“I think I’m going to vomit.”
“So perfectly normal then?” I thread my arm through his. “I wish Mia were here.”
“Don’t want to perform?” he asks.
“I’m excited about performing, but it still feels like her role.”
Mark chuckles softly. “It was her role until you took it over. It’s your role now, EvanAnn. You’ve made it yours. We’re going to show everyone what a great actoranddirector you are.”
I take a deep breath and lift my chin to meet his gaze. “Thank you.”
He smiles. “Break a leg.”
I walk out on stage to get us started.
“I just want to thank you all for coming tonight. We have an amazing cast and show to put on for you.” I see my guys in the audience and smile. “We all appreciate the people in our lives who support us during the crazy schedule of rehearsals and performances. We couldn’t do it without all of you. So thank you.”
I kiss my fingertips and blow them to the audience.
“Please enjoy yourselves as you watch Shakespeare’sOthello.”
CHAPTER 50
Damon
Evan isamazing at what she does, so I’m not surprised when she gets the invitation to the summer internshipandgets a call from Sandra Cox. I’m working at my desk on calculus homework when Evan takes the call into her room.
After fifteen minutes, she returns and straddles my lap at the desk. Her stormy eyes meet mine, and I wait.
“She wanted me to do the mentorship.”
“That’s amazing, little devil.” I run my hands over her back. “She’d be insane to pass on you.”
Evan sighs and leans back to look me in the eyes. “I told her I decided to go to college first, but that I’d love to try to work something out with her while I attend classes.”
“Evan, what happened to we don’t settle?” I search her eyes.
“It’s not settling if I choose you, Hawk, and Cam. It’s not settling to go to a fantastic program at Crowne Mawr instead of straight into industry. It’s not settling when I have a summer internship already that I’d have to give up for this mentorship.” She threads her fingers into my hair. “I love directing, but I also want to get back to acting. If I do the mentorship, it will be making a choice again. I want the option to act for now. Besides, I can try for the mentorship in a few years if I still want it,but right now, I want to be with you and Cam and Hawk. My career will wait or just be different, but I want to start our lives together.”
“You won’t regret it?” I have to ask, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“Do you regret this year? I know it wasn’t what you had planned. It changed how you were going to get to the NHL. Do you regret it?” She braces herself.
If I had the chance all over again and knew what I know now, would I still choose to go? Would I choose hockey over her, Cam, and Hawk? It’s not a choice I really have to make. Everything happened the way it was supposed to happen.
I grab her hips and stand. She squeaks and wraps herself around me, more fully. When I lower her onto the bed, she crawls back as I crawl over her.
“Even if I went, you still would have been under my roof when I came back, Evan. You were inevitable. We were inevitable. I wouldn’t change it because I can’t. But there’s no way in any form of this world the four of us don’t end up together.”
She cups my jaw and lifts her mouth to almost touch mine. “I’m choosing us. But also still chasing my dream. I earned the summer internship. I earned my spot in the freshman class and the full ride scholarship at Crowne Mawr. Yes, Sandra Cox chose me, and it’s a fucking honor and I would spend a year earning her respect, but I’m good with what I’ve already earned.”
“I love you, little devil.”
She smiles wickedly. “I love you. Now kiss me so we can get back to calculus.”
Cam
I sit next to Evan at the dining room table. Hawk sits on her other side while Damon sits beside me. Our parents are all here for dinner. It’s been a few weeks since we last all sat down together when Evan needed a place to stay.
