“This… this is wonderful,” she whispered. “The air smells incredible. A picture of this place would be breathtaking, but it could never do it justice. It wouldn’t include the aromas in the air, or the sound of the birds, or that wind!” A ruffle of sweet spring air blew against their faces as she said the words.
“This is one of my favorite spots,” he said. “Not a lot of people come here, at least not all that often. Tourists don’t usually find out about it. It’s kind of a local secret.”
Delilah gasped eagerly and whirled in his direction. “How secret is it?”
He cocked his head to one side, confused. “What do you mean?”
“We’ve been looking for a place to film the proposal scene for our movie,” she told him. “This place is absolutely perfect.” She gestured to the pink blossoms of the roses that bobbed in the wind and the sparkling froth of the fountains. “I’m sure we’d never be able to find a spot more beautiful than this.”
“It’s definitely not too secret for that,” Tom said. “I’m sure everyone in Rosewood Beach would love for this place to feature in a Hollywood movie. I think more people should get to see it, don’t you?”
“Mmhmm.” She stepped over to a white metal bench tucked along a line of rose bushes and sat down. “It’s marvelous. This is just what that scene needs.”
Tom sat down next to her, feeling suddenly shy but experiencing a desire to be close to her that was even stronger than his jitters. “Tell me about the proposal scene.”
“Oh, it’s very dramatic,” she said, looking off across the gardens as if she was envisioning the story in her head. “The heroine of the movie feels that she shouldn’t be in love with the man that’s proposing to her, since they come from extremely different backgrounds. It’s got a bit of aRomeo and Julietelement to it, for sure. She’s filled with longing for him, but she’s also afraid it isn’t going to work out. There’s a struggle going on inside of her, and of course the audience is going to want her to say yes. Usually, proposal scenes happen at the end of a movie and you know what the woman is going to say, but in this case, she doesn’t say yes right away. I love how dramatic it is. It should really have people sitting on the edge of their seats.”
“That does sound dramatic. Do you remember some of the lines?”
“I’d better, we’re filming it soon.” She laughed. “Let’s see…”
Suddenly, a shift came over her as she clicked into character. Tom could see a new, performed persona settling over her, but underneath it was her own eyes, shining with sincerity as she spoke the words.
“You don’t really mean you want to marry me, do you?” she gasped out, her tone light-hearted. She then laughed breathlessly and seemed to be waiting for a response. Tom felt as though he needed to answer her, and he found himself nodding.
“But—but you can’t mean it,” she said, her tone becoming more intense as her character realized what was really going on. “It’s been so wonderful getting to know you like this, but I thought you knew that we could never be together like that.”
Tom, still feeling as though it was his line, cleared his throat gently. He found himself getting swept up in the story. He knew she was speaking her lines from the script, but he couldn’t helpthinking of their own situation. How they were getting to know each other, and it was wonderful, but they could never really be together. His heart ached a little as he thought about it, finding himself suddenly filled with longing that they lived in a world in which they could have been together.
“We come from two different worlds,” she said, her voice a whisper. Instead of looking off across the garden, she turned to Tom and looked directly into his eyes. He felt his core get hot and then cold and then hot again. “There is no way that you would feel accepted in my world. Even if you did, your world would not accept me.”
Tom shook his head. His heart was pounding now, and he felt as though she was really speaking the words to him. In the back of his mind, he wondered if she really was. It was possible that she was taking the lines from the movie and turning them into a real conversation with him.
“I would accept you,” Tom said, his voice almost a whisper. “And that’s all that matters, isn’t it? If we accept each other?”
“I can’t pretend that I don’t feel things for you,” Delilah said, and Tom wondered if her words were still part of the script or if they were entirely hers. He could practically hear his blood rushing in his ears. “You’ve done an amazing job of inviting me into your world. I feel so at home when I’m with you, and it took me completely by surprise. I never thought that a world devoid of the glitz and glamour that inhabits my world could feel so much like home.”
“I’m glad you feel at home here,” he said, realizing that he’d begun to lean closer to her. “You’ve brought more excitement than you’ll ever know to our small town. And even more notably than your fame, your presence has been a particular gift to me.”
He wondered if it was the element of feeling as though they were still acting out a scene that allowed him to be so honest. He chose formal, romantic-sounding words, words that he wouldn’thave used in his real life, because it made it seem more like make-believe. But it wasn’t make-believe. He felt things for her he hadn’t felt for a woman in a very long time—maybe not ever. He wanted to express those things to her, but if they’d simply been sitting there talking as themselves, he never would have dared.
She was leaning in closer to him as well. Tom watched himself move as if he was a character in a film that he was viewing. He felt himself lean even closer to Delilah, and he didn’t stop himself. She smelled like lemons and vanilla, and he wondered how someone as famous as she was could smell so much like the way his childhood home had smelled.
Their lips met, and he felt the thrill of kissing her before he’d fully realized that it was happening.
I’m kissing Delilah Bates,he thought wildly and broke their kiss accidentally as he grinned.
Laughing and blushing, Delilah pulled her head back a little.
“I was hoping you’d do that,” she said softly.
He knew she wasn’t speaking lines from the movie now. It was as if a wall had been broken down between them, and they were finally able to admit to what they were feeling.
“Really?” He couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Wow.”
She laughed and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear shyly. He tucked more hair back behind her other ear, and then gently kissed her again.
They sat there quietly for a while, enjoying the beauty of the garden. Tom felt in awe of the unlikely relationship that they’d built together. Never in a million years would he have thought that he would be sitting in a garden with Delilah Bates and she would tell him that she’d been hoping he would kiss her.
