“Thank you. I have another sweater if this one doesn’t read well in the room.” I plucked at my pale-blue V-neck. “And is my makeup okay?” I turned so the box light was shining on my face.
Neil stopped fussing with wires to lean in next to Hailey and study me.
“Hails and I agree that you’re basically the most stunning human being we’ve ever seen in real life,” he replied, like it was a fact that he was corroborating.
“That’s his way of saying that this,” she waved her hand in front of my face, “is working. You look amazing.”
“Thank you,” I said softly.
She unwound the wires from the mic battery pack and handed it to me. “And don’t worry about the interview. You’ve probably already picked up on it, but Ben is shockingly good at this, despite not having a background in journalism. Some people just have a knack, you know?”
Yeah, I did, because it seemed like Ben could do anything he set his mind to. If I hadn’t learned to appreciate him it would’ve been annoying.
I paused. “Appreciate” wasn’t the right word at all. No, now the way I felt about Ben was something much bigger, a feeling that I couldn’t wrap my brain around to define.
“Hey, friends, good morning.”
The three of us turned in unison to see Ben standing in the doorway.
“Okay, look at you,” Hailey said with obvious admiration, pausing her mic’ing efforts. “I didn’t think it was possible for you to level up, but somehow you managed it.”
For the first time since he’d forced his way back in my life I actually allowed my heart to jig at the sight of Ben. I welcomed the butterflies swarming my belly. Our agreement was unchanged, even with the Blizzard Clause, but deep down I was nurturing tiny embers of hope that once we were on the other side of Italy, both victorious in our own ways, we’d find our way back to one another.
Ben looked... the only word I could come up with to describe it wasmore. More handsome, more professional, more smiley, more welcoming, more perfect than I ever thought he could be. It took real effort for me not to walk over to him and force myself into his arms.
He came over and cupped my elbow, the safest body part to touch in public. “You feeling okay? Sleep good?”
I gave him a secret smile.
“I did, actually. The beds in this place are so comfortable.”
Our eyes caught, and I wondered if what we were saying without words was as obvious as it felt.
“Hey, Ben, do you want to come check out the angles?” Neil asked, pointing to the cameras. “One is pointed at Quinn’s chair and two is on you.”
It was another small acknowledgment that Ben wasn’t just a talking head for the piece.
“Let’s see what you’ve got,” he replied as he headed over to Neil.
They had a conversation filled with words I didn’t understand, and before I knew it he was mic’ed up as well and we were ready to go.
I waited for the flood of nerves to wash over me as Ben settled in the chair across from me, but all I felt was comfortable.
And shockingly happy.
Ifinallybelieved that my story was safe in Ben’s capable hands.
“Okay, people, let’s do this,” Ben said. “We all have planes to catch in a few hours.”
My heart sank as I realized that this time I’d be flying alone. “Is everything on time?”
“Yeah,” Hailey said. “We’ll be good to go by this afternoon, and you’ll be back on track without us pestering you.”
“Next stop, Milan,” Neil added as he adjusted the lights. “Okay, I’m ready if you folks are. Can you slate, Ben?”
And we were off and running.
Ben slapped the clapperboard, took a moment to find his on-camera persona, and turned the full power of his incandescence on me.
