Everyone chanted loudly. “One. Two. Three!” We all raised our hands and stared at each other with a stupid grin on our faces.
God, I loved theatre!
We all walked through the door and into the backstage area, where we all got into our places before the curtain opened.
“Good evening, everyone.” Jim must have walked out on stage. There was a splattering of applause. “Thank you, but save it for these hard-working performers. I want to thank you all for being here tonight and to remind you that the Playhouse is a non-profit and we depend on the generosity of this town to keep the lights on. Tonight, we have a surprise for you. Our General Director, Finn, will be performing in the shows this weekend as Ebenezer Scrooge, a part that is definitely not type casting.” The audience laughed. “Our Scrooge, Jack, has come down with what appears to be a nasty case of the flu. WE wish him a speedy recovery, but we’re also excited to see our Broadway star in action on our stage for the very first time.”
“Oh, God… overkill.” I groaned.
“Sit back and relax and enjoy Christmas Carol the Musical.”
The audience applauded, and the stage went black. I took a deep breath as the curtain slowly opened.
4
JIM
My mind was blown.
Watching someone that you love do something that they excel in is maybe the best thing in the entire world. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. I almost missed a light cue because of it. He lit up the stage in a way that I had never seen before. He was electric and his voice – even with the way he aged his voice for Scrooge… It was beautiful.
I had watched him dance many times on the stage as he practiced and came up with choreography for the musicals fairly often. But watching him in character in front of an audience… He was miraculous.
He commanded the stage.
I got so hard…
Even with the bald cap and scraggly hair – the wrinkles – the patchy beard…
I got hard.
By the time the show ended, I couldn’t believe that this was the person I planned on spending my life with. I mean, I shouldn’t be surprised. He was a Broadway performer before he injured himself and came here to run the theatre. But to see himperform for the first time was… It made me fall even harder in love with him.
AS he came out to bow, Buffy carried him a large bouquet that I had bought him, and he held it to his face and sniffed before looking up at me and winking. The audience wouldn’t stop applauding, and he took another bow before the rest of the cast joined him for one more altogether.
I hit the button, and the curtains began to close.
The audience kept applauding. You should always leave them wanting more.
I turned the house lights on and stepped out of the booth to open the lobby doors. The chatter was all about how good Finn was and how great the show was. This was going to be good for the end-of-the-year donations. I knew Finn was working hard to raise money. It was part of the general director's job. I think he was surprised by how good he actually was at it.
I was in awe of him. It was funny how the first time I met him, I couldn’t stand him. I felt like he thought he was slumming by being here. I mean, he left New York City and the life he knew behind to start all over again here in our small town. It hadn’t taken long for me to start falling for him, though. He was too handsome and charming for his own good.
It hit me like a brick as I stood there and watched him greet the audience with the rest of the cast. His smile lit up his face.
I knew exactly what I would get him for Christmas.
It was the only thing – the thing that I wanted, and I hoped he did too.
I stood there and grinned as I thought about him opening the gift.
“You’re staring like a psychopath,” Buffy droned as she slapped me on the back. “Seriously, bro. You are way too smitten with our new star. I think the town will want him to do a show every year.”
“He doesn’t want to do that.”
“Wait until he sees the money that we can get. I’ll break his arm if I have to just to get him back on that stage. He was fucking fabulous. People were dropping money in the donation jar.”
“Fabulous. He was, wasn’t he?”
