well,
he’s obviously an Adonis,” she said, “that goes without saying.  But now you
need to tell me all the things you can’t say in front of your father—girl talk!”

Tia’s
eyes brightened and her smile split her face. “There’s so much I’ve been
wanting to tell you that I don’t even know where to start! He wrote me a
song…oh God, first I have to tell you about my birthday! It was the most
romantic night of my life, Mom! We were in Paris…”

They
rested their heads affectionately together, and Tia was thrilled to finally
share all the stories she’d wanted to tell her mom for months, punching up
pictures and videos on her iPad to help her tell the tale.

A
few feet away, Dylan and Will touched glasses in a toast at the bar. “I want
you to know I’m an open book, Will. Ask me anything you’d like. You must have a
lot of questions.” Dylan opened as they sipped their drinks.

“Probably,”
Will replied, “but none of them seem to be coming to me right now. I’m still
trying to reconcile the fact that my little girl is at the center of an
international celebrity scandal, I guess,” he said with a chuckle.

“I
want you to know that I encouraged Tia to tell you who I was, especially after
the summer ended. I’m sorry if you feel blindsided by all of this. It was never
my intention to…”

“Oh
no, it’s not that at all,” Will interrupted, dismissing his concerns with a
wave of his hand. “Tia explained why she didn’t tell us, and we completely
understand her reasoning. She made the decision that was best for her, and it
was probably the right one under the circumstances. It would have been really
tough on her if the media descended and she had to deal with it alone. She did
tell us a lot about you…it just never even entered our minds that you might be
a celebrity. She talked about you like you were a prince, I’ll tell you that,
but not like you were famous. It’s just a little more to take in, that’s all.
We’ll get over it, I promise you,” he said with a wry smile.

“That’s
one of the things that drew me to her in the first place,” Dylan explained.
“She never put on an act for me because I was a celebrity, and that doesn’t
happen to me very often. She was real from the first time we met, and she got
to know me as a person. I felt comfortable with her from the start.”

Will
smiled. “That’s my Tia,” he said. “She’s about as down-to-earth as they come.
Always has been.”

Dylan
shifted in his seat. He couldn’t remember ever being so nervous—not even in
front of 100,000 people at a concert venue—but then, he’d never before even
contemplated asking the question he was about to ask. “Listen, Will,” Dylan
began, his voice faltering just a bit. “I need you to know that I am completely
in love with your daughter, and that this whole experience has shown me that I
never want to be without her again. I know you just met me, and that you don’t
know anything about me as a man. I’m a celebrity, yes, but I don’t revel in
that. I live in Colorado, far away from Hollywood and all its crazy bloody
drama. My main job is music, and I do it because I love it with a passion I
can’t even begin to explain. I’d do it even if I wasn’t famous or didn’t make a
lot of money…”

 Will
simply nodded. He could sense that the man had something big to say, and that
he was more than a little nervous about saying it. He’d pretty much already
guessed it, just after seeing them together for a short time and hearing their
story, so he maintained his calm demeanor even as he smiled on the inside.
Dylan breathed deeply and continued. “Tia and I have had a wild and crazy
relationship, and thinking that she didn’t want to be with me these past couple
months about tore me apart.” He paused, stroking his chin with his fingers,
feeling the tremble in them. He swallowed hard before continuing, placing his
shaky hands in his lap and feeling the sweat on his palms.

“I
know this is far from the perfect circumstance, and in an ideal situation I
would have met you months ago and given you a chance to get to know me, but…”
he paused, taking a sip from his drink since his mouth had just gone as dry as
a desert, “… I want to marry your daughter, Will. I know it’s too much to ask
for your blessing, since you just met me a couple hours ago, but the couple
weeks we’ll be in Australia will be the quietest we’ll have for a while, and I
was hoping…”

Will
held up his hand to interrupt, smiling. “Take a breath, Dylan,” he chuckled.

Dylan
inhaled deeply and took another sip of his whiskey with visibly shaky hands.
“OK,” he said, smiling back. “Guess I’m a little nervous. I’ve never done this
before.” 

Will
patted him on the back affectionately. “Tia is our only child, as you know, and
all we’ve ever wanted is for her to be happy. When Nick died, we had our doubts
that she ever could be happy again, and we worried about her constantly. When
she met you, she started coming back to life, and we couldn’t have been more
thrilled. You brought her back from a dark place, Dylan, and we’ll be forever
grateful for that.” Dylan looked at him and nodded, hope slipping into his
eyes. 

“You’ve
already proven that you love Tia. Just the fact that you’re here, that you
resisted the advances of a beautiful movie star out of loyalty to our daughter,
and that you immediately jumped on a plane to find her again when you found out
how you’d been played proves that.

“We
trust Tia completely, and know that she has good feel for people. If she loves
you, and it’s pretty obvious that she does, then I’d be proud to call you my
son. You absolutely have my blessing.”

Dylan
smiled wide, and shook Will’s hand, his breath rushing out in a whoosh. “Thank
you sir, you don’t know how much that means to me! I promise you that I’ll
spend the rest of my life making her happy.”

Will
smiled back. “I trust that you will, Dylan. It’s pretty obvious that you mean
it.”

“I’m
planning to ask her on New Year’s Eve,” Dylan said excitedly. “I’m working on a
little side trip to Sydney after Christmas, and I’m going to come up with
something really special.”

“Your
secret is safe with me,” Will said, smiling. “I think we both know what her
answer will be, so I guess I can just go ahead and welcome you to the family.”

“Thank
you sir, thank you very much!” Dylan replied enthusiastically. He felt lighter
suddenly, his breathing settled, and he felt as if the final piece of the
puzzle that was his life had finally fallen into place. He could see only happy
endings in his future, and the thought made him smile wide.

“I
don’t need to tell you not to tip off Danielle, right?” Will smirked. “Tia may
have told you that her mother has a love of gossip. She’d never purposely spoil
the surprise, of course, but…”

Dylan
nodded. “I definitely want it to be a surprise, so my lips are sealed.”

“Mine
too,” he said, locking his lips with his fingers. “Now, son, shall we get back
to the ladies before we raise too much suspicion? The look on your face alone
is enough to give it away. Besides, I see Lexi dying to come and join us.”