By the time she arrived, Hawk had disengaged with the vendor.His face was a mask of cool regard as he asked, “Ms.Brody, how may I help you?”
“Why did you approve me for a show?”The question flew from her lips without any preamble.Lilian mentally winced as she realized it made her sound belligerent while Hawk still held the appearance of the calm, collected businessman.Not a great start, but at least it cut out all the niceties.There was no being nice to Hawk.
His brows rose.“I thought it was a good idea, and Alex made it sound like you wanted to do it.”
Alex?How was it that she was Ms.Brody, but Alex was… Alex?
“Was that wrong of me to presume?”Hawk continued.
Lilian shook off her annoyance at something as mundane as names and titles and focused on the task at hand.“Yes,” she answered quickly, and then, “No.I mean… it’s complicated.”
Hawk looked annoyed.It wasn’t as obvious as Lilian’s own emotions; he was much too robotic for that.But she did notice the slight dip in his lips.“You don’t want to do a show on Sunday mornings?”
“I don’t.”
“Okay, then you won’t.”His shoulders gave an easy shrug as he turned his attention back to his clipboard.“I’ll talk to Alex about a backup.”
Backup?Shit, they still needed something to fill time.“Wait!”she cried, knowing that at this point he probably thought she was crazy.Lilian closed her eyes, her mind whirling with the possibilities.When she opened them, Hawk was staring at her expectantly.There was something about his eyes that set her on edge and made her brain shortcircuit.She took a deep breath and tried again, “Never mind.I’ll do it.”
His brows narrowed.“I’m not forcing you.”
“No, you're not.But Alex is stressing out about doing another show, and she needs this.”She sucked on the inside of her cheek and considered her options.Nothing else presented itself.It was either do the show or not.
Hawk tapped his monstrous pen against his clipboard.“Are you going to change your mind again in the next five seconds, or can I trust that we’ll have a new show next week?”
Lilian opened her mouth on a retort before she noticed the corners of his lips had twitched up.Italmostlooked like a real smile.But that couldn’t be right.
She forced her tone to meet his.Neutral.Unattached.Committed to the decision.“I’m not going to change my mind.”
“Good, because I really don’t want to fight with Alex about dead space in our programming.”
There it was again.The ease and way he talked about Alex.They must be friends, or at least closer than Lilian had thought.But Alex had never said anything.In fact, a few hours ago, she’d agreed that Hawk was a dictator in khaki shorts.
“Can I ask you a question?”
Hawk paused, his gaze holding her captive once again.“Ask away.”
“Why did you say yes to me doing a show?”She quickly added, “I mean, you barely know me, and I’m not an actor.It could be a shit show.”Itwasgoing to be a shit show, but she didn’t see the need to point that out now.
Hawk was quiet as he searched for the right words that were probably the professional way of saying “I had no choice,” or maybe he was doing it to help Alex out as well.
Instead, he said, “Because it sounded like a good idea.”
“It did?”
“Yeah.I’m willing to give good ideas chances when they are presented to me, plus my mom loved the idea and wouldn’t let me turn it down even if I wanted to.”
“Aha!”Lilian pointed an accusing finger at him.“So your mom is the reason you approved it.”
“She wasareason.”He punctuated theawith a twirl of his pen.“And ultimately, nothing happens here without her or my dad’s approval.But I wouldn’t have brought it up to them if I didn’t think it could work.”
“Oh.”A wave of emotions flooded through her.Ones she wasn’t very familiar with.Pride, maybe.And that same low hum of trepidation that had followed her all day.“And if it doesn’t work out?”
“Then it doesn’t work out,” Hawk said.“We figure something else out.It doesn’t hurt to try new things.Right?”
“Right,” she agreed, surprised by how much comfort she found in that logic.If this whole thing crashed and burned, it wouldn’t be the end of the world.
That same tight feeling pinched at her insides.Anxiety.She knew it well from long waits in the doctors’ offices, from holding her breath and hoping for good news.And that’s when it hit her, quietly but firmly.
