Page 124 of Just Ten Seconds

“I’ll have a batch of amaretti waiting for you. And the espresso,” she says.

My brows rise in wonder. “When do you hang out with Rita?”

“When you’re at theater rehearsals.” His explanation makes sense.

I have been at rehearsals three times a week since I got a small role in Footloose. Still, he surprises me at how easily he inches his way into people’s hearts. Including my landlady.

Dean notices my still-confused face, so he gives me a wink. “She gives good advice. What can I say?”

She places her arms on Dean’s shoulders and leans over enough, so the two of us can both hear her. “I told you this one had roots.”

As she goes back to her table, Dean is now giving me the questionable brow rise.

I shrug my shoulders. “She compared you to a flower once. It was sweet.”

He grins. “I am sweet. And I do have roots. Ones I have firmly planted here.”

With an eye roll, I go back to my breakfast.

I’m sitting at my desk, filling out applications for a teaching position in the local schools.

As I spend time reflecting on my life and what I love, I realize I gave up on the auditioning process because I didn’t enjoy it. Not enough to put myself through the heartache of rejection. What I do love is acting. I don’t need to be on Broadway or in front of a camera to do that. I can do it here, on the small stage of a community theater, and feel wildly satisfied. Especially when Dean and Amanda are cheering for me from the front row.

Mr. Kenner asked around and found a list of drama schools in the area that I could apply to. Teaching during the day and performing at night would be a dream. Plus, I still work with the kids at the theater, so my heart is pretty full right now.

My radio plays the “Everything’s Coming Up Roses” from Gypsy as I fill out the forms. There’s a knock at my door, and I look at the time. It’s noon, and Dean said he’d come by to help me look at houses in the area. Now that I am ready to officially put down roots in Warwick, I want to look at buying a place of my own. I don’t have much in the bank, but it’s time I started investing in myself again.

When I open the door, it’s to my handsome love. His leather coat smells like cold December, and his eyes are the color of summer. Before he enters, I grab his shirt and pull myself against his chest, passionately kissing him. He laces his arms around me as he kicks the door closed, and the two of us fall to the couch, making out like teenagers.

We’re breathless when he rolls us over onto our sides.

“A man can get used to a greeting like that.” He pushes my hair away from my face.

I bury my head into his chest. “Sorry. I got carried away. I missed you.”

He places a knuckle under my chin and raises it back up. “Never be embarrassed about your feelings. Especially when it comes to mauling me at the door. I mean it, I would love a greeting like that from you every day.”

I lay my hand on the scruff of his jaw. He’s letting it grow out for the winter, and I’m liking the manly gruffness.

“But we have an eight-year-old. I can only do that when it’s just us.”

There’s an extra twinkle to his eyes. They crinkle on the sides with a peculiar gaze. I purse my lips and squint my eyes at the way he’s looking at me. He just smiles.

“Yes, we do.” He slaps my ass and rolls off the couch. “Come, we have an appointment to get to.”

I stand up and adjust my top. “Just one?”

He walks to the hook by the front door and grabs my coat, handing it to me. “I think you’ll like this one.”

We hop in Dean’s truck and drive down Runyard. The trees have lost their leaves, and the ground is covered with a thick blanket of snow. His truck easily handles the roads as he turns down long streets heading toward the lake.

I’m glad we’re going this way. Living near water would be wonderful. Growing up in Queens, I’ve always had a view of the water, and I have missed it since moving up here.

Yes, I’m not just escaping here, looking for a place to start over. I have started over. Warwick is now my home. I know it became one to me a long time ago, but it’s only now that I’ll admit it. It’s a beautiful town filled with amazing people, and it makes my heart happy. Even in my darkest days, I found joy, whether it was laughing with friends or smiling at a customer, coffee with Rita, and later in the company of a handsome stranger.

Dean laces his hand with mine as we turn down the same street as his lake house. I swivel my head in his direction, but he just looks straight, albeit a bit too serious for someone taking a woman on a drive to an open house.

For some reason, I’m not as surprised as I should be when we pull up to his lake house—the one he has been working on in his spare time and has put his heart into.