Page 57 of Georgia On My Mind (Southern Promises)

Chapter Thirty

It was early, the sun had just come up and the light of day seeped through the edges of the closed blinds in Hart’s room. He hadn’t slept much, holding Gia most of the night in his arms, feeling her breathe in slumber. Flashback images of her jumping and twirling on the stage kept coming to mind, her face full of passion and emotion. Such a stark contrast to the last time he saw her on stage. As mesmerized as he had been watching her perform, he knew she had touched others with her talent, the audience reaction proof of that. Patience had never been a virtue he could maintain, and it was messing with him again now. He wanted to know what was next. What did the future hold for him and Gia?

Before she fell asleep, she had told him the studio officially closed and she only had a few more things to pack up and load into a storage unit she had rented nearby. He felt terrible for not being there during the transition; for not being there to help her during her strenuous rehearsal schedule while closing her business at the same time. This was just another example of her extraordinary gumption and will to make it on her own.

Stirring in his arms, he looked down at her lying across his chest, her eyes fluttering open. The smile she offered him in the soft light made his manhood stir.

“Good morning,” she rumbled.

“Good morning.” Using his index finger, he gently moved her hair out of her eyes. “Did you sleep okay?”

She squeezed him tightly and sighed with bliss. Nodding into his chest, she shifted, looking up into his face. “Sure beats sleeping on Angel’s sofa.” Her voice was laced with humor, but her comment still made him feel incredibly guilty.

“I hate that. I hated this whole time we were apart.” Wanting to be honest with her, he decided to be bold and start the conversation about their future. “Where do you see this going? So much has happened in such a short amount of time. What do you want, Gia?”

“My, my. So serious already this morning,” she teased while mock frowning.

Hart shifted her body off of him and sat up, clicking on the bedside lamp. “I am serious, Gia. I want to be with you. I want us to make plans for our future. What do you want?”

He watched her sit up and gather the sheet against her naked chest. Her face was pure, scrubbed clean from the show makeup from the night before, her expression pensive. “You know I want to be with you too. I could bring my stuff back over here and we could—”

“No,” Hart interrupted. “We’re not living here at my sister’s condo anymore. We need a place of our own, together.”

“Okay…”

With renewed energy, Hart grasped Gia’s hands in his own. “I found a condo I’m ready to buy, but I wanted your approval first. We could start over, you and me, in our own place.”

She was watching him with her big blue eyes and seemed to struggle for a response. “I’d love to see it, and I’d love to move in with you. But you know after the City Springs run, I may do some auditioning and try to land a touring show or a residency somewhere.” Her eyes suddenly filled with tears. “My career is changing—my goals have changed, Hart. That doesn’t mean I don’t love you. But I don’t know where I might end up, and I don’t want to let you down by promising to move in somewhere when I don’t even know where my next job is going to be.”

Hart understood her hesitancy. She was right. Everything was up in the air. The timing of buying a condo and planting roots as a couple in Atlanta wasn’t the best idea after all.

“Then I’ll wait,” he replied matter-of-factly. At this point, he was willing to do anything in his power to keep Gia in his life. “As much as I want to settle down with you, Gia, I know you have to explore this next phase of your career. I’ll support you in any way I can, and I’ll always be there for you.” He sighed, laying his head back on a pillow. “Katie and Clay still have several months of touring. She said we’re welcome to stay here as long as we need. As much as I want to buy that condo, I can wait.”

Her expression went from grief-stricken to joy in a heartbeat. She relaxed her shoulders and tilted her head, looking at him. “I don’t know what I did to deserve someone like you.”

He pulled her into his arms again and smiled, knowing full well he didn’t deserve her. “That makes two of us.”

***

As expected, the City Springs Theatre run of the musical Oklahoma sold out. Thankfully, Hart had purchased several more nights of tickets before there were none to be had. On one particular evening, he unexpectedly ran into his father and mother in the lobby of the theater after one of the shows. Even though Hart was back on speaking terms with his father, it was a tense moment at first, Mr. Parker insisting Hart bring Gia to the front of the house so he could apologize to her in person.

After some coercing, Hart looked on as his father held Gia’s small hands in his own. Her jaw was clenched as she listened to him apologize while Hart’s mother looked on with tears brimming her eyes.

“I’m an old fool,” Mr. Parker grieved. “Your performance was breathtaking and I had no business judging you before. You are a gifted dancer and I am very pleased that you are with my son.” He was obviously moved by her performance. “Please, Gia. Won’t you forgive me? Won’t you give me a second chance?”

Gia hesitated for a split second before she wrapped her arms around the old man’s neck and hugged him. Mrs. Parker burst into happy tears and all four of them embraced as Hart and his father leaned into each other and nodded. The past was finally behind them.

Gia was thriving in her new life, basking in the real world of professional dance, far away from her days working for Bartelli’s entertainment company. There were two weeks left of the show, and she was making plans to visit New York and meet with potential agents to further her career. As much as Hart wanted her to stay put in Atlanta, he had promised he would support her no matter what. The very thought of her leaving again caused a weight to settle in the pit of his stomach. It didn’t help matters that his own career was suffering because of a certain, incompetent jackass for a boss.

“Knock-knock.” Stephen Kaufmann rapped his knuckles on the door to Hart’s office before coming in. He stood towering over the desk with his hands on his hips. “You ever gonna get that commission report done? I’ve asked for it twice, and accounting’s been on my ass wanting it for days. What’s the holdup?”

Hart looked at his boss with disgust. The commission report was Stephen’s job to approve and send to accounting. With all of his extra-curricular activities of carrying on with his mistress, he dumped the responsibility onto Hart, promising to make it worth his while. The only thing he made it was miserable, the continuous badgering and the workload almost too much to tolerate. If Hart was aware of his lack of patience in the past, he should have known it was coming to an end with Stephen Kaufman.

“Well, Stephen, when you give me something two days ago that normally takes a week to complete, I’m coming up a little late, that’s all.”

“Okay, okay. My bad, I admit it. I should have given this to you last week, but I was a bit preoccupied with some things going on at home.”

Hart suddenly became interested, knowing Stephen’s home-life with his wife Jessica and four daughters was anything but ideal. “What’s going on, if you don’t mind me asking?”

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