For the second time today, he pulls me in for an embrace and I bury my head in his shoulder. “It seems unfair that Audrey is the only one dating,” he says. “Can I take you out this week?”
I pull back, surprised. It’s one thing to slip into your best friend’s body and live with her husband who doesn’t seem to give a shit anymore. It’s a whole other thing to start going on romantic dates with him. But how can I say no? John really seems to be coming around and the last thing I want to do is send him back to being that detached jerk I moved in with a few weeks ago. I tell myself I’d be doing this for Rachel, that she’ll come back to a husband that’s ready to plug back in. “Sure, I’d love that,” before I can stop myself.
CHAPTER 20
* * *
rachel
“You know we actually need to get some work done at some point,” I say as Charlie twirls me and I start to lose my balance as my ice skate catches. He grabs the sleeve of my coat and pulls me upright before I fall. Charlie to the rescue. Yet again. If he only knew how in the span of just a few days he’d made me feel sexy and self-confident for the first time in years.
“We’re doing research.” Charlie flashes me a boyish grin and I can’t help but laugh, despite my anxiety that we’re not in the office working alongside the producers and associate producers trying to secure interviews with the key players in the Ryan McKnight scandal.
“Remind me. How is ice skating in Central Park research again?” I gaze up at the sun reflecting against the skyscrapers and grab Charlie’s hand to steady myself.
“I think Ryan McKnight skated here once.”
We’ve been having so much fun since arriving in New York last night, grabbing hot dogs from a street vendor, sitting on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art people watching and talking until we couldn’t stand the cold a minute longer, then ducking into a Starbucks for hot cocoa. I don’t want to bring us back to reality and remind Charlie that we still don’t have the exclusive interview with Ryan McKnight’s estranged wife, Daisy. That even though a crafty production assistant tracked down her cell phone number and I called and gave her my best sell for why she should come on, she’d told me she’d need to think about it and call me back. But that might never happen. Then what?
I try to relax and enjoy the moment. Why am I always so high strung? Why do I force Audrey to do her homework the second she walks in the door from school? Why don’t I ask her about her day first? About boys? Maybe if I did, we’d be closer. And I’d know her the way Casey seems to in just a few short weeks. Maybe I’d even agree that she was mature enough to date. And maybe the photos Casey texted me of Audrey getting ready for her first date wouldn’t have caused me to fall into a heaping mess on the marble floor of my hotel bathroom. I was conflicted that she’s dating at all, while feeling guilty and regretful that I wasn’t there.
Suddenly, a man with a long-lens camera is skating in our direction. Is he taking pictures of us? Just as I turn to ask Charlie what’s going on, another man with a camera appears and begins snapping photos, and I realize, they’re the paparazzi. I pull my arm up to protect my face, as if that’s going to help. They’re obviously taking pictures of Casey and who they think must be her flavor of the month.
Since the interview with Ryan McKnight, Casey Lee has become a household name—this week even gracing the cover of People magazine (well, a square on the bottom right, but still!). Suddenly Casey’s love life is news. Should I have been more careful today? Was it a rookie mistake on my part to go to such a public place with Charlie? Were they taking pictures of us last night too? And how will Casey feel when she sees pictures of herself and Charlie in the tabloids? Ice skating, no less! Especially after she warned me I needed to keep things with him professional. I sigh, already knowing the answer.
“We’d better get going,” I say, feeling defeated.
“Says who? They already got their picture, let’s continue our fun.” Charlie skates circles around me, literally.
I hesitate as I watch the paparazzi skate away, snow beginning to fall around us, thinking of Casey, knowing we should go, but wanting to stay with Charlie, here in this moment. “You’re right. They can’t stop us!” I skate past him awkwardly but he quickly catches up and I feel his arms wrap around my waist. For a moment, I let his hands rest there and lean my head back against his chest. Just as I begin to wonder what John would think if he saw me like this, another man with a camera ice skates past us and takes our picture. And I know instantly that he got the shot; the picture all the gossip sites will salivate over. I can write the headline for them, Casey Lee Heats Up the Ice as She Melts into Her New Man.
“Let’s go,” I say, this time not taking no for an answer.
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