A thousand twinkling lights sparkled in the ballroom, creating magic for the last night in the mansion. Guests in formal wear chatted and danced alongside the actors while a string quartet accompanied. Maybelle held back a laugh at poor Ms. Vancouver who’d become the first victim of her brother’s dancing.
“Well, he looks like he’s having fun,” Winter said as she sidled up next to her. Maybelle once again gave herself props when she gave Winter a once over. She looked absolutely stunning, and she was sure the tripping her brother was doing wasn’t entirely due to his lack of coordination.
“Gosh, it’s so pretty,” Maybelle said, looking around the room. “Can’t believe y’all get to live like this every day.”
Winter snorted and waved her off. “It’s not all that glamorous. Most of this stuff is for you guys. When it’s just me, this place gets kinda creepy.”
She could only imagine. Maybelle was often alone, but she made sure she never showed loneliness. It would only ramp up the pitied looks she received on a daily basis. Luckily she had Will, and sometimes Momma, when she wasn’t traveling the world.
“Is that why you decided on this?” she asked, gesturing to the guests. “Murder mysteries, hotel amore?”
“Yes,” Winter replied without an ounce of embarrassment. “Try living in all this alone for more than a month. Bet you anything you’d go crazy.”
“Heavens, I go crazy in just my two bedroom cottage when Momma ain’t around.”
They laughed together, their giggles vibrating the room, and Maybelle couldn’t help but notice how happy her brother looked as he watched them.
“You know…” Winter said with a soft tap to Maybelle’s wrist. “My regular hairstylist is pregnant.”
Maybelle jerked back with a laugh. “That’s outta left field, but okay.”
“I was just thinking, if you’re up for it… I know it’s a heck of a decision, but if you ever feel like living like this for a while…” She playfully tugged at Maybelle’s deep blue dress that she never wanted to take off.
Maybelle’s heart fluttered. “You mean, come work for you?”
“For a bit, while she’s on maternity leave.”
A job offer. Temporary, but a real job offer. Maybelle had gone her whole life living under the care of her momma and her brother, only doing hair on the side, scrounging up money of her own while she could, contributing when she could. This would be a stepping stone, something she could do for herself, and she never thought it would feel this way—fulfilling, exciting, as great as she imagined being proposed to would feel.
Before she could answer a resounding yes, Will had managed to work his way over to them, an awkward smile on his face. Maybelle caught a glance at Winter, who was shining ten times brighter than she had when Will was across the room.
“Hey you,” Winter said in a very poor southern accent. Maybelle pursed her lips, holding back the excitement of watching these two complete opposites flirt with one another.
“Wow,” Will sputtered, and the word jolted through Maybelle like a lightning bolt. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, waiting to land on Garreth, hoping that one day he might offer up that same sentiment to her again.
“…I have Bells to thank,” Winter said, knocking Maybelle back into their conversation with the sound of her name.
“I don’t know about that,” Will joked, and Maybelle gave him a playful punch in the arm that ended up being a little harder than she’d intended. He grimaced and rubbed his arm out. “You wanna dance, Frosty?”
He called her Frosty. Oh… he was gone. Will only nicknamed those important to him, and Maybelle could see it all now—wedding cake and Momma crying during Will’s vows and Winter asking Maybelle to do her hair for her. She saw nieces and nephews, visiting Will and Winter while holding their brand new baby. She could see the life here in Michigan equally as clear as in Alabama, and excitement bubbled up through her.
That could be happy for her. Watching her brother find love and a family? That could be very happy.
Then she thought about Ms. Vancouver and snorted. “You? Dance?” she teased and looked at Winter. “Boy hasn’t danced a day in his life. You shoulda seen him with poor Ms. Vancouver just now.”
“It was bad, huh,” Winter said, joining in on the teasing. She’d make such a fun sister-in-law. Maybelle embraced the fantasy this time, knowing that it was a good one, and more of a possibility than any of her own.
“I think she’s icing her feet as we speak.”
Will’s ears were up in smoke, and he looked about ready to give Maybelle a much deserved noogie. She wrinkled her nose at him, grinning and feeling lighter than she had all day.
“That sounds exactly like my dancing,” Winter said, slapping her hand into Will’s. His eyes grew big, and he shared a stunned glance with Maybelle. “Let’s see who can put who in the hospital first.”
Winter pulled Will away, gesturing to the musicians who then began an up-tempo number. Then they both flailed around like lunatics, but the joy emanating from them was contagious. Soon everyone was in on the dancing, even Maybelle, who was partner-less.
As she spun around on the dance floor, swinging her hips and laughing with random dancing guests, it occurred to her that being alone wasn’t so bad. She wasn’t really alone; she had friends and family, and if she took this job offer, she’d make more. She’d experience so much. And she’d always have herself, and she wasn’t such bad company when she wasn’t obsessing over getting married.
There was a tiny throb of loss that was buried deep within her at the moment, but she didn’t think that would ever go away. But it could get smaller.
A laugh floated from her mouth as Will tripped and nearly took Winter down with him.
“I warned ya!” she gleefully called out, and next thing she knew, a strong hand had wrapped around her wrist and spun her into a wall of muscle. Her breath steeled away, the echoes of her laughter still surrounding them.
“You…” he said in his baritone, his bright teeth sparkling behind his pink lips, “are gorgeous.”
She found her breath, taking in a deep inhale before meeting Michael’s eyes. Her palms felt warm and sticky in his grasp. “Thank you.”
His mouth turned up into a grin, and he looped her under his arm before pulling her back. The music fell into a slower rhythm, but her heart was still pounding to the faster beat.
“It’s been a slow torture, you know,” he said, holding her close. His suit was warm and tailored to his perfect form. She wondered how her eyes hadn’t been glued to him all night.
“What has?”
“These past couple of days without you around.” He swayed her to the music, and she was only half paying attention to the steps. “The entire group has felt it.”
She let out a laugh. “I doubt that.”
“I swear it. People like being around you.”
She wasn’t so sure of that. Her eyes fell, and she begged them not to seek out Garreth. She could only take so many avoided glances.
Michael must’ve sensed her doubt, because he tapped her chin, coaxing her gaze back to his. His deep eyes were burning, sending flames up and down the sides of her neck.
“I like being around you.”
She gulped, laughing awkwardly at his forward words. They’d spent a day and a half hardly speaking to one another, and that time felt so much longer given how little they’d known each other. Her grip tightened on his arm, and she prayed to Cupid for some of that time back. It was good to feel adored, addicting to see the passion behind a man’s gaze for her. For her. It was so new, so unfamiliar, and she couldn’t get enough.
But was that the only reason why she felt so much around Michael? She craved to be desired?
He chuckled, quiet vibrations ricocheting up her arms from the sound. “It’s weird to only have one sided conversations with you.”
She cut out of her confused trance and playfully tapped his massive bicep. “I didn’t wanna be overheard, is all.” It was the truth. Her loud voice carried so well over so many things, and Garreth was sure to be in the room somewhere. The memory of the hurt in his eyes was still fresh in her memory, but if she saw it again, she was sure she wouldn’t be able to erase it.
Yet, selfishly, she wanted to see him ache for her, miss her, look at her the way Michael was.
She shook her head free of her horrid thoughts.
Michael grinned and spun her under his arm again, and when he pulled her in, he held her even closer, even tighter. His hand was firm and sure on the small of her back, and his eyes couldn’t stay in one place. They skated over her hair, drifted over her shoulders, paused at her lips… She didn’t think she could ever feel more desirable than she did in that moment.
“I know who did it!”
The voice jolted everyone from their dancing, and Maybelle slowly slipped from Michael’s grasp, only just catching Will and Winter in a tight embrace before they too stepped away from each other.
Alexis marched right into the crowd, a wide grin on her face and trusty notepad in hand. The actress playing the detective was at her side, going along with the obvious improvisation.
“I’ve solved it,” Alexis announced, beaming. Winter frowned, and Maybelle glanced around the room again, searching, hoping to lock eyes with those deep chocolate ones who had solved the mystery days ago. She couldn’t see over some of the taller guests, so she crept around, poking her head up like a meerkat.
The act continued to play out, Michael now even saying some lines in his deep baritone. Maybelle’s dress caught on the bassist’s bow, and she whispered hushed apologies, trying not to disturb anyone paying attention to the reveal. When she finally untangled herself, she spotted her target.
Garreth’s lips were pursed, holding back his amusement at her fumbling around the room while an important part of the mystery was playing out. His smile made her smile, lit up her heart and brightened the room. Heavens, how she’d missed him. The day and a half without speaking to him felt like years, and she ached to joke around with him, watch his handsome mouth struggle to get words out, to feel him shake his nerves off and take the plunge into something he was afraid of.
That man was the perfect blend of contradictions who made it easy to believe in fantasies. How in the world could she have hurt him like she had?
The longer they stared at each other, the more their smiles faded—not entirely, but just enough for Maybelle to wonder if he was thinking the same things about her. She hoped he missed her, hoped he knew just how much he’d come to mean to her.
A collective gasp fell across the room, chatter erupting and nearly pulling Maybelle’s attention away. A set of heels clacked against the floor, and Maybelle saw just enough to see Winter being pulled from the room, shouting acted curses at Alexis that ‘she’ll get that notebook and everyone will pay for this!’ or somethin’ like that. It ended in resounding applause, Alexis taking a bow with the actors. Maybelle clapped along, glancing at Garreth who lifted a shoulder with a grin, obviously not worried about taking credit for solving the mystery long before Alexis.
The music picked back up along with the dancing and chatting. Maybelle took a deep breath, steeling herself, ready to be brave. She could ask him to dance, they could talk, she could reassure him that there was no competition where he was involved… but as soon as she’d taken a step, Alexis powered through the crowd and blocked her chances. Garreth was off onto the dance floor within a few short seconds, not a glance in her direction.
She blinked, hot tears pricking the backs of her eyes. The lighthearted mood had slipped and been replaced with the unbearable sense of loss she was all too familiar with. Michael gave her a small smile before he left the room with the other actors, most likely to get ready for some kind of curtain call.
With Maybelle leaving in the morning, she had no reason to sulk over what might have been this week. Garreth and Michael both lived hundreds of miles away from Alabama, and in the back of her mind, she knew that going in. But she also knew she’d been willing to uproot her life for any man who’d take her.
Now with the job offer and the excitement that followed, she wasn’t so sure she was that person anymore.
She found her brother, surprisingly not by the food, looking lonely and pitiful. She sidled up to him and nudged his elbow. He gave her a half smile before going back to his wallowing.
“You ready for bed?” he asked after a minute. Maybelle was stuck in a trance, watching Garreth and Alexis. He was a great dancer, which was as surprising as it was attractive.
She let out a sigh and nodded. With any luck, she’d have plenty of more nights like this one—dancing and laughing and wearing a gorgeous red carpet gown. Next time, she’d soak all of that in.
Tonight, however, she allowed herself her own wallowing session of not getting to dance with a man she’d really wanted to.