The Accidental Encore Page 15

“Jeez, Blondie.” He rolled his eyes when she looked back at him, but he pulled a tissue out of her purse and handed it to her. She dabbed at her eyes as Sharon and her groom held hands and chuckled their way through the short, but emotion filled ceremony. They marched out of the room to Frank Sinatra’s “Fly Me To The Moon.”

  “Well,” Craig said as the crowd began mingling around the room. “At least it was quick.”

  “That was very heartfelt,” Allie said to Melissa. “Unusual, but lovely.”

  “Where’s the chow?” Craig asked. She could tell he was trying to lighten her mood. “You promised me food.”

  Ben pointed up the ramp to the room where they’d started. “I see a buffet line forming now.”

  “I’m going to hit the restroom first,” Craig said. “I’ll meet you in line.”

  She nodded and watched him walk away.

  “How’d you meet Craig Archer?” Ben asked.

  “He’s the uncle of one of my clients. Plus I ran into his car, or he ran into mine. We had an accident.”

  “What was he driving?” Ben asked. “A Maserati?”

  “Why would you ask me that?”

  “Allie, that guy’s worth a few million.”

  Allie dropped her wine glass away from her mouth before she could take a sip. “What are you talking about, Ben? He’s a home renovator.”

  “I’m sure he can dabble in whatever he wants since he sold Archer Construction a few years ago.”

  “How do you know this?”

  “I’m an engineer, remember? His company built some of the biggest buildings in Atlanta and the southeast. He sold out to Bell Buildings what…” He looked up at the ceiling where a fan lazily spun the fragrant air. “Five, six years ago, before the market went to crap. He’s loaded.”

  Craig? Loaded? “Are you sure?”

  “Positive,” Ben said. “You reeled in a big fish this time.”

  Chapter 22

  Melissa returned to the table from the buffet line before Craig and Allie. They had gone to the carving station together. They made an incredible couple, so easy on the eyes and easy with each other.

  Ben sat down next to her before frowning at his empty glass. “You need another drink?” he asked. “I’m going to the bar.”

  “No, I’m good for now.”

  “I’m getting you another.”

  “Are you trying to get me drunk?” she asked.

  “Not a bad idea.” He rubbed her shoulder and then leaned down to nip at her skin. “But the bar’s packed and I don’t want to have to fight the crowd ten minutes after I get back.”

  God it felt good to get out of the house, get out of their suburban bubble, and be with her husband again. She loved her son more than anything in the world, but it felt exquisite to be something other than a mommy for a night. She popped an olive into her mouth and sat back to wait for someone to return to the table before she dug into her plate. She glanced up in time to see Craig leading Allie back into the room with his hand at the small of her back.

  “Would you please quit talking to me as if I’ve always had men at my beck and call?” Allie said to Craig. “I didn’t even go to prom, and not because I didn’t want to. Nobody even asked.”

  They set their plates down and Craig helped her into her seat. He had great manners.

  “That’s because you were beautiful, smart, and quiet,” Craig countered. “Not many teenagers can work up the courage to ask a girl like you out.”

  “You would,” Allie said, snapping her napkin onto her lap. “So, what unattractive, stupid chatterbox did you take to prom?”

  Craig’s smile brought out an adorable set of dimples Melissa hadn’t expected to find on such a rugged face. “Annabeth Collins.”

  “So you admit she wasn’t pretty, smart, or quiet?”

  “She was easy, which was my only qualification back then.”

  “Of course it was.” Allie picked up her fork and moved food around her plate. “Why do I even bother trying to have a conversation with you?”

  Melissa had never seen Allie so relaxed with a man and felt her enjoyment of the night kick into high gear.

  “Where’s Ben?” Allie asked.

  “At the bar. He needed a refill.”

  Craig glanced at his and Allie’s glasses. “Not a bad idea.” He stood up and pointed at Allie’s wine. “You want another?”

  “Sure,” she said and smiled as he walked off.

  “He likes you, Allie, and you like him. I don’t know why you refuse to admit it.”

  “We’re friends. Why can’t you accept that for the first time in my life, I have a male friend?”

  “Because friends don’t look at one another the way the two of you look at each other.”

  Allie peered down her nose at Melissa. “Would you please stop putting ideas into my head? Yes, I like him. I like having him as a friend. He’s helping me understand the men I date and I’m trying to do the same for him. Why do you have to ruin it with all this talk?”

  “I’m not trying to ruin your friendship, but you have to admit he’s good for you. I’ve never seen you like this around a guy, so comfortable and so…you. You act like yourself around him, and I think that’s great.”

  “That’s because there’s no pressure. He’s not interested in me, so I don’t have to worry about what I say and how I look and what I do. I can be myself and I’m enjoying it. So, yes, I'm enjoying him. If there's an undertone of attraction, believe me, it's one sided.”

  “For him to be so uninterested, he sure is careful to watch where you are and who you’re talking to.”

  “He’s probably afraid I’m going to ditch him.”

  “He doesn’t look afraid, Allie, he looks interested.”

  “He’s not. And neither am I.”

  “Really?” Melissa asked. “So you don’t mind that he’s talking to one of the bridesmaids?”

  Allie whipped her head around to where Craig stood talking to Ben. She’d turned too quickly to pretend not to be jealous. “Ha. Very funny.”

  “You didn’t seem too uninterested.”

  “Look, quit stirring the pot. He’s made it abundantly clear that I’m not his type.”

  “We’ve covered this, Allie. If he’s not gay—and if he is, my gaydar is broken beyond repair—then he’s interested. And I say that for more than just the obvious. He’s at a wedding where he doesn’t know the bride or groom. He’s just met Ben and me, so we’re not the appeal. He’s having a good time. He’s having a good time with you.”

  “Which is why we’re friends.” Allie speared a lobster filled ravioli with her fork and glanced up, only to blanch before Melissa’s eyes. “Oh, God.”

  “What’s wrong?” Melissa asked.

  Allie nodded with her head behind Melissa’s shoulder. “Nick’s here.”

  ***

  Craig returned to the table with his beer and a wine for Allie just as she bolted from her chair and made her way through the crowd. “Everything okay?” Craig asked.

  “Allie’s going to the restroom.” Melissa dropped her napkin on the table and stood up. “I think I’ll join her. Excuse me, please.”

  Ben shrugged at Craig and, after depositing the drinks on the table, sat down and started eating.

  Craig tried to listen as Ben asked him question after question about Archer Construction and the sale and his renovation work. He answered, ate, and all the while couldn’t help but worry about the look he saw on Allie’s face before she barreled past him. He couldn’t imagine what could have upset her in so little time, leaving her pale and anxious. When Melissa returned to the table without Allie, his sense of dread felt justified.

  “Did you lose someone?” he asked.

  “Allie needed some air. She said to tell you she’d be back in a minute.”

  Needed some air? In this neighborhood? Craig stood up and grabbed Allie’s wine. “Which way’d she go?”

  Melissa pointed to the corner of the room to a set of double doors. “Up
those stairs and out back to the deck.”

  He nodded and navigated through the crowd, past funky couches and an elevated seating area set for the bride and groom whenever they made their grand reentry. He pushed open the doors and felt the cold air hit him as the scent of cigarette and cigar smoke lingered in the air. Allie stood in the corner of the deck next to an enormous metal replica of the Eiffel tower with a gorilla climbing its side, staring out at the skyline.

  When he tapped her on the shoulder, she let out a startled gasp and then gave him a brilliant smile that didn’t reach her eyes. He handed her the glass of wine. “You okay?” he asked.

  She nodded and took a sip. He slipped his suit coat off and draped it over her shoulders. “No,” she said. “I’m okay.”

  “You’re shivering, Allie.” He walked behind her and ran his hands up and down her arms. He didn’t know what had happened to upset her, but he would do anything to see the sparkle back in her eyes. “So what happened?”

  “Nothing. I just…” She lifted her shoulders, let them drop. “I just needed some air.”

  “Allie.” He gently turned her to face him. “What’s wrong?”

  She sighed and took another sip of wine. “My ex-boyfriend is here. I didn’t think…it was…unexpected. I don’t know why I’m upset.”

  “Do you still love him?”

  She let out a startled laugh. “Love him? No, I don’t think I ever did. I thought I did when we were together, but it wasn’t love. I’m not quite sure what it was.”

  “Then why do you care that he’s here?”

  She looked over his shoulder. “It’s painful to see him, to remember how vulnerable I was. He made me feel so small, so absolutely pointless.”

  For that and for putting the sad look in her eyes, Craig wanted to punch him. “You don’t need me to tell you you’re not pointless.”

  “No. I don’t, but I appreciate you saying it.” She grabbed his hand and squeezed. “I’m feeling sorry for myself, and I’m just about done.”

  “Is he still here?” Craig asked.

  “I’m sure. It wouldn’t faze him to see me. As a matter of fact, I’m sure he’d waltz his date up to my face just to make me squirm.”

  “He sounds like an ass.”

  “He was. He probably still is.” She turned around and leaned against the deck rail. “I don’t want him, Craig. I’m so glad to be rid of him, but…it hurts my pride that he didn’t want me. That he tossed me away as if I didn’t mean a damn. And I should be ashamed of myself saying this to a man who lost his wife. I’m sorry.”

  Craig didn’t think. If he had, even for a second, he wouldn’t have let compassion and an odd need to soothe overrule his common sense. “My wife cheated, Allie, and I didn’t have a clue until after she was dead.”

  Her gasp of surprise nearly did him in, but the pitiful look in her eyes and the trembling fingers that grazed his face had something inside of him cracking. He could almost feel the fissures in the wall he’d built straining for release. “Oh, Craig.”

  “Three months after I buried her, I found some emails on her computer. I didn’t know who he was. It didn’t matter. It still doesn’t matter, but knowing she’d turned to someone else made everything we had feel like less.”

  “Yes,” she said. “That’s exactly it.”

  He felt fate connecting them, like a spider making a web around the two of them on the deck under the watchful eye of the gorilla. Standing under the starry sky with Allie’s hand on his chest and her heart in her eyes, he didn’t know why he’d told her what he’d never told anyone else, but he knew the rest had to stay with him.

  “Only I don’t have to run into her at parties and put on a happy face.”

  “Oh, Craig.” She kissed his cheek and rested her forehead against his. The web became tighter and much more dangerous. “I wish you could see her at parties. I don’t like Nick very much, but I don’t wish him dead.”

  “In a way, I’m glad that choice was taken out of my hands.” He wrapped her shoulders in his arm and plucked the empty wine glass from her hands. He didn’t know what was making her get to him, but he needed to break free of the web for some distance. “You’re freezing. Come on,” he said and pulled her toward the building. “You hardly ate and you’ve sucked down that glass of wine. If I don’t want to have to carry you out of here—and I don’t—you’d better put some food in that belly.”

  ***

  Melissa watched them reenter the room, Craig’s arm draped over Allie’s shoulders, their faces red from the cold. Allie didn’t look so unnerved, and she didn’t even look around the room for Nick like Melissa expected her to do.

  “Boy, it must be freezing out there,” Melissa said as Allie slipped out of Craig’s coat and handed it back before taking a seat at the table.

  “It was. Thank goodness it’s not in here.”

  “Not with all the dancing going on.” Melissa nodded with her head to the dance floor where couples were dancing to the eclectic mix of tunes from the DJ that had her toe tapping under the table. “Your food’s got to be cold. Why don’t you get another plate?”

  Allie shrugged and glanced back toward the buffet. There were only a handful of people in line. “I guess I should.” She looked at Craig’s empty plate. “Do you want seconds?”

  “No, I’m fine.” He stood up when she did. “I’ll get you a drink.”

  Allie settled a hand on her stomach. “Just water for me, thanks.”

  When they both left the table in different directions, Ben leaned over and pulled on a lock of her hair. “What’re you thinking?”

  “Huh?”

  He patted her temple with his finger. “The wheels are turning in there, Mel. I can see them. What are you planning?”

  “Nothing. I don’t think I have to plan anything.” She pushed her plate away and picked up her wine glass, turned to face her husband. “They’re more than friends, don’t you think? I think they really care about one another.”

  “So?”

  “So I think Allie is falling for this guy in a normal, healthy way.”

  “Then why do you look like you’re going to stick your nose in where it doesn’t belong?”

  “Because that’s what friends do.”

  “Melissa…”

  “You know Allie, Ben. You know how she’s her own worst enemy with guys.”

  “Craig doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who spooks easily,” Ben said.

  “He doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who sticks his neck out at all. From what Allie’s told me, he’s pretty closed off with women. He likes her. A blind man could tell he likes her.”

  “So why don’t you let them figure it out themselves? If you stick your nose in, you’re going to be the one they blame if it falls apart.”

  “I’m not going to stick my nose in,” Melissa said as she saw Craig returning to the table with a glass of water for Allie. “I’m just going to give him a gentle prod.”

  Ben stood up. “I’m not going to be an accessory. I’m getting another drink, and when I get back, you’re going to dance with me.”

  Craig set the water down and took a seat, but not before glancing over his shoulder to where Allie stood talking to a college friend. “So which one of the guys in here is the prick who broke Allie’s heart?” he asked without preamble.

  Good, Melissa thought. He was making this easier than she could have hoped. She twisted in her seat and studied the crowd. She spotted Nick near the edge of the dance floor with a brunette beauty wrapped around his arm. She turned back to Craig. “Behind me,” she said. “Ten o’clock. Dark suit, pink tie, with a Megan Foxx lookalike on his arm.”

  Craig’s eyes narrowed as he locked on the target. She only hoped Nick saw him and squirmed under his stare.

  “He sure likes the pretty ones, doesn’t he?”

  “He likes himself, mostly.” Craig’s glare shot to hers. “I didn’t care for him. At all. And he didn’t break Allie's heart, but he sure gave it a n
ice big bruise.”

  “How long did they date?”

  “Over a year. Allie expected a proposal after she’d molded herself into what she thought he wanted her to be. Instead he told her—without remorse—that she wasn’t enough for him and that he’d met someone else. The guy’s dirt.”

  “No argument here.” He sat back after finishing off the last sip of his beer.

  “They made a stunning couple and, on paper, they seemed destined for a Cinderella wedding. He was all wrong for her and she wanted so desperately to be in love that she couldn’t see what an ass he was.”

  “I think she sees it now.”

  “Yeah. She’s better now. Happy in her own skin. Most people can’t understand how someone so physically beautiful could be unhappy. Allie doesn’t feel beautiful, she just feels unloved.” Melissa scooted her chair closer to Craig and leaned in so she wouldn’t be overheard. “Do you know what she told me once?”

  Craig lifted his brows and tried his best to look uninterested, but Melissa could tell by the way he shifted toward her that he was more than curious. “She asked me if the guys I dated—back when I was dating—ever closed their eyes when they kissed me because the guys she dated never closed their eyes. She said she couldn’t relax because they always watched her, and she couldn’t stop thinking about what she looked like and how they expected her to act.”

  Craig gave her a look that said, “So?”

  “No one has ever kissed her and made her stop thinking.” Melissa took a sip from her wine and tipped the glass in his direction. “I think you’re the man for the job.”

  He lifted his hands from the table in a gesture of surrender. “We’re just friends.”

  “You’re friends, but I don’t believe the just.”

  “Believe it or not,” he said as if he could have cared less. “Trust me, I’m the last person Allie needs in her life.”

  “If I believed that, Craig, you wouldn’t be sitting here right now.”

  Chapter 23

  As soon as Allie sat down, Ben came back from the bar and whisked Melissa into his arms for a turn around the dance floor. Allie smiled as she watched them until she saw Nick and his date talking with another couple by the dance floor.