"Killed somebody," I said.
"Whoa," he said, backing up a little.
I laughed. "We all did," I said. "We all killed the guys we were with at the time. It's a whole song about how 'he had it comin'.Except for one of us. One girl declares in the song that she's not guilty."
"Not you, though?"
"No, my character's guilty," I said. "She straight up admits it. I think it's really the only scene I'm in," I said. "But it's a cool scene. James said I'll probably have other responsibilities."
"Is James doing the show?"
"Oh, yeah. He's amazing. He's playing Billy Flynn."
"Is that impressive?" he asked, taking another big bite of food. I watched him do it, thinking that Billy Flynn wasn't impressive at all.
"Yes," I said, trying my best to be normal and not to get distracted. "It's the role he was hoping for. It's the biggest male role in the show."
"And what about you? Is this the role you were hoping for?"
"More, actually. I feel good about it, and I'm happy, but I would have been fine with a lesser role. I'm excited to do it, though. I feel happy that Collin chose me."
"Who's Collin?"
"He's the director."
Ash asked me more questions about the play while we ate. I knew he was in the middle of remodeling a house to sell, and I asked him how that was going. Ash's food was gone before mine, and he told me about his house while I finished eating. Before I knew it, over an hour had passed, and we were both sitting there with empty plates. I took our dishes to the sink, and I stood there feeling hyperaware that he was looking at me. I straightened my posture and tried to look as presentable as possible from behind. Ash got up and came over to where I was standing as I rinsed the dishes.
"What can I do to help?" he asked again, even though I had told him I had it under control.
"Nothing, I'm leaving them. I'll do these in a minute." I finished rinsing them and left them neatly stacked in one side of the sink. I washed my hands using the other side.
"My brother asked me for your number," he said as I was finishing.
I glanced at him with a disbelieving expression that morphed into a smile. "You mean before I told him about my daughter?"
"No, he called me later—a few days after we saw you at the restaurant."
"Oh, come on, I saw how white he turned," I said, still smiling and being lighthearted.
He shook his head. "I guess he had time to think about it."
There was a pause, and then I said, "What did you tell him?"
He glanced at me. His blue eyes met mine, and I wanted to melt. He was an absolute heartthrob. "I told him 'no'," he said in a matter-of-fact tone.
"Because you know he'd just play around with me?" I asked.
He paused, still staring at me with those scorching eyes. I was burning up.
"No, Audrey, I just told him he's not having you. Not that I get to say who… but… no. It's just a 'no' for my brother. I'm sorry."
"Is it because you and I had a thing that one time?"
I didn't care about his brother.
I was just asking to flirt with Ash.
He knew what I was doing. He reached out and slowly touched my arm, then he took a step, and the next thing I knew, he was behind me, touching me lightly with his hands on my arms.
