She glanced Ash's way, and with a smile and a finger in the air, she said, "One second," to him. They only held eye contact for a heartbeat, and she was pulled into the crowd.
Ash watched it all transpire.
He had no idea what he was seeing at first, but Luna pulled her to a lady Audrey didn't expect to see. There was a huge moment of surprise, and Ash was about three seconds into it when he figured out that it was Audrey's mother from Colorado. Luna was adorably jumping up and down with excitement, and Audrey hugged her mother, who handed her flowers.
Ash's family was standing to the side waiting for him, and he could hear them talking about what they wanted for dinner. He wondered what having her mother in town meant for him. Most of all, he just wanted to be next to her. It was extremely difficult to wait when he was so anxious to see her and touch her. Absence had made the heart grow fonder. His heart was entirely too fond. It ached with fondness.
Audrey talked to her mom and to Josie and Luna, and then she looked over at Ash. She headed his way, glancing at Carly and saying something before turning back to Ash. She walked toward him. He held out the flowers to offer them to her, and she shook her head, beaming. She took the flowers from him, settling them next to the other ones she was carrying before reaching out to hug him. Her cheeks were pink, and Ash felt like he could just die happy now that he was finally holding her.
They embraced for too short a time, and then she pulled back, smiling up at him. She kept a hold of his hand with her free hand.
"I can't believe you're here," she said, staring into his eyes. "I thought you were coming back on Wednesday."
She let go of his hand. It was casual, and he didn't expect her to hold it like that, but he missed the contact.
"Luke was really cool about me coming back early. I didn't even have to tell him why. Is your mom here?"
"Yes!" she said, her eyes widening. "That's what I was about to tell you."
"You did amazing, by the way. The show was awesome, and you were so good, Audrey."
"Thank you. Thank you for coming."
"We loved it."
"You brought your family?" she said, with a glance behind him.
"Yes, and we're going out to dinner. I was going to see if you wanted to come—you and your people. I guess you might need to make other plans now that your mom's here, but—"
"I don't want to leave you," she said. She tucked herself behind those flowers in the cutest way possible and said it so quietly that only Ash could hear.
"Me neither," he returned instantly, staring at her adorable face. "Let's all go out to eat."
She glanced at him and nodded. "What about Carly?"
He nodded. "Whoever you want. Let's all just go."
"Where are we going?"
"Tony's," Ash said, without hesitating. He had heard his family mention it, and he knew it would be easy.
Audrey nodded. "I'll tell them."
They all went in several vehicles to the Italian restaurant where Ash had run into Audrey a few months ago. She hadbeen about to audition for the musical, and now she had just performed in the final show. It was a full circle moment, but Ash hadn't mentioned as much to Audrey because they hadn't had the time. They rode in separate vehicles to the restaurant.
He was already seated when Audrey came in. Her mom, Josie, and Luna were with her. Ash had no idea what Audrey had told her mom, but she was checking him out like she knew they were more than friends. It had probably been a dead giveaway that he gave her an expensive bouquet of roses and couldn't take his eyes off her.
Ash was used to waiting, though. Everything about this relationship was going slower than he wished it would, but he was good at pretending to be unaffected. He thought of her on that stage with the legs and the stockings and high heels, and he really, really wanted to rush things along. He wanted to cover her with a long fur coat and a sign around her neck that said 'property of Ashton Adams'. He smiled at the silly chain of thoughts.
"What's your favorite color of horse?"
He heard Luna ask the question in his direction, and he turned to see that she was looking at his brother, who was sitting next to him. Everyone was sitting at one large table at Tony's, and Luna was entertaining them all with questions.
"Me?" Mason said. "My favorite color horse? Brown, I guess. Maybe brown with white spots."
"Brown is Ash's favorite," Luna said, with wide eyes and an expression full of certainty. She glanced at Ash, who smiled and tilted his head at her. He didn't want to contradict her, but he had never even thought about his favorite color horse.
"I do like brown ones," he said. "How did you know that?"
