“Oh, really?” I tease.
“Yep. The moment that arrow thunked into the tree trunk next to me three years ago so I could get back up that incline.”
I soften at the memory. “Our first kiss -”
“Was not the way it should have been,” he says ruefully. “And I want a do-over.”
My eyebrows lift. “When?”
Nate’s gaze hones in on my lips. “Now,” he says, capturing them again in a kiss that makes me wonderfully giddy.
His arms crush around me, his breath unsteady.
I feel invincible. Not because of the medal, though that helps.
Because of this. Because ofhim.
***
Nate - A Few Months Later
I don’t belong in this building.
That’s not insecurity talking; it’s the constant whispered awe that echoes every time I walk through the stage door:
“That’s Nate Woodruff.”
“He was on that western show, right?”
“How did he go from TV tothis?”
Thisis the National Theatre. My dream job I never dared to dream.
TheOlivierstage.
Much Ado About Nothingthis season,Hamletlast season.
Standing ovations nearly every night.
Tonight, though, the applause hits different. Because Ally is in the audience.
She’s seen me act on stage before. But she has never watched me command one this big, this historic, this absolutely unforgiving. It’s taken everything I have, and I’ve never felt such satisfaction in my career before.
I still get to act inCochise County, and I’m enjoying it considerably more now that I’m pursuing something just for me, not just what is expected. It means a lot of flying and a new deftness with jetlag, but it’s working so far.
In fact, I’d call it a wild success. My write ups are an absolute dream:Who knew the Cochise County heartthrob had such depth as an actor?Even Dad told me he was proud of me afterHamlet,and I doubt he understood half the script. I do suspect, however, that it was largely because Fallon had agreed to move back in with him the day before. The smart woman won’t marry him again, which drives him nuts, but he knows how lucky he is to have whatever she allows.
Ally watched me tonight with a small, secret smile I could see even from the boards. It took all my professional discipline not to smile back… Though I looked her way for a split second as Benedick laughed at something Beatrice said.
And again, for the length of a heartbeat, when I said the line,I do love nothing in the world so well as you…
After the curtain falls and the cast floods backstage with adrenaline and makeup-smudged grins, I slip away, through the maze of corridors, because I know exactly where she’ll be waiting. Stage door. Her hands in her pockets, her hair pulled back, her expression attempting calm and failing adorably.
“Nate!”
I turn, grinning when I see Leo Mills, my favorite tattoo artist and good friend, walking over with his wife, Sadie. “Mate, you nailed it,” he declares as he hugs me. “I absolutely understood every single word.”
“He did,” Sadie says, giving me a fist bump while I’m still wrapped in Leo’s arms, having my back slapped like he’s trying to clear a blockage. “Heactually laughedwhen you realized Beatrice was into you.” She grins. “Thanks for the tickets, by the way.”
