Page 25 of Forever Mine

I take my glasses off and pocket them in my shirt. “I don’t know. You think people will pay to see that? I’m not sure, Nat.”

She laughs. “Okay, how much are tickets?”

I wince. “One hundred dollars. But you get entertainment and food.”

She comes over to me and squats with her hands on my thighs. “Okay, so would you pay a hundred dollars to go see Ollie play soccer if he was invited to do something like this?”

Instantly, I’m nodding my head. “Yes, of course.”

She squeezes my legs. “And what about the rest of your family? They wouldn’t want to miss it either, right?”

I grab her arms and pull her onto my lap. “I think you’re on to something, Mrs. Blaze.”

I try to kiss her, but she’s pushing on my chest. “Stop, we can’t. We have so much to do. We need to come up with a plan. I bet all of them already have choreography for patriotic songs, and that would be great for the facility. We could have a theme.”

I interrupt her. “We do have a sound guy. We just need the music tracks.”

She claps her hands together. “See, it’s all working out. Okay, I’m going to call the dance coach and the high school. Can we do a rehearsal Friday morning?”

I nod. I’m not sure if it’s possible, but for her, I’ll pay whatever I need to pay to make sure the convention center can accommodate us. “Yes, sure. Whatever you need.”

She leans into me and hugs me. “Oh, this is so fun, Beau. I promise, I won’t let you down. It’s going to be perfect.”

She’s out of my arms before I can answer her. She’s walked across the room, holding up my phone. “I’m going to get calling. Oh, and can you send me ticket information so I can start selling tickets?”

I stand up and right my clothes. “Elle felt bad and said she can still work on selling tickets. I think she thought she was putting too much on us.”

Nat waves her phone at me. “Tell Elle not to worry. Consider the tickets sold. The families are going to buy tickets.”

I follow her, wanting to be close. “What can I do?”

“Well, I thought I’d go to the high school to meet with the band director and the cheerleading and dance coaches. Want to go with me?”

I hold my hand out to her. “Let’s do it.”

She looks at my hand and takes it in her own. She goes to her tiptoes and plants a kiss on me before sinking back to the heels of her feet. “Let’s do it.”

I walk with her through the gym. She stops to talk to Chloe for a minute, and we’re soon out the door. I know I have a long way to go, but I’m going to right all my wrongs.

Chapter14

Natalie

Idouble- and triple-check everything. The rehearsal this morning went off perfectly. It’s amazing what we’ve accomplished in such a short amount of time. The woman that teaches dance at the studio came up with a whole line-up of popular songs for the night, and everything just fell into place. The dance team and cheerleaders were able to adjust a dance for their song. The band already knew the song they were assigned. It worked out perfectly.

And now, here I am standing here all alone in my brand-new dress and shoes, fidgeting.

“Aah, there you are. I’ve been looking for you.”

I felt his presence before I heard him. I’m worried about tonight for more reasons than I can count. Of course, I’m hoping that everything works out, but probably what I’m most worried about is Beau and me. This is our first big event since he’s said things are different. What if they’re not different at all? What if this is another let-down and I spend the evening on my own, listening to some woman I barely know say, “I didn’t know Beau Blaze was married”?

Damn, I can’t take it.

Beau turns me in his arms. “Hey, what’s wrong? Everything is perfect. I saw Elle, and she said the tickets are sold out. As a matter of fact, they sold some standing only tickets because they’re out of seats. You did it, Nat.”

I put my hands on his chest. “We did it. We’re a pretty good team, Beau.”

He nods his head. “We’re the best team. Nat, you’re beautiful.” He trails his fingers over my bare shoulder. “And no matter how good you look in this dress, I think I’m going to like it better when it’s lying on our bedroom floor.”

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