Page 124 of Men or Paws
ChapterTwenty-Five
Beth
It’s official. I’m positively and completely in love with Rocco Romano.
And it was the best feeling ever.
It’s possible I was already in love with him when we went to the comedy club two nights ago. But any doubts I had disappeared after spending the day with him yesterday and watching him write two million-dollar checks to charity, one to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital and the other to SPCA International. I adored Rocco for his generosity and empathy toward humans and animals. There were so many other things I loved about him, too many to count.
As for yesterday, it was an amazing day, although there were moments when I felt guilty. Guilty that I was still being paid to watch Houdini even though I went for a swim with Rocco in the morning, had lunch with him in the afternoon, not to mention the coffee we’d shared later in the day after he finished a couple of conference calls. We even watched a movie together in his home theater in the evening.
Grease, of course.
I still hadn’t managed to get him to sing “Sandy” to me, but I wasn’t giving up on that just yet. I couldn’t wait to hear what his singing voice did to me, but it would probably turn me into mush.
For now, there were more important things to think about.
Like letting Rocco know how I felt about him.
I’d told him about my feelings in a greeting card and left it with a gift in his walk-in closet last night, but he obviously hadn’t seen them yet, since he didn’t say anything when he dropped off Houdini this morning.
Unfortunately, anything Rocco-related would have to wait until later when he picked up Houdini, since he had meetings lined-up most of the day.
I was loading dishes into the dishwasher when my phone rang with a call from Holly.
“Good morning!” I said, excited that Holly would be the first person to know how madly in love I was. “Isn’t it a beautiful day today?”
Holly hesitated. “Beth . . .” She sighed.
I knew her well enough to know something was wrong.
“What’s going on?” I said. “Is everything okay?”
“You aren’t watching the news?” Holly asked.
I blinked a couple of times, wondering what she was talking about.
The tone of her voice suggested something was wrong.
“What happened?” I said. “Is it Josh?”
“No,” Holly said. “Quick. Turn on channel five.”
“Okay . . .” I scrambled for the remote on the table next to the couch, clicked on the TV, and went to channel five. “There’s a Prozac commercial on right now.”
“I know. Just wait.”
Something was definitely going on. I didn’t understand why she was being so vague. The simple fact that she pointed me to the news on TV scared me. The only thing it could be about was Rocco.
“What’s wrong?” I demanded.
My heart pounded in my chest as the commercial ended and the news came on.
“Hollywood is buzzing again with rumors about Rocco Romano’s next big project,” Jack Marston, the news anchor, said. “For the latest entertainment news, let’s go to Skip Jenson who is live at the American Comedy Company in Downtown San Diego.”
The reporter nodded. “That’s right, Jack, the rumors are swirling faster than the new rollercoaster at SeaWorld. It all started forty-eight hours ago when comedian Josh Myers proposed to his girlfriend, Holly, on stage at the end of his act here at the American Comedy Company.”
I started to relax at the mention of the proposal.
