He didn’t expect much. He’d simply GoogledBroadway singing and dancing, then bought tickets to the first show available, even though the price had made him choke. Thank god Jackson was paying, because when they walked into the theater, he’d resigned himself to spending the next three hours taking the most expensive nap of his life. But when the lights went down and the glitz and glamor flowered onstage, his spine straightened.
Then everyone started singing.
Within minutes, Nick realized he’d chosen a love story. And not just any love story. One that sucker-punched him right in the gut.
Up onstage, Satine and Christian fell hopelessly in love. The two couldn’t live without each other, yet circumstances kept tearing them apart, and it was like watching his own life play out in song.
Well, not quite—Aubrey could definitely live without him. But holy shit, did he know how Christian felt, especially at the end, when Satine succumbed to her illness and left him heartbroken and alone, forever longing for something he could never have again.
When the lights went up, Nick cleared his throat a half dozen times. He fiddled with the zipper on his jacket. Scrubbed at his hair. Sniffed hard enough to suck his eyeballs dry. Only then did he risk a look at Jackson.
And promptly breathed a mile-long sigh of relief.
Tears streaked Jackson’s dark cheeks. He’d locked his fingers around his armrests and stared at the now-quiet stage. All around, women in evening dresses and men in suit coats filtered out of the theater.
Nick gave his friend a shoulder bump. “Hey. You okay?”
“Yeah, man. That was just... Wow. That was something.”
“Yeah.” Nick wished he didn’t sound so hoarse. “It really was.”
“What I wouldn’t give to findmySatine.” Jackson peeled his hands from the seat and pulled a handkerchief from his pocket. He blew, loud and unrepentant.
“Hey, what do you mean? Aren’t you dating that woman from the bakery? The one who gives you those orange-cranberry muffins every morning? Giselle?”
“Nah,” Jackson said thickly. “She ghosted me. After fivereallygood dates. I even went into the bakery last week, asked why she’d stopped answering the phone. She said she’d gotten back with her ex-boyfriend. She made it awkward, too. Like she thought it was weird I was even in there. I guess I have to find a new breakfast place now.”
“Shit, that sucks.” Nick slumped in his seat. “Those muffins were fucking amazing.”
Jackson gave a wet laugh. “That’s all you’ve got?”
“Well. What do you want me to say? The muffins sound like a bigger loss than the girl.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Jackson sighed. He continued to study the drawn curtains, like maybe Satine would come bursting back through and throw herself into his arms. “I just wish I knewwhat it felt like to be that sure of someone, you know? Even if my girl left me at the end, it’d have to be better than all these... dead ends. I mean, what’s that thing people say? It’s better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all? Who was that, Shakespeare?”
“Alfred Lord Tennyson.” Nick took a long breath. “But he didn’t know what he was talking about, trust me. It’s hard enough to find someone who gets you. But to find her andthenlose her? It’s some next-level, you-aren’t-coming-back-from-this kinda shit. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. It’d be better not to know. Not to understand what’s missing.”
Jackson swiveled. The overhead light careened off the tear-tracks on his cheeks. “That was you and Aubrey, then? Like those two up there?”
“Uh... yeah.” Nick wished he hadn’t invited the question. But whatever. No point in lying. “Pretty much exactly that. At least for me.”
Jackson shook his head. He opened his mouth, then closed it, but apparently couldn’t hold back. “You ever wonder if you should move out? Movehere?”
Nick tugged at the hem of his jacket. “Trick question. I’ve got Paige.”
“She’d understand.”
“No, man. She’s sixteen. It’s not an option. I promised her I wasn’t going anywhere, and I’m not a liar. I’m not my dad.”
Jackson heaved another sigh. “Yeah, okay. I guess I don’t know how that works, really.”
Nick squashed down the urge to sit here matching his buddy tear for tear. “Look, all I’m saying is you’re in a better situation than you realize. Because peoplealsosay ignorance is bliss. And there’s a reason for that.”
Jackson made a pass over his face with the hankie, then wadded it up and pocketed it. “Yeah,” he grunted. “Maybe.”
Neither of them made any move to get up. Muted chatter drifted through the open doors, but the theater yawned around them, cavernous. Nick’s mind offered up an image of one of those Russian nesting dolls. An empty shell inside an empty shell.
Jackson broke the quiet with a loud sniff. “Hey, I think our hotel has a gym. What do you say we go beat the crap out of each other?”
