Sweet Harmonies (36 page)

She didn't even know what he had planned for
them to do, as a matter of fact. He wanted it to be a surprise. All
he had told her was that she should dress up. Everything else would
be a mystery to her.

He heard the doorbell ringing out inside her
house, and her answering call letting him know that she was coming.
A moment later, he heard her heels clicking across the entryway.
When she opened the door to him, sheathed in a curve-hugging
luminescent midnight blue dress, his eyes widened and he let out a
low wolf whistle.

Karina smiled and said, “Precisely the effect
I was going for.”

Ryan extended his elbow to her gallantly and
she slipped her hand lightly inside the crook of his arm.

“
And don't you look very handsome,” she
said proudly, looking him up and down, “I can't wait to see what
you have planned for us tonight! I love surprises, they're so
exciting.”

“
I hope you like it,” he said, almost
shyly. Damn. This girl had the most amazing way of making him feel
tongue tied, as if every single time they saw each other, they were
meeting for the first time.

Ryan helped Karina up into the truck, which
he had painstakingly detailed for this occasion. He ran around to
his side, started up the motor, and they were off down the
mountain.

As they drove, they made a few stilted
attempts at conversation, but mostly sat in somewhat nervous and
awkward silence.

Ryan marveled at the fact that the formality
of their attire and the special occasion feel that the evening
possessed seemed to be putting a spark of sexual tension in the air
which was entirely different than the plain ol' garden variety
Karina-and-Ryan sexual tension that usually burned between them. He
liked it, of course. But he was going to need to figure out fairly
quickly how to navigate it if this evening was going to end up
being more than simply a few hours of them staring at each other
across the table and smiling shyly every once in a while.

Ryan turned to look at her. He decided to
give conversation a try.

“
You look amazing,” he started,
“Beautiful.”

She smiled at him gratefully.

He felt like a teenager on his first date. He
wiped his palms again.

As the truck sped through the town of Hope
Falls and continued on down the mountain without stopping, Karina
turned to Ryan, puzzled.

“
Where are we going?” she
asked.

He smiled, “It's a surprise.”

Her voice held a tiny edge as she insisted,
“No, really, Ryan. Where are we going?”

He glanced over at her and saw that she was
serious.

“
To Lake Tahoe,” he said, “To a really
spectacular restaurant. Four star reviews. And it's got the most
insane view of the lake – we'll be sitting there while the sun
sets.”

“
Did you tell them we were coming?” she
asked anxiously.

“
Well...yeah, of course,” he said, as
if it were obvious. He was slightly hurt. I mean, sure, he may be a
small town guy. But did she think he was such a country bumpkin
that he wouldn't know that you needed to make a reservation at a
four star restaurant?

They drove the rest of the way into Lake
Tahoe in silence, and Ryan could tell that the quality of this
silence was very different than it had been before. This was not
the exciting, sexually-charged awkwardness of two people out
together for their first formal evening. This was tense. Ryan
fought the growing sensation that he had done something very wrong,
although he wasn't sure what that might be.

When they finally pulled into the the parking
lot and up to the valet station, Ryan was relieved. He was sure
that when they got into the restaurant...when she saw how beautiful
it was and how much trouble he had gone to...when her mind was set
at rest that he did, indeed, make a reservation – then the tension
would dissipate.

Then she would look at him the way she did
sometimes, with her eyes shining in admiration, as if he were the
smartest, strongest, most amazing man in the world. The look he
lived for. The look he would do anything to put on her face. The
look he was sure he would be spending the rest of his days happily
working to earn again and again. He wanted to see that look.

But, as he opened the passenger door to let
her out, the only look he saw was trepidation. He frowned. Not what
he was going for.

The valet came over to collect their keys,
holding out a ticket to trade for them.

“
Do they only have valet?” Karina asked
Ryan under her breath.

“
I don't know,” Ryan said, not sure
where she was going with it or why it mattered, “Do you want me to
ask.”

She shook her head in the negative. The valet
attendant had almost reached them. When he stood about three feet
away, he stopped stock still, his jaw hanging open.

“
Oh my God, you're Karina Black,” the
kid said tremulously, pulling out his cell phone, “Can I take a
picture with you?”

Feeling protective, Ryan stepped in between
them subtly and said, “Come on now, the lady's trying to enjoy an
evening out...”

The kid's expression crumbled into a mix of
disappointment and embarrassment for a split second before he
registered the fact that Karina had swept past Ryan and was smiling
brightly at him.

“
Of course, I'd love to take a
picture!” she chirped, grabbing his phone and handing it to Ryan.
She threw her arm around the kid and smiled radiantly as he
fumblingly talked Ryan through the series of commands that would
cause his phone to snap the picture of he and Karina.

They walked into the restaurant and Ryan gave
the hostess his name. She led them to their table, all the while
sneaking furtive and giddy glances at Karina.

The thing that shocked Ryan the most,
however, was Karina's demeanor through all of this. From the valet
to the hostess to all of the people who did double takes when they
saw her pass their table, Karina had nothing but open, sunny smiles
and a gracious, welcoming air.

Which was great. It's not that there was
anything wrong with that. It's just that it wasn't Karina. Where
was his acerbic, sarcastic girl? Karina was a lot of things, but
Little Mary Sunshine she was not. He loved her for that edge! She
was far more Rizzo than Sandy, and he wouldn't have had it any
other way.

Yet, here she was, swallowing her true self,
and smiling and nodding to people like some southern debutante out
of the 1950s. He was confused. He wasn't quite sure what was
happening, but he was quite sure that he was no longer the one in
charge of the situation, if he ever had been in the first
place.

The hostess sat them at their table and laid
their menus in front of them with shaking hands. She turned to walk
away, but after going only three steps, spun on her heels and
returned as if she just couldn't help herself.

“
I'm sorry, I know this is, like, so
unprofessional and you probably just want to be left alone, but I
feel like I just, like, HAVE to tell you...” she rushed through
breathlessly.

Karina laid a hand on her arm and said
encouragingly, “No, that's OK...”

“
Ohmigod, I just have to tell you,” the
girl gushed, “That I literally listened to Baby, You're the One on,
like, repeat last summer...like ALL summer. Like...it would
literally just end, and I would literally just start it
again.”

“
That is LITERALLY what 'on repeat'
means,” Ryan quipped, and Karina shot him a glare that was
half-angry, half-panic. There was no shared humor in the look at
all, and Ryan was a little taken aback. She'd never looked at him
like that before.

Still, what he had said was of little
consequence. He doubted the girl had even heard him speak, she only
had eyes for Karina. Literally, he smirked to himself.

Karina smiled and hugged the girl, and then
had Ryan snap a picture of the two of them with her own phone,
promising to post it on Facebook later so the girl could grab
it.

As the young hostess drifted away in a cloud
of bliss, Karina turned to him. Her facial expression was all
smiles, as a show to the public they were surrounded by, but the
look in her eyes was livid as she hissed, “You. Can. NOT. Talk. To.
My. Fans. That. Way. EVER!”

He nodded, too
taken aback to speak. This “intimate, romantic” fancy dinner he had
worked so hard planning was not working out the way he had intended
at all.

They studied their menus in silence, and then
placed their orders with a waiter who – Ryan thanked God – was a
middle aged man who seemed to neither know nor care who Karina
was.

They had barely taken the first bites of
their soup course when a piercing shriek rang out throughout the
dining room. Ryan, startled, looked around to see what had
happened. He saw two tween girls break away from their family's
group and streak over to the table.

“
Oh. My. God!” squealed the younger
one, who looked to be about 11, “You're Karina and Ryan. Oh my God!
It's Karina and Ryan!”

Ryan was shocked, “How do you know who I
am?”

The elder of the two, who Ryan judged to be
about 13, burst out, “Duh! Because we've only watched your video
about a thousand times!”

They were both bouncing from foot to foot
excitedly. Their parents had made it over to the table by this
time, with their camera at the ready. The girls scampered around
the table to stand in between Karina and Ryan's chairs, and all
four of them leaned close.

“
Say cheese!” chortled the balding man
that Ryan assumed to be the girls' father.

As the family wandered off, the girls
chattering excitedly to one another, Ryan was dumbfounded. He felt
like a deer in the headlights. Yes, of course, he knew that the
video of he and Karina singing together had received millions of
views. Intellectually, he had accepted that. But he hadn't really
processed the fact that each one of those millions of views
represented an actual person – sitting in their living room at
their computer, laying on their bed with an iPad, or any number of
other scenarios – watching his face. Listening to his voice.
Becoming aware of something that relatively few people in the world
up to this point had known or cared about – the fact that Ryan
Perkins existed.

It was a bizarre feeling.

The young girls' high pitched and loud
exclamations about Karina's presence had attracted the attention of
other diners, and people were now murmuring and pointing at their
table. Before they had even finished their soup, in fact, three
more people had come over and asked to take pictures with
Karina.

Ryan noticed that the couple at the next
table, a middle aged man and woman, were becoming increasingly
angry with the disturbance. They kept glaring at Karina in a way
that made him angry, but he didn't know if he should say anything.
After all, she hadn't liked his flippant comment to the hostess.
This wasn't the same type of situation, of course, but he didn't
want to risk it.

This was all very confusing to Ryan. He felt
on shaky ground, and he didn't like it one bit.

The woman at the next table humphed loudly.
She said to her husband, but at a volume which was clearly intended
for Karina and Ryan to hear, “Some people are SO rude. Celebrities.
They think they're the only people in the room. Forget about
regular people who just want to enjoy their meal in peace. They
don't matter.”

“
So entitled,” her husband agreed, “And
she's probably not even going to have to pay for her meal. We're
going to have to pay for ours, sure enough. Even after the Queen of
Sheeba over here has ruined it.”

At that, Ryan had had enough. He turned
around to say something but Karina dug her fingers into his arm and
shook her head.

Ryan looked at her, “Karina, really? Name
calling is too much.”

“
Ryan, really,” she insisted urgently,
“Leave it alone. I'm serious.”

He shook his head, frustrated.

The waiter came over to their table and asked
pleasantly if everything was alright.

Karina smiled pleasantly at him, reaching her
hand into her clutch and deftly sliding out her Black Amex card,
“Yes, thank you. Could you do me a favor, though? Could you add the
bills of every table directly adjoining this one to our bill, and
charge it to this card? And please add a 25% tip for yourself, as
well.”

The waiter's eyes widened slightly but he was
too professional to let any indication beyond that slight movement
show through. He glanced discretely down at the card and back at
Karina. He said smoothly, “Very well, Ms. Black. Thank you.”

Before the waiter could bring them their main
course, or even return with Karina's card, the atmosphere in the
restaurant shifted. All of a sudden, their table was surrounded by
a dozen people who were trying to get their attention. Even through
the temporary disorientation caused by this sudden turn of events,
Ryan had the presence of mind to notice that the people crowding
around them now were wearing jeans and t-shirts, not at all the
attire that they would have had on if they were fellow diners in
this posh establishment. These were people that had come here
specifically to meet Karina.

Even Karina, who had handled all of the
public attention like a champ due to her long experience dealing
with it, looked slightly startled by this turn of events. She
struggled to divide her attention gracefully between the various
people surrounding her, as each was becoming more intense and
insistent.

They both heard the chime that indicated
Karina had a text message, and she snatched the phone out of her
purse and looked at the face of it.