Chapter 20
‡
Evan grinned as he reached past Gary, the craft service guy, to grab a bagel. The sun was shining. The birds were chirping. And he felt lighter and happier than he could ever remember feeling, and on a day that he’d originally dreaded.
Today, Noelle was bringing her niece Jazzy to the set and Noelle’s fiancé was coming along with her. Evan was finally going to meet the infamous Dr. Tate York. He was shocked that now he was actually fine with it. His mom had been singing the man’s praises for over a year and Noelle, a person that he would always love, was happy. That was the most important thing. He was truly happy for both of them.
As much as he’d like to believe that he was just that good of a person, he wasn’t kidding himself. It didn’t hurt that his life was in a much different place than it was the day that he’d met Noelle in the coffee shop.
Yesterday, he’d gotten the all-clear from the doctor that he could return to active duty with no restrictions. This morning, as he left his last physical therapy session, the information that he’d been waiting on had arrived and it was stuck in his back pocket. And the biggest difference of all was that he was head over heels, madly in love with a woman that in a very short period of time had become the single most important thing in his life.
“Beautiful day today,” the short, stocky craft service vendor observed casually as he lifted his head and let the sun hit his face from beneath his Dodger’s baseball cap. “You catch the game last night?”
“Nope.” Baseball had been the last thing on his mind these past three weeks.
Gary hissed through his teeth before delivering the news it was obvious he was all too happy to share. “Your boys didn’t look so hot.”
“That right?” Evan could care less.
This was the first year that he hadn’t watched, attended, or played in every single Waves game since he was five years old. Now he was obsessed with something else.
Shayne Fox.
Since their night at Mountain Ridge three weeks ago, his days and nights had been spent concentrated on only her. She occupied his thoughts during the day and his bed during the night.
So far, they’d managed to keep what was going on fairly private. The only people that knew that the two of them were spending so much time together were Ruby and Nolan. Deanna and his mom obviously knew something was happening, but they had no specifics.
These past few weeks had flown by. They felt like a dream, one he never wanted to wake up from. When Kyle had approached him about consulting on the film, six weeks had seemed like an eternity. Now he couldn’t believe that there were only three days left before they wrapped. It was almost over.
He and Shayne hadn’t talked about what the future held for the two of them when she went back to LA, but for once in his life, he wasn’t worried about it. He knew that they’d make it work somehow. He loved her and he was pretty sure that she felt the same about him.
Neither of them had said it, though. He was waiting until the movie was over. She was flying back to Southern California early Sunday morning. As a surprise, he’d booked “their cabin” at Mountain Ridge for her last night here. After the wrap party on Saturday, he planned on taking her there and telling her that he loved her and that he’d do whatever it took so that the two of them could be together. If that meant moving to Los Angeles after his obligation to his hotshot crew was fulfilled, so be it.
He’d move heaven and earth to be with Shayne.
His phone buzzed in his pocket. He pulled it out and saw it was a message from Noelle. They were here.
He grinned and set out to go find them. He’d told them to park in crew parking at base camp.
Last night, when he told Shayne that Noelle was visiting today, it had opened up an in-depth conversation about that relationship. Shayne was so easy to talk to. He’d told her things he’d never shared with anyone, including Noelle.
He’d told Shayne that he’d truly loved Noelle but had failed his ex, again and again. He’d told her how many times they’d tried to make it work. He’d talked about the miscarriage and her wanting to get married but him being scared. He’d even admitted what a shock it had been for him to hear that she was engaged and starting a family with someone else.
All of his life, people had told him that he shouldn’t hold things inside. They’d insisted that he needed to talk about his feelings. And he’d seen what keeping things to himself had done to his mom, so he was going to make opening up to his loved ones more of a priority. But with Shayne, it wasn’t something he had to intentionally do, it came as naturally as breathing.
“Evan! Evan!”
He heard a high-pitched voice scream his name and he looked up and saw Jazzy jumping up and down and waving her hands. She was beaming with excitement as she ran and leapt into his arms. He wrapped her in a hug as his eyes met Noelle’s and a bittersweet grin spread on her lips.
Before they lost their own baby, the two of them had always joked that Jasmine was their practice baby. Now, Noelle was starting her own family and one day, he might also. But Jazzy would always have a special place in his heart.
The man standing beside Noelle stepped forward and held out his hand. Evan sat Jazzy back down on the ground and extended his own.
“Hi, I’m Tate.”
“Evan.” The man had a firm handshake and looked directly into Evan’s eyes. He would get Grandpa Doug’s stamp of approval. And he liked that he didn’t wait for Noelle to introduce them, he took the initiative. “Nice to finally meet you. I think my mom is the president of your fan club.”
Tate grinned as he tilted his head slightly to the left. “Connie is amazing but I think she might exaggerate my skills a little bit.”
Evan could see that the compliment made him slightly uncomfortable. He liked that. It meant that he didn’t have an overinflated ego.
“Wait. Are you saying you can’t walk on water?” Evan joked.
“No, that she got right.” Tate quipped back.
They chuckled and he turned to Noelle, “Hey.”
She reached up and hugged him and whispered, “Thank you.”
He squeezed his arms around her before stepping back and asking, “Who wants to meet Mindy Reader?”
“I do! I do! I do!” Jazzy jumped up and down.
“Let’s go,” Evan gestured for them to follow him.
As they walked toward the set, Noelle held Tate’s hand and said, “Tate actually met her in Sacramento. He was doing a morning show and she was a guest.”
“It was very brief and I’m sure she won’t remember,” Tate explained, “but she was very sweet and gave me quite a bit of swag.”
“She gave me this!” Jazzy tugged at the bottom of her Mindy Reader sweatshirt.
“Wow.” Evan made sure to look appropriately impressed. “That’s so cool.”
The closer they got to set, the quieter their voices got. Evan whispered to Jazzy, “Okay, we have to be very quiet while we watch. But as soon as there’s a break, Shayne will come say hi.”
The little girl nodded her head emphatically as she agreed.
He led the group to video village and when they stepped inside. L.J., the sound tech, handed out headphones so they could hear what was going on as they watched the monitors. Shayne’s face filled the screen and Jazzy’s face lit up as she watched her, barely able to contain her excitement.
Evan could relate. He felt the same way. Every time he saw Shayne, a feeling that he couldn’t quite describe, and never wanted to go away, filled him.
They did several takes of the scene before Kyle yelled cut and an AD announced that they were moving on to a new deal, which Evan now knew meant that they’d be shooting the same scene with a different camera setup. That could take up to an hour, so he figured that now would be a good time for introductions.
He escorted the group out of the tent and waited as Kyle stood talking to Shayne for several minutes.
Beside him, Noelle and Jazzy watched in wonder as the crew hustled around them. It hit him then that this all seemed normal to him now. A few weeks ago, this environment had been more than just a different world, it had felt like a different planet. Now it was just another Wednesday.
As soon as Kyle and Shayne finished talking, her eyes found Evan’s and a large smile spread across her face as she joined them. “Hi!”
“Shayne, I’d like you to meet Jasmine.” Evan began the introductions.
Just like he’d seen her do at the community center, Shayne crouched down so that she was eye-level with her young fan. “It’s so nice to meet you, Jasmine.”
“My friends call me Jazzy.” Jasmine looked at Shayne like she couldn’t believe she was real.
“I love your sweatshirt, Jazzy.”
“You gave it to me!” The little girl beamed.
“Indirectly,” Noelle corrected as she ran her hand through Jazzy’s hair.
Evan figured this was a good time to finish the introductions. “Shayne, this is Noelle.”
“Hi,” Shayne stood and smiled brightly. “It’s so nice to meet you.”
Evan motioned beside her. “And her fiancé—”
“Tate.” Shayne pointed at him as recognition dawned on her face. “Dr. York, right? We met at Good Morning Sacramento.”
“That’s right.” He smiled, looking a little surprised.
“Then that means you are my biggest fan!” she turned her attention back to Jazzy.
“I am!” Jasmine bounced on her heels.
Evan watched as Shayne talked to Jazzy about school, her pet iguana, and her love of coloring. Jazzy told Shayne all about her best friend, Holly, and that she was the reigning champion at Candy Crush.
He loved watching people interact with Shayne. It seemed it wasn’t just him who found her easy to talk to. Whoever she was talking to always felt like the most important person in the world. He’d watched time and time again as people left their conversations like the sun had just shone solely on them.
She had that kind of power.
“Shayne,” a PA approached her. “Chester is waiting for you in your trailer.”
Evan watched as a flash of dread crossed Shayne’s face.
“Do you want me to tell him you’ll be a few minutes?” the PA asked.
“No. I’m coming.”
Shayne said her goodbyes to them and promised to send Jazzy some more swag and then headed toward her trailer.
He watched as she walked away and she glanced over her shoulder, scrunching her nose a tiny bit at him. It was something that she’d started doing as a private signal to him when they were on set or when people were around. It sent a warmth spreading through him. A peace. A balance.
“I met Mindy Reader,” Jazzy spoke in reverent wonder as her idol walked away.
“Do you guys want a tour of the set?” Evan asked.
“Yes!” Jasmine hopped up and down.
As he showed them around and introduced them to the crew, he noticed that Noelle kept staring at him with an odd expression. When they got to Bruce, the stunt coordinator, both Tate and Jazzy were enthralled as he told them about his time working on the Harry Potter movies.
With their attention occupied, Evan turned to Noelle. “What?”
She stared up at him. “Are you and Shayne…?”
Her voice trailed off, but she didn’t need to finish her question. He knew what she was asking. He didn’t know how to respond. He didn’t want to lie, not to Noelle, but he and Shayne had agreed to keep whatever was going on private.
“You are,” she breathed as her eyes grew wider. “Is it serious?”
Once again, he didn’t know how to answer that. On his end, it was as serious as it got, but—
“It is,” her green eyes grew even wider. “Do you love her?”
He did, but since he hadn’t even told Shayne that, he wasn’t about to tell his ex.
“You do,” she quietly gasped.
“Do you even need me here for this conversation?” he asked.
“No.” She shook her head as tears started filling her bottom lids and a smile spread across her face. She immediately lifted her hand and wiped beneath her eyes. “Sorry, I’m emotional.” She placed her hands over her belly as she looked down. When she looked back up she was smiling even wider and she pulled him in for a hug. “I’m so happy for you. She’s a very lucky girl.”
He hugged her back. “You do realize I never said that we were—”
She leaned back and placed her hand on his arm as a few errant tears dropped down her cheeks. “You didn’t have to. I know you. I know that look. I’ve seen it before.”
“I’m sorry, Noelle.” He hated that he wasn’t the man that she’d deserved. “For everything.”
“You okay?” Concern colored Tate’s voice as he stepped beside Noelle and wrapped a protective arm around her back.
“Yep. Everything is exactly how it should be. It’s perfect.” Noelle’s eyes shimmered with unshed tears as she lifted up on her toes and kissed her fiancé’s cheek.
As he watched Noelle with Tate, Evan knew that she was right and he felt a great sense of peace. He wasn’t a big believer in fate or things happening for a reason. He believed that people made their own fate and things happened because of people’s actions.
But in that moment, a weight lifted off his shoulders. Not only because he’d been able to apologize to Noelle but also because maybe she was right. Maybe everything was exactly as it should be. Maybe it was perfect.