Three Girls And A Leading Man Part 24

Nate just stared at me in disbelief. "But...but, why? Annie, this is your dream-"

"No, it's not," I said firmly. "My dream is to make a living as an actress. New York was never my dream; I just went along with it because it seemed to be what everyone expected."

"But-"

"I'm unhappy here, Nate," I said. "I have been the entire time. Not just because I missed you. I'm unhappy because I don't like the people that I work with. I'm unhappy because I can only afford this little s.h.i.+thole. I'm unhappy because I'm not with my friends. I miss my home."

"But what will you do?" he asked. "Go back to working in an office at Springwells? You were so unhappy there."

"No," I said firmly. "I'll keep auditioning. In fact, Jenner is starting a regular company up in the city. It's small, but he's really committed to it. And there's no guarantee I'll get a place with them, but I'll try. I mean, at least I have more experience now, you know, for my resume. It's worth a shot."

Nate didn't say anything, and I felt my heart sink a little. "What?" I asked. "Are you not happy that I'm coming home?"

"No," he said, pulling me close. "The thought of you so close to me is... well, let's just say that would make me really freaking happy. But I don't want you to do something that you'll end up regretting. Especially not for me."

I laughed. "Sorry, babe," I told him. "But there's no way in h.e.l.l I'm doing this for you, or for anyone else. Do you know who you're talking to here?"

He rolled his eyes and rested his forehead against mine. "I must have forgotten. This is Annie-I-make-my-own-decisions-all-the-time."

"You just said you didn't want me making this choice over you!" I cried, slapping his shoulder.

"Well, not entirely. But you could factor me in a little, you know. Just some of the time."

I thought about what Ginny had told me, about how a good relations.h.i.+p should be a partners.h.i.+p. How you should take the other person into account, but only if they did the same with you. A balance.

"Maybe I could do that," I said, leaning forward to kiss him again. "Just some of the time."

Chapter Twenty-nine.

*There's one important thing about true love that you should always keep in mind: when it's right, it's right. You can memorize all the dating tips and rules in the world, but when it's true love, everything will eventually come easily. Never forget the relations.h.i.+ps that got you where you are, and made you who you are. Even the ones that seemed tragic at the time helped make you who are you are now, the woman your true love can't live without.'-The Single Girl's Guide to Finding True Love.

"Hey," I said, peeking around the door into Jenner's office. "I'm gonna take off, okay?"

"Go, go," he said, making a shooing motion with his hands. "You should have left an hour ago. Your man will be p.i.s.sed."

I rolled my eyes. "He can deal with it. Do you have directions?"

He patted his pocket. "Right here in my phone," he said. "See you in a few hours."

I waved and headed back down the hallway, stopping in my office to grab my bag and turn off the light. There was a stack of papers on my desk for the new playwriting cla.s.ses, but it could wait until Monday. Nothing I couldn't handle.

Outside, I unlocked my bike from the streetlight pole where I had secured it that morning. Being close enough to ride to work was definitely one of the major perks of my new situation.

Before I could jump on the seat, my phone rang. I looked down at the screen and smiled. Jen. I had been expecting this call-was, in fact, amazed she'd managed to contain herself for so long.

"What is it now?" I asked.

"You're late!" she said in her stressed-out voice. "I have a million things for you to do!"

"Keep your s.h.i.+rt on," I told her. "I'm on my way, okay?"

"Fine," she said, sighing. "But you better hurry. It's your party, you know?"

"I know, and I appreciate all of your work," I told her with a grin, feeling a rush of fondness for my type-A best friend.

I pressed the end b.u.t.ton and climbed onto my bike. It was a warm day, perfect May weather, and I enjoyed the sensation of the breeze on my skin as I peddled the short distance home.

"Hey," Nate called from the porch as I approached. He was balancing a white box in his arms, but he waited for me to pull my bike up the steps so he could kiss me h.e.l.lo. "You're late."

"So I keep hearing," I said, giving him a second kiss for good measure. "What's in the box?"

"Cupcakes," he said.

"She's sending you out for cupcakes now?" I asked.

"She would have sent you, had you been here."

I grinned. "Oops. I hope you don't have any false ideas that I might have planned this to avoid doing Jen's errands."

Nate rolled his eyes. "Sure you didn't. How about you open the door? This is a little heavy, you know."

I opened the door to our house and let him walk in ahead of me. "h.e.l.lo!" I called out. "I'm home!"

"It's about time," Jen said, appearing in the doorway to the kitchen. "Nate, take those into the dining room, there's a dessert table by the window."

I rolled my eyes at him as he pa.s.sed and he sighed dramatically.

"Don't be so bossy," I told Jen. "You're the one who wanted to do all this. We would have been happy with pizza and beer."

"You need a proper house-warming party," she said. "This is a huge deal, Annie!"

"I know," I told her, walking past her into the kitchen to grab a water. "Whoever would have thought that I'd be living with a boy?"

"Not me," she muttered.

"Be nice!" I told her. "I could still change my mind and move back to Ferndale with you and Matt."

"Not a chance," Nate said, coming up behind me and wrapping his arms around my waist. "You signed a mortgage, baby. You're stuck with me."

"I guess I am," I said, smiling. "Poor me."

Three hours later, the party was in full swing and our house was full.

"I love this place," Matt was saying to Josh as the two of them examined the oak banister. "The architecture is so cool. All this woodwork? I bet it's original to the house." As I pa.s.sed them, I caught a glimpse of Jen rolling her eyes behind his back. I smiled at her, but to be honest, I was on Matt's side on this one.

I had never thought I'd care too much about the kind of house I lived in, but once Nate and I started looking, I found that there was an undiscovered real estate fanatic buried deep inside. I was particularly fascinated with the old Victorians that dotted this area of Detroit and it was no surprise that we ended up in one. Nate and I had looked for ages before settling on this house. It was much too big for just the two of us, but I loved it anyhow. From the woodwork, to the original claw foot tub, to the turret attic room, it was the most perfect house I could imagine.

"Hey, Annie," a voice hissed in my ear.

I turned and saw Emily, Nate's sister, hovering at my elbow. She had come in for the week to check out our new place and spend some time with her big brother. I had been relieved to find that she and I got along really well. I knew that it made Nate happy.

"Is that Jenner Collins over there?" she whispered, pointing into the dining room.

I squinted in that direction and saw Jenner with a stunningly pretty blond woman at his side.

"Yup," I said. "And that girl with him is Melinda Berry. You know, from that sitcom, Sisters?"

Emily gasped. "Wow! Oh my G.o.d. I can't believe I'm in the same room as Melinda Berry. And Jenner Collins! This is so cool!"

I grinned at her. "Go find your brother," I told her. "He'll introduce you."

"Look at you," Ginny said, coming up next to me as Emily scurried off. "Making nice with the in-laws."

I rolled my eyes. "You have to be married to have in-laws," I pointed out.

"Still," she said, putting her arm around me. "I'm proud of you."

"Why are you proud of her? I'm the one who planned this whole thing," Jen said, joining us.

"I wasn't talking about the party," Ginny said. "I was talking about Annie's emotional growth."

"Oh, that. Yeah, I'm proud of that too."

"Oh, shut up," I told them. "You make it sound like I was a basket case or something."

"We're just happy that you're happy," Jen said, putting her arm around me as well. "You are happy, aren't you?"

I thought about that. At that precise moment, tired was probably the best word for how I was feeling. I had been working long hours at The Brush Theater, Jenner's new company. I had a supporting role in the first production, set to open in July. Beyond that, I was working my a.s.s off to get the education department set up, as well as helping out to get the artist-in-residence program off the ground. It was exhausting work, but I wouldn't change it for anything.

Most of my spare time had been going into this house. Like many of the places on the street, this one had been a real dump when we first found it. But a lot of renovation was happening on this block. Like many of our neighbors, we were determined to bring our home back to its former glory. It was a work in progress, but I was very happy with all we had done so far. And who would have guessed that I would actually enjoy things like stripping hard wood floors, or re-tiling kitchens?

I caught sight of Nate across the room, leaving his gus.h.i.+ng sister with an amused-looking Jenner, and I smiled. To tell the truth, I would probably enjoy just about any ch.o.r.e so long as I got to do it with Nate.

"Oh my G.o.d," Ginny said, laughing. "If you could see the look on your face right now!"

"What?" I said.

"You're smiling like a lovesick teenager."

"Oh, I am not," I said, feeling embarra.s.sed.

"You are," Jen agreed. "Don't worry, it's cute. And we won't tell anyone."

"So I guess that answers Jen's question," Ginny said. "You are happy, aren't you?"

"I am," I said.

Across the room, I saw my mom chatting with Mrs. Campbell. My dad had hung around for a few months, taking her out every once in a while and hinting that he might like a reunion. I hadn't heard about him in a few weeks now, and I wondered if he had disappeared again. Or maybe she'd actually done the unthinkable and told him to get lost. I could hope.

"What if it doesn't last?" I whispered. It was my biggest fear, one I didn't even like to talk to Nate about, but I could ask the girls. They would understand. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Then we'll help you fix it," Ginny said, releasing my shoulder and reaching over to grab my hand. "No matter what happens with Nate, we'll be here, Annie. The same way we always have been."

I squeezed her hand back, believing her. It was the one thing in my life I had never doubted.

The three of us stood like that for a long moment, watching the friends and family who had gathered to help celebrate my new home. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nate now approaching Josh and Danny. He reached out and patted Danny's head, saying something to him that made the baby laugh. Ginny squeezed my hand again.

Watching Nate, I felt warmth spread throughout my chest, bringing certainty with it. I had a feeling I had finally found something else that I didn't have to doubt.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR.

Rachel Schurig lives in the metro Detroit area with her dog, Lucy. She loves to watch reality TV, and she reads as many books as she can get her hands on. In her spare time, Rachel decorates cakes.

To find out more about the books in this series, visit Rachel at http://rachelschurig.com.

Interested in reading more from this author?

Check out the rest of the best-selling Three Girls series, available now from Amazon.com.

Come along for the crazy ride as Ginny McKensie and her best friends deal with an unexpected pregnancy in Three Girls and a Baby, available now!

Three Girls and a Baby.

Follow Jen Campbell as she struggles to plan the perfect wedding-and find her very own happily ever after. Three Girls and a Wedding is available now!

Three Girls and a Wedding.

Reunite with Ginny, Jen, and Annie and catch up with Kiki Barker-Thompson as she attempts to create the perfect fairy tale life. The Truth About Ever After (a Three Girls Book) is available now!

The Truth About Ever After.

And don't forget to check out the newest book from Rachel Schurig IN SEARCH OF A LOVE STORY.

Emily Donovan doesn't have a romantic bone in her body.