Extreme Bachelor (43 page)

She turned around to look at him, saw
Michael making his way through the crowd after her.

“You know, I would, but I have an audition
tomorrow,” she said, lifting her hand.

“On a
Sunday
?”

“Yep. Gotta jet!” she
said, and with a wave, ran down the lawn, chanting
ohshitohshitohshit
in
her head. She practically threw her token at the kid and asked for
her car.

BEHIND her, Michael was
aware that Nina was following
him
out, too—mainly because she kept calling out his
name and trying to get him to stop. It was wrong, what he was
doing, so damn wrong, but he couldn’t make himself stop. He was
being propelled by a force outside of his realm of control at that
moment. He pushed through the crowd, finally making his way
outside, right behind Ted, who was trying to coax Leah into
staying.

It wasn’t working, but Michael could have
told him that—Leah could be very determined when she wanted to be.
And there she was, standing on the curb, leaning far to her right
to see around cars and up the street.

“Leah!” Michael shouted.

She jerked around at the sound of his voice,
and he could see the panic and mortification in her eyes.

“What is going on?” Nina asked, bouncing to
a stop next to Michael. “Did you guys have a fight or
something?”

Michael didn’t respond immediately—he was
distracted by a few revelers who had come outside to see what was
going on. “I just want to make sure she’s okay,” he said.

Nina looked at Leah standing on the curb and
peering anxiously up the street for her car, and her brows dipped
into a frown. “She looks okay to me, Michael.”

Yeah, well, Nina didn’t know her. Michael
started forward again. “Leah, wait!”

“You know what this
reminds me of?” he heard a woman say behind him.
“
Sex and the City
. They’re still running it on HBO.”

He strode out of their midst. “Michael!”
Nina angrily shouted after him, but he kept walking.

It was enough to get Leah’s attention. She
glanced over her shoulder, saw Michael marching down the lawn, and
turned around, apparently resigning herself to the fact that she
was going to have to face him.

“Michael, I have to go,” she said extending
her arm to keep him at a distance. “Just . . . just go back inside
with Nina,” she said, fluttering her fingers in Nina’s direction.
“She’s great. You’ll be very happy with her.”

“What did you mean when you said you weren’t
shiny?” he demanded, ignoring her order for him to leave.

Leah’s mouth dropped open. Then closed
tightly shut.

“What did you mean?” he demanded again,
moving closer to her extended hand.

“I didn’t mean anything—”

He wasn’t letting her off that easy. He was
going to hear it this time and no uncertainty or wishy-washiness
from her was going to stop him. He needed to hear that she loved
him before he could begin to think what to do. “Yes, you did. What
did you mean?” he asked again, pushing her hand aside and moving
and leaning forward, so that his face was directly before hers.

She recoiled slightly.
“
Shiny
,” she
repeated, waving one hand. “Bling-blingy.” When he didn’t bite, she
anxiously ran a hand over her crown. “Just . . . shiny,” she said
again, only softer.

Michael leaned even closer, locking in on
her eyes, her mouth. “Shiny as in sweaty? Or shiny as in your full
heart shining through?”

Leah gasped. “How did you know that?”

“I remember,” he said. “I remember it all.
Don’t you know that by now?”

“Wait—what do you mean you remember?” Nina
cried, having marched down after Michael. “Just how do you two know
each other?” She grabbed Michael’s arm, pulled him back from
Leah.

But Leah didn’t seem to notice Nina. Her
gaze was locked on his, her eyes shining with regret and hope and
something more. “I’m not shiny,” she said again, and pressed a fist
into her abdomen. “That means I’m empty. I’m devoid of life and
love and . . . and you.”

He knew exactly what she meant. It was the
same feeling he’d been trying to fill up with a series of extreme
sport outings over the last couple of months, looking for
something, anything, to spark a fire in him. Nothing had worked. He
went to sleep with Leah on his mind, woke up with her there, and
filled most of the hours in between thinking of her, wondering what
she was doing, who she was with, if she ever thought of him. If she
hated him.

He’d endlessly debated calling her,
alternating between needing her and not wanting to hear anything in
her voice that even remotely sounded like rejection.

“What in the hell is going
on here?” Nina cried furiously, wedging herself partially between
Michael and Leah, glaring at Leah. “What part of
my boyfriend
did you not
understand?”

“So what are you saying?” Michael asked over
Nina’s head, ignoring her, too.

“That I love you,” Leah said firmly, and
Michael felt his heart expand tenfold. “I always have. And I can’t
stop.”

“This is unbelievable!” Nina shrieked.

“I know the feeling,” Michael said, stepping
around Nina. “I’m not shiny, either, Leah. I’m dull as a lump of
lead without you.”

“See, people? This is what
I mean when I say
acting
,” Ted announced to the
growing group of onlookers, who had, apparently, walked down the
lawn to hear the scene being played out. “You’ve got to put
some
ummph
into
it.”

“Are they
acting
?” Nina asked Ted
in a little-girl voice. “Is this a scene?”

The kid pulled up with a white Thunderbird,
and Leah looked at it, then at Michael.

“Dunno,” Ted said cheerfully. “If it’s not,
it oughta be.”

“Leah, don’t go,” Michael said, and turned
toward Nina. He regretted the audience, but he wasn’t letting Leah
get away. “Nina . . .”

“Oh no,” she said, instantly stepping
backward and colliding with Brad, who’d shown up to see what was
going on. “You are not going to blow me off in front of all these
people!” she hissed at him.

“I’m not blowing you off, sweetheart. But I
want to take you home. We need to talk.”

“I’m not leaving here,” she cried, stepping
back again, into Brad’s skinny chest. “You can go fuck yourself,
Michael Raney!”

Michael looked at Brad. “Do me a favor,
bro,” he said, digging into his pants pocket for the token that
would get his car from the valet. “Make sure Nina gets home okay,
will you?”

Brad lit up like a Christmas tree. “Dude!
Are you serious?”

“I’m very serious.” He looked at Nina again.
“Unless you want to come with me now, Nina.”

“Get away from me you bastard!”

Brad instantly put an arm
around her shoulder and squeezed. “That’s okay, kid. Let him go.
He
is
a bastard,”
Brad said with a wink for Michael.

Michael heard the car door open and close
and jerked around. Leah was inside her car, about to drive away.
“Leah!” he shouted, and took two deep strides toward Nina, grabbed
her face between his hands. “You deserve to hate me all my days for
this, Nina. But then again, maybe someday you will do something
totally outrageous for love, and you will understand.” He kissed
her forehead and then ran for Leah’s car as she started to pull
away from the curb.

When Leah saw his hand on the door, she
stopped, watched with wide eyes as he vaulted himself inside.
“Drive,” he said breathlessly.

“What—”

“Just drive,” he said again, and glanced
back at Brad standing next to Nina, whose arms were flailing as she
said something to Ted. And there was a host of other people around
watching Nina, then Leah’s car as she put it in drive and sped
away.

They drove in silence for the first few
minutes, Leah winding through the streets like she knew where she
was going. That was almost the worst thing he’d ever done, Michael
decided. The only thing worse was leaving Leah five years ago. But
he’d felt a moment of panic, that sick feeling he would never have
the chance again if he didn’t seize it then and there.

They came upon a park entrance, and Leah
screeched to a halt, threw her hands over her face, dropped her
head against the steering wheel, and her shoulders began to
shake.

The waterworks. Great.
He’d made her cry the last two times he’d seen her. And he still
wasn’t even sure what he was
doing
. But then Leah suddenly lifted
her face and turned toward him.

Only Leah wasn’t crying. Leah was
laughing.

She was laughing so that
tears were running down her cheeks. “
Ohmigod
,” she squealed, pressing a
hand to her belly. “Could we possibly have made a more dramatic
exit, do you think?”

Michael sighed with relief and shook his
head. “I don’t think so.”

She squealed again,
pressed both hands to her belly, and her head fell against the
headrest. Through her laughter she said, “That . . . was the . . .
most . . .
unbelievable
. . . scene ever!”

It was pretty spectacular.

She stopped laughing and slanted him a look
as she tried to catch her breath. “How long have you been dating
Nina?”

“It was our second date.”

Leah gasped and looked at him, her
crystal-blue eyes shining, and then howled again. When the laughter
had finally subsided, she wiped the tears from her cheeks and
smiled at him. “God, I love you Michael, I do. I don’t ever want to
be without you. I don’t care how many other women there were, or
how many Juan Carlos’s, I don’t care. I just want to be with you. I
want to be shiny again.”

That admission filled Michael with lightness
of being and a connection that sank its tentacles deep into his
soul and heart. Leah would always be his. He would always have
somewhere and someone to belong to.

“I love you, too, baby. That’s all I’ve
wanted, is to hear you say you love me, too.”

She reached for him at the same moment he
reached for her, their mouths seeking each other, their hands
groping for each other.

Until Leah began to laugh
into his mouth again. She pulled away and grinned up at him. “I
won’t be able to show my face on the set again. Did you hear Ted
point out the
ummph
in our acting skills?” she asked, and they both burst into
laughter.

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Wedding Recap

From: Leah Kleinschmidt

To: Lucy Frederick

Time: 10:04 am

No, I didn’t hear anyone talking about how
bad the veal was, Lucy. I think that is all in your head. The veal
was fine. Everything was beautiful. You were beautiful. Even the
stupid red dresses, which I so will NOT wear again, were beautiful.
I think you can finally put this obsession with your wedding behind
you and go on to something else, like what you’re going to name
your first kid.

P.S. I TOLD YOU Michael was a great guy! You
were practically drooling all over your wedding dress.

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Wedding Recap

From: Lucy Frederick

To: Leah Kleinschmidt

Time: 1:12 pm

I know the red dresses were beautiful.
That’s what I’ve been telling you for like two years, but you never
listen. And I’m sorry, but I think the veal was a little gamey. I
am writing my wedding coordinator, because I don’t think she should
use that caterer again. That was a lot of money to spend on gamey
veal. We’ve got our pictures back from Fiji, BTW. I have attached
several.

Yeah, yeah, okay, Michael was great. He
really was. I am glad I finally got a chance to spend a little time
with him, because I would hate to show up to your wedding and not
like the groom. And yes, I would to be happy to be your matron of
honor! Gawd, Leah, I can’t believe you are actually getting
married! Yiiiippppeeeee!

Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Wedding
Recap

From: Leah Kleinschmidt

To: Lucy Frederick

Time: 10:23 am

I know, I can’t believe it either! I have a
new friend here who is going to coordinate it (she did the big
Olivia Dagwood and Vincent Vittorio wedding that fell through—
remember, the one where they got stuck in the mountains and it was
all over the news?). Anyway, Marnie said I need to pick out my
colors so we can start working on a theme. So, I have attached some
colors and dresses I sort of like for the bridesmaids. Since you
like red so much, what do you think of rose? Don’t hold back. Tell
me what you really like and don’t like.

P.S. I’m so excited!!!!!

Subject: Re: Anniversary Party

From: Michael

To: Jack

Eli

Coop

Time: 2:13 pm

Hey guys, thanks for the info on a really
ridiculous plan for an anniversary party on a private island to
include volcano and waterfall hiking. Yeah, right. Maybe it’s just
me, but I don’t see a bunch of New York real-estate moguls hiking
their fat asses up a waterfall or an active volcano. What I see is
a lot of drinking and screwing around, but hey, that’s an extreme
sport in and of itself. Unfortunately, I will not be able to join
in on the planning for this treat, because I will be on my
honeymoon in Paris. Fortunately, as I did not draw the short straw
when we decided who would take the lead on this thing, I feel
perfectly comfortable showing up just in time for happy hour when
the gig begins. And, Jack, I can’t tell you how it warms my heart
to know that you will be leading this one. Paybacks are a bitch,
dude. You can’t say I didn’t warn you.