Holly's Wishes (17 page)

“Good luck. I’ll be watching for you on YouTube later.”

Holly snickered before hanging up. Her comment wasn’t even worth a response.

~~~

“You made it!” Dan said with a sigh of relief.

“Of course I did,” she said. “Did you think I’d bail?”

“He only wakes up in sweats every night with that same re-occurring nightmare,” Alex replied. “You two look awesome, by the way.”

“Thanks, I think.”

“Anyway, everything’s all set. Say the word, and I’ll dim the lights and lift the curtain. It’s just about seven o’clock.”

Dan looked like a nervous wreck. “Shall we?” he asked, holding out his hand.

Nodding at Alex, she eagerly took her bosses hand and gave him a reassuring smile. “We’ve got this.”

Gus walked out onto the middle of the stage in the gymnasium, which also doubled as an auditorium when the need arose, as Holly and Dan stood in the wings. He was dressed like a jester. It was her boss’ idea to give him the role of Master of Ceremonies for the evening, thus ensuring he didn’t actually perform. At least, she hoped he wasn’t going to perform. Looking at his getup she wasn’t so sure.

“Ladies and gents and children of all ages,” Gus began as everyone took their seats.

Holly peeked out from behind the curtain. It was a packed house. There were even some people standing along the back wall. She saw Tessa sitting in the third row and waved. Her sister waved back, holding up her smart phone. If she dared take a video of her performance, Holly would kill her.

“We’ve got a great night planned for you and even some unexpected surprises,” Gus rambled on.

Uh–oh.
Surprises from Gus were never a good thing. Maybe he
was
planning something. Judging by the look on Dan’s face, he was thinking the same thing.

“Your children have been working very hard on their routines, and I can tell you from watching rehearsals this afternoon, you’re about to see some things that will leave you … um, speechless … in a good way, you know. It’s all good. The children are fabulous, of course. As are the adults. Speaking of, let’s get this show started with two of our favorite adults: Ms. Haines and Mr. Harper!”

Dan led Holly to the middle of the stage as the music started in the background. Well, not really music, it was more of a rhythmic beat for them to follow along to. They began moving their arms and legs to the sound perfectly in sync, just as they practiced.

Holly started first. “How are we all doing tonight?” she shouted.

The crowd cheered.

“Come on! I know you can be louder than that! Let’s all make some
noise
!” Dan yelled.

The crowd screamed even louder.

She counted beats in her head as the cheers died down:
 five, six, seven, eight.
She began the rap, “Yo, yo, let’s get on the floor, ’cause I want to tell y’all a story ’bout the number four. You see four alone is pretty great, but add two of them together to get the number eight.”

Dan looked at Holly and shook his head. “Eight?” he shouted out. “I can do better than that. Listen here.” He waited for the beat to return to the beginning and then picked up the rap, “The number three has a funky groove, multiply them together and watch them move. Three times three makes the number nine, just remember that, and you’ll be fine.”

Holly pushed Dan gently to the side and yelled, “Nine was so yesterday!” The crowd cheered even louder.

He pretended to brush dust off his pants before getting back in line next to her. He resumed his dance steps in perfect sync once again. “Oh yeah?” he asked.

“Yeah,” she replied, nodding and smiling.

He shook his head and turned to the crowd. “How about this?” He returned to his rap voice. “One, two, and seven are numbers called primes, I’d like to see you work them into your little rhyme.”

Holly shooed Dan away with her hand. “No problem,” she spoke, and then started rapping again, “Prime numbers are a handy tool, they need no other numbers to make them cool.” She smirked as she prodded the audience to cheer her on. They were more than happy to oblige.

Dan hung his head and laughed. “Okay, okay,” he said, still moving his arms and feet to the beat. “You win.”

She smiled. “Not yet!” she yelled and counted the beat in her head. “You see the best kept secret is the number five, it’s crisp and clean, and that’s no jive. Anytime you want to multiply, it ends in itself or a zero and that’s no lie.”

“True story,” Dan agreed, shrugging, while keeping his hands moving.

Holly glanced at him and giggled. As she moved her head to scan the audience, she noticed a face toward the back of the room.
Ben?
She missed the beat to the next line, and Dan gently nudged her. She looked at her boss and then back at the seat where she thought Ben had been sitting. The seat was empty. She kept moving her feet in rhythm, waiting for the starting beat to come back around, and nodded to Dan that she was ready.

They rapped together, “But our favorite number is the number ten, put your hands together, and let’s do it again. Ten-nine-eight-seven-six-five-four-three-two-one! Math rules!”

They clasped hands, brought them up high and took a long deep bow as the crowd cheered. They came back up, waved to the audience, and ran off the stage.

“Oh my God, that was so much fun!” Holly shrieked, hugging Dan. “Sorry about the little snafu there. I lost my place for a second.”

“I don’t think anyone noticed,” Alex said, coming out from the wings. “You two took the house down. That was great!”

“It was all Holly!” Dan told her, beaming.

“No, it was definitely a group effort,” she said, looking around.

“Either way, it was fabulous,” Alex said. “I gotta go help set up for the next act, a piano solo.” He put his finger in his throat like he was trying to gag himself.

He walked over to the piano, getting ready to wheel it on stage, while Dan moved back to the sidelines to watch as Gus introduced the next act.

Tessa came running backstage, nearly knocking Holly over. “That was awesome! If you were my teacher, I so would have loved math.”

“Well, it’s never too late to start,” Holly joked. “I have an extra seat in my classroom.”

“Um, I’ll pass, thanks.”

“Listen,” she said. “You didn’t see Ben here, did you?”

“Ben? No, why would he be here?”

“No reason,” she said, feeling her euphoria going down a bit. “It must have been someone else. Forget I asked.”

Chapter 38

 “A new outfit will cheer you up,” Tessa said while rummaging through racks of clothes.

“I don’t need to be cheered up,” Holly told her. “I’m fine.”

With the talent show now over, Holly felt like her life was on auto-pilot. She got up in the morning, went to work, sat through the occasional staff meeting, and came home where she usually spent her evenings having dinner with her parents, grading papers, and working on lesson plans.  Socially she hung out with either Tessa or Dan and Alex. Life was … okay. She missed Ava, and she missed … “
Ben?”

“Where?” her sister asked.

“Over there,” Holly said, motioning outside of the store to the area of the mall where there were benches. He sat facing them with his head down while he typed on his phone.

“You know he’s back to texting me almost every day. You should go say hello.”

“What’s the point?” Holly asked, sadness in her voice as she peeked at him from behind the racks. “I’m trying to forget about him, remember?”

“He’s miserable. He may be even more miserable than you are. At least you don’t have to deal with Michelle on a regular basis.”

“True,” she noted. “But I don’t think talking to him is a good idea.”

“Okay, sis,” Tessa said, buried under a pile of clothes she was trying to balance without toppling over. “I’m going to go try these on.”

Continuing to spy on him, Holly moved up one rack at a time, as if on a covert mission, until she was close to the door at the opening of the mall. As she prepared to move up to the final rack, the one that would bring her closest to the bench where he was sitting while still allowing her to remain hidden, he lifted his head and met her eyes. She had no choice but to stand tall and walk through the front entrance of the store, as if that were her intention the entire time. She wished her heart would stop pounding so loudly.

He stood to greet her. “What are you doing here?” he asked.

Play it cool, Holly.
She looked around at all the stores and raised her eyebrows. “Uh—shopping?”

“Right,” he said shaking his head. “Sorry, I’m a little nervous right now. You tend to do that to me.” The corners of his lips turned up showing her the sexy smile she’d missed so much. “How’ve you been?”

Horrible. Heartbroken. Distraught. Devastated.
“Okay, I guess.  How about you?”

He shrugged. “I saw you a couple of weeks ago, on stage. You were really good.”

“That
was
you. I thought so. What were you doing there?”

“I needed to see you again.” He looked down at the floor. “I’m sorry, I know I shouldn’t have…” His phone began to ring.

He groaned and pulled it out of his pocket.

“Hello?”

“I’m done. Meet me at the entrance of Nordstrom’s.”  

The phone wasn’t on speaker, but Holly could hear the words clear as day. She’d recognized that shrill demand anywhere. Michelle hadn’t even waited for his response before she hung up. Holly’s heart sank.

“Her Majesty awaits,” she said with a forced grin.

Appearing somber, Ben reached for her hand. “I don’t want to leave you, but if I don’t go she’ll come looking for me.”

Closing her eyes for a second, she pulled her hand away. “It’s okay. I have to get going anyway.”

She ran off before he could see her tears, finding Tessa as she was coming out of the fitting room.

“What’s the matter? Why are you crying? Did you talk to him?”

Wiping her eyes, she nodded. “It’s just—everything. Every time I see him, I feel such a strong pull … in my heart. It’s so unfair.”

Tessa dropped the clothes onto the top of the nearest rack and wrapped her arms around her sister, holding her close.

Chapter 39

 “Valentine’s Day was surely a holiday created by some sadistic person hoping to torture all of the single people in the world,” Holly said, filling her glass with wine.

They sat in Tessa’s tiny apartment, wallowing over the fact it was February fourteenth and neither one of them had a significant other.

“Actually,” Tessa stated, pouring a glass for herself, “I have visions of this big roundtable, with a bunch of guys sitting around it somewhere in the 1800s or something, and having a conversation like this …”

“Aye, Arthur, we need to make more money this year. Our garden productions were fine, but the demand was just not what it should have been.”

“Indeed, Theodore, my printing business has been on the decline as well. How has your confectionary business been, Herbert?”

“I declare, they’ve been frightfully low. If only we could think of a way to increase the demand for chocolate.”

“And flowers,” added Theodore.

“And cards,” Arthur stated. “Even if it were for just one day a year, it would help. Perhaps Edward could even benefit with jewelry sales as well.”

Holly smirked and finished her glass. “The dirty bastards. Look what they’ve created.” She sat back on her sister’s couch and stared out the window.

“Oh, don’t let it get to you. It’s only a stupid holiday.”

“Do you think I made a mistake?” she asked. “Breaking up with Jared, I mean? It’s just … Ben is with Michelle now and starting a family, and Jared
was
trying. Maybe I was being too impatient.”

“Holly!” Tessa said sternly. “Do you need me to make a list of all the reasons why breaking up with Jared was the absolute
best
thing for you to do? I know you’re upset about Ben, but that doesn’t mean you have to settle. What about your whole you never loved him, you only loved the idea
of him
? There are plenty of guys out there—guys who will treat you the way you deserve to be treated. Listen, any other day, you’d totally agree with me. In fact, I’m pretty sure you’ve given
me
this speech before. The only reason you’re saying any of this is because it’s Valentine’s Day, and you’re getting caught up in all this romantic couples stuff. Take today to celebrate
you!
You can still make Arthur, Theodore, Herbert, and Edward happy.”

“Who?” she asked confused.

“You know, my 1800s guys from my roundtable discussion. You should go buy yourself some chocolates and flowers. Not a card though—that would be kind of weird—sorry, Arthur. But you definitely deserve a nice piece of jewelry. Who says you’re not allowed to pamper yourself?”

“Is that what you did today?” Holly asked.

“Me? No, I’m just a starving college student, but you’re a teacher with a salary. Who, I might add, is mooching off Mom and Dad for the moment, so I gather you’ve got some bucks in your wallet.”

“I’m not mooching, I’m saving so I can afford a decent place to live. There’s a difference. All the places I’ve checked out so far are so expensive … I wonder what he’s doing today.

“Who, Jared?”

“No, Ben.”

“Oh, that’s easy,” Tessa replied. “He’s getting dragged to an over-priced restaurant where Michelle will order her expensive imported bottled water and a salad that will probably consist of a leaf of lettuce and half a cherry tomato. But it will look fabulous because the raspberry vinaigrette will be artfully splattered across the plate to look like one of Picasso’s works of art. However, she won’t eat it. Instead, she’ll complain that she actually wanted the Van Gogh. The entire meal will cost as much as you make in a week. Trust me, Ben’s even more miserable than you are.”