Darn it. So much for a stealthy enter and exit while my sisters and Snow were out in the backyard. Not that this is a secret. It’s just I can’t wait another minute to see Vaughn.
“How’d it go?” she asks. “Did you get to speak to the producer guy?”
I bend to pet Snow
. “I did. I think it went well.” Rising, I thumb over my shoulder. “I’m going next door to talk to Vaughn. Catch up with you later?”
“Yes. And good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Snow tries to leave with me. “Not right now,” I tell her, gently nudging her away from the door with my foot. She doesn’t take the hint. “Amber! Will you call for Snowflake?”
“Snowflake! Come get a treat!” she shouts from the kitchen.
At the word “treat” Snow darts off so fast she practically leaves her little pink hair bow floating in the air behind her. I disappear just as quickly, striding toward Vaughn’s house. I slow to a walk as I start up his driveway. Goose bumps pop up on my arms in anticipation of seeing him. I think about all the things I want to say. But then an engine turns over, taillights blaze bright red then white, and his car starts to move.
For a split second I’m transported back to the first night we met. The memory is short-lived, though, because this time the car is carefully backing out, and when I wave my arms in the air and shout, “Hey!” the Rover immediately stops. The engine clicks off. The driver’s side door opens. And the hottest guy I’ve ever seen climbs out. His come-closer-if-you-dare eyes latch onto mine as we slowly walk toward each other.
I dare. From this moment on, I will always dare with him. “Hi.”
“Hi,” he says. “I heard you were back.” His gaze touches on every part of me, lighting a fire in the pit of my stomach.
“I’m glad I caught you, but do you need to be somewhere? I can come back—”
“Now’s good.” The gap between us shrinks further. “I was just going to the florist.”
“The florist?”
“To buy you flowers before I walked over to see you.”
We’re maybe five feet apart now. Four feet…three feet…two. We stop, arms at our sides, and stare at each other. The way he looks at me steals my breath.
“You wanted to see me?” I manage to ask. The little speech I had planned drifts right out of my head. I try to hang on to the threads, but it’s hard to think straight when Vaughn takes my hand in his. I glance down at our entwined fingers. His hand is so much bigger than mine, yet we fit like we were molded for each other.
He leads me to the grassy slope beside his driveway and plants us under a palm tree. We sit side by side, not quite touching.
“I just got off the phone with Nigel.”
“Oh?”
“He had an interesting meeting today.”
“Really?”
Vaughn takes my chin between his thumb and finger and turns my face to his. “The flowers were going to be a thank-you. You went to bat for me.”
“It was nothing.”
“It was everything.”
“You’ve done so much for me, Vaughn, and I haven’t thanked you nearly enough. You’ve fought for me from the start, and it was time I fought for you. When I heard you’d gotten the job and then lost it, I had to do something. You’re selfless, you speak from your heart, you’re perceptive, and America Rocks needs you as their host.”
“Nigel agrees.”
There’s a moment where everything stands still as those words sink in. A second later, I tackle hug the next host of America Rocks and knock him flat on his back. “Yay! That’s fantastic. Congratulations!” I kiss him all over his face, capturing his smile against my lips, swallowing his laughter with my own.
He rolls us over, careful to cushion my landing with his palm spread across my back. Looking up at him is better than looking at a double rainbow. Better than gazing at a sunrise. Better than a sky full of the brightest stars in the galaxy.