Page 28 of A Reel Christmas in Romance
He was packed upand ready to go. One final check of the room, and he could leave Romance behind forever. But before he could do that final check, there was a knock at the door. More of a pounding at the door, really. But who could it be? The only person in town he knew at all well wouldn’t want to see him, and didn’t know where he was staying anyway.
“Hang on, I’m coming.” Jack went to the door, and didn’t bother with the peephole. There was no point; he’d discovered his first night here that it didn’t actually work. He opened the door, and – how was it possible? – there was Marianne.
An hour ago, out on the street and then in the diner, he’d been so preoccupied with what he had to say to her that he hadn’t really registered what she was wearing. But now that he looked at her properly, the only word that came to mind, and it was horribly inadequate, was an almost breathless “Wow.”
“Thanks,” she said, grinning. That had to be a good sign, didn’t it? But it still didn’t explain how she was here at his doorstep.
No, now she was inside. She barged in without an invitation. “You remember my box-office girl, Jessie?” Marianne didn’t wait for him to answer. “She’s good at finding information on the internet. It’s pretty frightening how good she is, tell you the truth. Anyway, she got your boss’ cell phone number, don’t ask me how she dug that up. So I called her and got her to tell me where you were staying, and here I am.”
She sat herself down on the sofa. He only now noticed that her dog was with her. “You called Amanda?”
She nodded. “Once I explained everything, she was happy to tell me where you were.”
Both Marianne and the dog were staring hard at him. He was frozen in place. All he could do was mumble, “What did you explain?”
Her grin became a broad, beaming smile. “I told her all about your stupid, ridiculous lie, and what an idiot I felt like when I found out the truth, and how in spite of all that, I still needed to talk to you, because,” now she hesitated for a moment, although the smile didn’t waver a bit. “Because I still like you. Both of you, Jack and the Duck-Man. Maybe it’s more than like. If this was one of my movies – you’ve seen a few of them now, you know what always happens at the end – I’d ask you to marry me right here, right now.”
Marry? Was she insane?
Maybe she was. Maybe he was, too, because if she asked him right now, he’d probably say yes. Staring into those green-blue, or blue-green eyes, looking at that unbelievable smile, there wouldn’t be any other possible answer.
Marianne laughed. “Real life isn’t a movie. I’m not going to propose to you tonight.” She got up, walked over to him. “Tonight, I’m just going to do this,” she said, and then she threw her arms around his neck, and she kissed him, kissed him like he’d never been kissed before. And he knew that he didn’t need to answer her in words; all he had to do was kiss her back.
So he did.
