Three Girls And A Leading Man (16 page)

“Monopoly,” I said immediately. I
loved Monopoly.

“Oh, God,” he muttered, pulling it
from the shelf. “It’s the longest game in the world. We’re gonna be up all
night.”

We settled down at the kitchen
table. Nate insisted that I sit on his lap. “If you’re going to make me stay
up, I better at least get something out of it.”

I complied. To be honest, I loved
the feel of leaning back against his chest, though I would never admit it to
anyone. A month ago if you would have told me that I’d be willing to sit on a
guy’s lap, I would have laughed in your face.

We played for a few minutes. I
insisted that Nate be the car, to go with his job, and I took the dog.

“We used to have a Scottie dog just
like this, when I was little,” I told him. “Taffy. She was the best dog.”

“What happened to her?” he asked,
rolling the dice.

“She died. When I was eight.” I
frowned a little at the memory. Taffy had gotten cancer, and we had to put her
down.

I had a sudden clear memory of
lying in my bed late at night, terrified and wishing Taffy was there. She
usually slept on the foot of my bed, and somehow it always made me feel less
scared when my dad wasn’t around. He had been gone when she died.

“Annie,” Nate said in my ear. “You
there?”

I looked over at him, trying to
clear my head. “What?” I asked.

“You went away for a minute there.
You okay?”

“Yeah,” I told him. “Sorry. Maybe
I’m sleepier than I thought.”

“We could always go to bed,” he
asked hopefully.

“Not a chance, mister. I plan to
beat you at this game.”

We settled into the game for a
while. I had already amassed Kentucky and Indiana, as well as all of the pink
properties. Nate had three of the four railroads as well as Park Place. He
teased me constantly throughout the game, questioning my choices and
encouraging me to give up my own properties and move in with him in the luxury
penthouse he planned to build on Park Place.

“What the hell are we listening
to?” he asked suddenly.

I paused for a minute so I could
hear. Crap. I had forgotten this was on here.

“Uh, this would be the original
Broadway cast of
Pippin
,” I admitted.

“You have this on your iPod?” he
asked. I could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Yes,” I said with dignity.

“Get up,” he said, smacking me
lightly on the ass.

“Hey!” I cried, but he was already
slipping out from under me and heading to the stereo. “What are you doing?”

“I just want to see what else is on
here,” he said.

“Nate, don’t.”

“Why? You’re always criticizing
everyone else’s music tastes.” He had a bit of a point there—I did tend
to be a snob about music. “Don’t you have to balls to back up your mouth?”

I glared at him, but didn’t argue
anymore.

“Wow,” Nate said. “Original
Broadway cast of
Rent
. And I see we
have
Oklahoma
…
Evita
.
Cats
, Annie?
Really?”

“Shut up,” I said in a small voice.
“That show ran on Broadway for eighteen years.”

“Yeah, but to have it on your
iPod?” he said, laughing. “Remember earlier when you called me a dork for having
a
Star Wars
game?”

“Betty Buckley was in that show,” I
muttered, mostly to myself.

“Yeah, don’t know who that is,” he
said, continuing to scroll through my music. “Ah, here we go.” He pressed a
button and I heard the opening strains of
Edelweiss
,
from
The Sound of Music
. “My mom
loved this song,” he said. “She used to sing it while she cleaned the
bathroom.”

“It is a pretty good song,” I
agreed.

“Come here,” he said, holding out
his arms. I went to him and he pulled me close, beginning to dance.

“Slow dancing in the living room?”
I said, looking up at him as he slowly swayed me around the room. “Who’s dorky
now?”

“Shut up, Annie,” he said, kissing
me softly. “Just shut up and dance with me.”

Chapter Twenty

“Ginny,” I said into my phone. “Are
you guys here yet?”

“What’s wrong?” she asked
immediately.

“I think I’m having a panic
attack,” I told her. “Where are you guys?”

“I just walked into the lobby,” she
said. “Doesn’t look like Jen’s here yet.”

“Will you come back?” I asked her.
“Please, Gin. I really need to see you.”

“Just tell me where to go.”

I gave her instructions then sat at
my dressing table, nervously twisting my hands and trying not to burst into
tears. After four weeks of rushed rehearsals, opening night was finally upon
me. I had been fine all day, excited even, but as soon as my dressing room
partner Mary had finished getting ready and left the room, I felt like I might
die.

There was a knock on my door and I
looked up to see Ginny standing there. “Oh, Ann,” she said. “You look gorgeous.”

My costume was simple. As I was
playing a college aged girl in modern times, I was dressed in wide- legged
black pants and a white, baggy sweater. My hair had been straightened then
re-curled in soft waves around my face.

“Seriously,” Ginny said, approaching
my table. “You look lovely.”

“I think I’m going to throw up,” I
told her seriously.

“You’re not,” Ginny soothed,
patting my shoulder. “Just relax.”

“Is it full out there?” I asked
her. “I mean, does it look like a lot of people?”

“It’s pretty full,” she told me. I
whimpered a little.

“Come on,” she said firmly. “This
is silly. You’re Annie Duncan, for God’s sake. You don’t get worked up over a
couple people in a theater. Remember that show you did at Wayne, the
Shakespeare? That crowd was much bigger than this one. And I didn’t hear you
freaking out before that.”

“Yeah, but this is real,” I said.
“That was a student production. This is
Jenner
Collins’
show. There are investors out there.”

“I understand that,” Ginny said
patiently. “But that shouldn’t matter to your performance.”

I took a deep breath. “You’re
right,” I said. “You’re right. This is going to be fine.”

“So, where’s Nate sitting?” she
asked, changing the subject. “Did you put him by us?”

“Uh, no, actually,” I said, feeling
my stomach clench for an entirely different reason. “Nate isn’t coming
tonight.”

Ginny raised her eyebrow at me.
“Why?”

“I told him not to. I want a couple
shows under our belt before he sees it.”

She didn’t say anything and I knew
she didn’t really believe me. The truth was, Nate and I had had a bit of a
fight over the subject of my opening night. He had wanted to be here and wasn’t
too happy when I told him I’d rather he wait.

“It will be a better show if you
give it a week,” I told him.

“I don’t care about that,” he said impatiently.
“Opening night is a big deal. And I want to be there for you.”

Yeah,
that’s exactly what I’m worried about
. When I didn’t say anything, he
sighed. “Are we back here again, Annie? More games?”

“No,” I said, feeling exasperated.
“Jesus, Nate. I just would rather you see it after we’re a bit more
comfortable. Besides, the girls are all coming on opening night. I’ll have
support then. If you come to a different show it’ll be like spreading the
support out, you know?”

He didn’t say anything for a minute.
I had a feeling he was trying to keep himself from flipping out on me. “Fine,”
he said at last. “Whatever you want, Annie.”

Now that opening night was upon me,
I was really regretting that decision. Why hadn’t I just asked him to come? I
hated to admit it, but it would make me feel a lot better to know that he was
in the audience.

“I should probably get out there,”
Ginny said, looking down at her watch. “Jen should be here by now.”

I felt another rush of nerves, but
pushed it down so I could give her a hug. “Thanks for coming back and talking
me down,” I told her.

“No problem, Ann,” she said,
squeezing me tight. “Break a leg.”

She looked me square in the face
and I was surprised to see her eyes had grown wet. “I’m so proud of you,” she
whispered.

“You haven’t even seen it yet,” I
laughed. “You might hate it.”

“Won’t matter,” she said. “I’ll
still be proud of you.”

After she left I stared at myself
in the mirror for a few minutes. Curtain opened in fifteen minutes. I wasn’t in
the first scene, so I still had a little time. I touched up my lipstick and
fiddled with my hair a little. Not much to do now but wait.

“Annie?” said a voice from the
doorway. I turned and saw the assistant house manager holding a huge bouquet of
red roses. “These just came for you,” she said. “And Jenner wants everyone
gathered in the greenroom in five.”

“Thanks, Jane,” I told her, taking
the flowers from her hands.

I was expecting the girls, so I got
a little shock when I saw Nate’s distinctive handwriting on the card.

‘
I know you wanted me to wait, but I came anyways. Hope you’re not too
mad. Just wanted to be here. Break a leg.’

I felt my throat well up a little.
Nate. He was here. For some reason the thought made me exceedingly happy. I
went over and set the flowers on my dressing table, then headed out to meet the
cast in the greenroom. My nerves had faded to a low background hum. I felt
better than I’d felt all night.

***

The show went about as well as I
could have hoped for. There were a few slipups, mostly with cues, but the girls
assured me that they hadn’t even noticed.

“You were fantastic,” Jen said,
wiping her eyes. “Seriously, Ann. I loved it.”

“She cried the whole time,” Matt
muttered, and Jen elbowed him in the ribs.

“I was a bit weepy myself,” Ginny
admitted, pulling me in for a hug. “Didn’t I tell you it would be amazing?”

I smiled at her, but I couldn’t
help peering surreptitiously over her shoulder. I hadn’t seen Nate yet.

“He’s behind you,” Josh said drily.

I spun around, and sure enough,
Nate was striding across the lobby toward me. I couldn’t have held the grin off
my face if I tried. Instead, I threw my arms around his neck and he pulled me
close. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw Ginny and Jen give each
other a knowing smile, but I was too happy to care.

“You were amazing,” he said in my
ear. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I’m glad you came,” I said. “Thank
you for the flowers.”

I pulled back and smiled goofily at
him. Josh’s smirking face finally snapped me out of it, and I pulled myself
together. “So, what does everyone feel like doing?”

“Don’t you want to go out with the
cast?” Ginny asked.

“Nope. I’ve been with them all week
and I haven’t seen you guys in ages. I’m sure there’ll be plenty of cast
parties before this thing is over. Tonight I want to see you.”

It was true. Though we’d talked on
the phone a few times, I hadn’t seen Nate since the night we had danced in his
living room. Tech week had simply taken up all of my time. And it was a rare
occasion for Ginny and Josh to have a sitter for Danny that wasn’t me or Jen. I
figured we’d better take advantage of it.

We decided on a brewery down the
street from the theater. It was close enough to walk, and I was secretly happy
to stroll down the street with Nate’s arm wrapped around me.

“It’s really getting cold,” he
muttered. “How did fall go by so fast?”

“I feel like I missed it,” I told
him.

“Well you were holed up in a
theater for most of the past month,” he agreed. “We’ll have to make the most of
winter. Do you like to ski?”

“I’ve never tried it,” I told him.
“But I’m not really into sporty things like that.”

Nate only sighed. “Time to open
your horizons a little.”

As we all sat down in the
restaurant, I had a feeling that I already had. It was very rare for the girls
and I to all have a guy in our life at the same time. I couldn’t remember many
times where the three of us had been on a triple date like this. It felt kind
of nice.

We ordered beer and burgers. Nerves
had kept me from being able to eat much throughout the day, so I was pretty
hungry. Nate was nice enough to let me finish his fries.

“You’re such a brat,” Ginny said,
watching me eat. “You eat like that all the time and you never put on any
weight.”

Jen and I immediately burst out
laughing. Ginny was drop-dead gorgeous. Like, seriously, she could have been a
model if she wasn’t so short.

“I’m serious!” she said. “Ever
since Danny I put on weight if I even look at this kind of food.”

“Oh my God,” I said. “I was there
when you picked out your wedding dress, remember? I know what size it was. And
I sure as hell wouldn’t fit into it.”

“Are we really talking about weight
and clothes?” Matt asked. “I mean, it’s fine if we are. Just let me know so I
can zone out.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jen said. “We’re
allowed to be girly every once in a while.”

However, she did change the
subject. “So tell me about the cast,” she said. “Now that I know faces to match
the names to.”

“That brunette, who played Mia?
She’s a total bitch,” I said, and they all laughed. “Seriously. Her name is
Jasmine and she glares at me every time we’re in the same room together. She
also throws herself at Jenner every chance she gets. It’s totally disgusting.”

“Who was your boyfriend?” Jen
asked. “That guy was pretty cute. I’m surprised you never mentioned him.”

A slight blush came to my cheeks,
and I felt Nate’s eyes on my face. Tyler had continued to be very flirty with
me, but I had never taken him up on his offer to get beer. I had never told the
girls about him though, because I knew they would think he was just the kind of
guy that I usually went for.