The Man You Need (Love on Tour #4) (19 page)

23

Seven months later…

I’m nervous. I strum my fingers against my crossed arms. And despite the fact that I have completely thought this out, I’m afraid I might have made a mistake. What if Jack doesn’t see this situation the same way I do? What if he flips out? Worse still, what if this isn’t what he wants after all?

I watch as Jack parks his SUV on the street in front of the house. He walks out of the car and pulls off his sunglasses. He’s just come from work and he looks amazing in gray slacks and a black shirt.

“Hey, Princess. What’s going on?”

I see the confused look on his face as he walks toward me. “Come here,” I say, holding out my hand.

“You wanted to meet here?” Jack looks around at the manicured lawn and the modest house – well, modest for Malibu.

“This is a nice neighborhood, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, I’ve been here before. I have a client that lives down the street. Wasn’t this house for sale?”

I had the realtor remove the sign this morning. “It
was
.” I pull Jack toward the front door.

“Are we meeting someone here?”

“No. It’s just us,” I say, swinging open the door.

Jack looks around at the crisp, clean, empty house. The new carpeting and fresh paint give it that ‘new house’ smell. I pull Jack through the living room slowly. He doesn’t say anything. He’s just looking everywhere, soaking it all in. Then I usher him past the kitchen and out the back door.

Jack still hasn’t spoken as we both gaze out at the large rectangular pool surrounded by wooden decking.

“There’s a pool,” I say lamely.

For a beat he just stares at it. Then he turns to me. “I don’t understand. Do you want to buy this house or something?”

“Actually, I did buy it. Well,
we
did. You have a few things to sign.”

His mouth drops open. “What?”

“Okay, I know it’s the kind of thing couples usually do together. But I wanted to surprise you.”

He just stares at me, his eyes wide, and says nothing. So I continue, “I wanted to give you everything you want, Jack. The way you’ve given me everything I want.”

The last several months have been like a dream. I worked on the show, finishing the first season. Each day after I got off the set, I came home to Jack. We were sharing Mike’s condo, which I’d rented from Mike rather than buying it. It was all part of the plan I’d cooked up nearly as soon as Jack and I were together again.

In our free time Jack and I traveled. He took me to plays and concerts, we wandered the streets of small European towns. It was like all my dreams had come true. And now I wanted to give him more.

“I don’t understand,” he finally says.

“Well, Sam and Sean helped me find it. And Sean put up a big down payment. We’ll pay him back, though I’m sure he’ll be a pain in the ass about taking the money. Anyway, between the two of us, we could easily cover the mortgage.”

“You bought me a house?”

“I bought
us
a house.”

“This is what you want?”

“Yes, it is. Do you like it?”

Jack pulls me into his arms. “Stac, I love it. But,” his mouth turns down like he’s thinking, “this is so…”

“Stable,” I suggest.

“Yeah, and permanent.”

“That’s what I want with you, Jack, permanent.”

He leans down and kisses me. “I love you,” he whispers against my lips.

“There’s more.” I move out of his grasp and take his hand. “Come on.”

I pull Jack through the house again.

“Where are we going?”

“The bedroom.”

“Nice.”

I stop in front of the closed bedroom door. “I have another surprise for you in here.”

“I bet you do.” He nips at my earlobe.

“Not that. There’s not even furniture in here.”

“The floor works just fine,” he mumbles.

I open the door and we both step in.

“Come here, Buddy,” I call, crouching down.

The big mastiff mix ambles toward me slowly.

“He’s not old, just a little busted up because some assholes abused him. I got him from the shelter. He’s very sweet.”

The dog makes it over to us and I rub his head. Jack crouches down next to me and Buddy turns to check him out.

“You got a dog?”

“Yeah. What do you think?”

I watch Jack as he rubs Buddy behind one ear. Buddy licks his arm.

“What’s his name?”

“The shelter didn’t know. They just called him Buddy. So I figured, since I did all of this without you, I could at least let you name the dog.”

“I get to name the dog?”

“Do you want to?”

Jack is looking at Buddy instead of me, his eyes still wide. “He’s a manly dog.”

“Yes, he is.”

“But regal, you know.”

“I agree.”

Jack turns toward me and takes my hand. We both stand up and he wraps me in his arms.

“I think I’ll call him Prince.”

“Prince? Seriously?”

“Yeah, now I have a Prince and a Princess.”

“You have the whole kingdom,” I say sarcastically.

“I have everything,” he whispers, as he leans down to kiss me.

EPILOGUE

One year later…

The wedding is beautiful. It’s perfect, really. It’s a warm, still June day. The sun is setting over the beach just as the vows are being said, framing the happy couple as they stand hand-in-hand in front of us all.

I am sitting next to Jack, my hand nestled in his. Sean and Hank are standing not far from me, looking very happy and comfortable, but slightly silly, in khaki shorts and brightly colored Hawaiian shirts.

Sean hands a simple gold band to Mike. Mike smiles and repeats after the officiant. “I love you. My heart is in this ring. My love is in this ring. I promise to be your faithful husband, to love you through the best and the worst, through the difficult and the easy. I promise you my unconditional love, and I give you my unwavering trust. When you look at this ring, remember that I love you always.” Then he slips the ring tenderly onto Tak’s finger.

Tears are definitely leaking out of my eyes now, and they don’t slow down as Tak repeats the process, smiling sweetly as he places an identical ring on Mike’s hand.

The officiant clears her throat, and I’m pretty sure they’ve gotten to her, too. “By the powers vested in me by the State of California, I now pronounce you married. You may kiss your husband.”

I watch through the cloudy fog of my tears as Mike leans over and pulls Tak to him like a man in the desert with his first glass of water. Hank whoops, my brother stifles his emotions with a quiet cough, and Baby, Bell and me – we just straight up cheer.

Mike and Tak walk through us all, accepting congratulations and big warm hugs. Then, in a huge happy crowd, we all walk a few hundred feet down the beach to a big white tent perched on groomed sand.

The atmosphere at the reception is festive and jovial. I sit beside Jack, a glass of champagne in my hand and watch Hank get up to make a speech.

“This should be good,” Jack whispers in my ear. And despite all the time we’ve spent together, I still get a tingle down my spine as his breath hits my neck.

“Okay, I’m gonna make this short and sweet,” Hank says. The audience laughs because we know Hank’s speech will most likely not be short, and it definitely won’t be sweet. “Mike, you are one lucky dude. I mean, I was really starting to worry about you, man. You seemed to like the absolute biggest assholes you could find.” He turns to the audience and spreads his arms wide. “
Huge
assholes. Bigger assholes than me even! But, after watching you chase some of the most worthless tail I’ve ever seen, you finally found a good one. Thank God, because if I had to share the bus with one more weird hair sporting, crazy name having – no offense, Tak – dude that drools when I talk to him, I was going to lose my mind. So, here’s to Tak, a dude I really like, and who doesn’t want to screw me.”

While we all laugh and drink to the toast, Mike hugs Hank, hard. Hank pulls away and wipes at his eyes. Then Sean stands up. And the whole place goes quiet. Sean giving a speech is strange enough, but the look on his face is… pure emotion.

We all sit in anticipation as Sean pauses, runs a hand through his hair, and finally speaks. “Mikey, you’re my brother.” Sean pauses again, and Mike’s eyes well with tears. “Since the day I met you, I knew you were special. I knew that you were a one-in-a-million dude.” He pauses again, and we all hold our breath. “And I never thought you’d meet anyone that could hold a candle to you. But you did. And goddammit, I’m happy for you. And…” Sean puts his hand over his face for a second. Then he looks up again. “I’m proud of you, man.”

Mike jumps out of his seat and throws his arms around Sean. Over the clapping I can hear Sean say softly, “Love you, man.” Mike chokes out, “Love you, too, brother.”

An hour later, I’m dancing with Jack. Despite the fact that everyone else is flailing their arms in the air to
YMCA
, Jack is holding me close to his body. Little Henry runs past us, Baby in hot pursuit. He squeals as she grabs ahold of him and pulls his stomach to her mouth for a loud raspberry.

I’ve been so happy lately. Jack and I moved into our house and settled into a quiet life I never thought I’d have. My show is going well, maybe too well. People are starting to recognize me and I occasionally have to deal with paparazzi. But, fortunately I have a killer PR rep. I look over to see him cutting a rug with his new husband and smile.

My family is bigger than ever now. I live just a few minutes from Sean, Baby and little Henry, and a few minutes from Sam, Lisa and my nieces.

Mike and Tak are part of my family, too. And they are such a welcome addition. Jack’s grandparents live nearby and we see them all the time. My parents are now talking about moving to California when my dad retires. And to top it all off, Baby is pregnant again.

Everything is so perfect that I’d been living in fear for the last few weeks that the other shoe was going to drop. Life cannot be this good. I mean, there are problems. Jack’s grandpa has been having health issues lately, and we’re both stressed out about it. And I don’t really like the new notoriety I’ve gained with the show. I always thought I would like the spotlight, but it’s turning out to be a bigger burden than I’d expected.

I’ve discovered that while I enjoyed the occasional person recognizing me and making a big deal of me when I was a stage actor in New York, I am not so found of strangers constantly approaching or cameras following my every move now that my face is all over the TV. Jack, however, is so damn good with the fans and the press, that he makes it easier. And lately, he’s been using the method Sean employed at the Lincoln Memorial to keep the fans away. And I must say, I enjoy it.

“Hey, come for a walk with me,” Jack says, turning me away from the dance floor.

I smile. “A walk on the beach. Pretty cliché, don’t you think?”

“Yep.”

I follow him away from the lights surrounding the tent and down toward the water. It’s a beautiful moonlit night. The air is warm and still as we walk along the shore, the water lapping at our feet in soft waves.

“That was a very nice wedding,” he says, softly.

“It was. I think I would like a wedding like that.”

Jack stops and looks down at me. “Really?”

I shrug. “I am a girl. It’s not like I haven’t thought about it.”

“I’ve actually been thinking about that a lot lately.”

“You have?”

“Yeah. Stacey, I love you so much.” Then, Jack drops down on one knee.

Holy shit!

“Will you marry me, Princess? I even have a ring.” He pulls a small blue velvet box out of his pocket and opens it.

“Holy shit!” This time I say it out loud.

Jack chuckles. “Is that a yes?”

I throw myself down onto his knee. “That’s a hell yes!”

Jack kisses me. “Yeah? You want this?”

“I do. I want you forever, Jack.” I stroke his cheek and relish in the fact that he is all mine.

Jack is exactly what I always needed. And suddenly, the idea of getting to say those beautiful vows with him makes me feel like a giddy little girl. And I want to make him legally mine right this minute. Which makes me ask, “Can we have a beach wedding like Mike and Tak’s?”

“Sure. I bet Tak will help you plan it.”

I kiss him, then nestle my face in his neck. “I am so happy right now, Jack.”

“Me, too, Princess.” He rests his cheek on my head and we sit like that for a long time.

Then Jack takes my hand and slips the ring onto my finger. I stare down at it and just breathe. I know now that Jack is as deeply tied to me as I am to him. He won’t run away from me. Even when Crazy Stacey shows up – and every once in a great while she still does – in those moments, Jack just pulls me to him and holds me tight, and all my insecurities melt away.

Jack kisses the top of my head. “Do you think we should go break the news to your family, now?”

I sigh. “Now that you mention them, I’m rethinking the big wedding thing. Maybe we should elope.”

Jack pulls us both up. “Don’t worry. I’m sure they will only get slightly insane.”

THE END

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Kay Harris

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