Sweet Sinful Nights(2)

“This is huge, babe,” he said, keeping the conversation upbeat.

“I know. It is,” she said, sounding hollow.

“What’s wrong?”

“I thought it was for a job in New York. That we were trying to find work together in New York so we could be together. You know, Mr. and Mrs. Nichols, and all,” she said, trying to smile but her lower lip quivered the slightest bit.

He shook his head. “Well, it was. But they loved my work so much they offered me a gig and want me to start next week in time for the new fall season. It’s an amazing opportunity. Top late-night TV show in the country. In the world. And you are looking at the newest writer. And he is looking at his bride-to-be.”

He thought for sure that would return the smile to her face, the kind that made her crinkle her nose, with its constellation of freckles. He loved nothing more than making her smile, making her laugh, especially considering what she and her family had been through that wasn’t the least bit funny whatsoever. “We’re going to L.A.,” he added, because the silence was too much.

But there was no smile. Her eyes were glassy, wet maybe. Then she seemed to draw in that flash of sadness and replace it with a hard fierceness, and a tight line across her lips.

“Brent,” she said carefully. “Did you say we’re going to L.A.?”

He nodded eagerly. “I start next week. We’re moving to L.A. I took the job.”

She stepped away, pushing her hands against him. “You. Took. It?” she repeated, each word needing its own longitude and latitude.

“Hell yeah.”

“You never thought to discuss it with your bride-to-be?” she asked pointedly, holding up her hand and flashing her ring at him—the diamond he’d given her, set in her grandmother’s band that her brother Michael had helped him track down.

“No.” But he was too surprised by her question to even try to figure out why she was asking.

“What about me?”

“What about you? You don’t have a job.”

“But we agreed to look for work in New York. That was our plan. I thought the job you were interviewing for was in New York. That’s what you told me, and that’s the only place I’ve been looking. I turned down an opportunity in Tucson last week because you were worried it was too far away.”

He shot her a look. “Shan, that was with a tiny little dance company.”

Her stare could burn a pinhole through him. “Don’t put it down now. We both know why I said no. Because you said you couldn’t bear to be apart from me. That’s what you said, so don’t act like it would have been the wrong career move for me. I did that for you. You said you weren’t going to find work as a comedian in Tucson. And now you just went and took a job in L.A. without even talking to me,” she said, holding her hands out wide, waiting for his answer.

“I didn’t think I needed to,” he said, raising his chin up, holding his ground. “It’s the perfect gig for me. So I said yes.” He planted his feet wider, as if they were two gunslingers ready to do battle. She crossed her arms, the next move in the dance of their anger. Familiar choreography for the two of them.

“Well, I got a job, too,” she tossed back, arching an eyebrow.

“In L.A.?” he asked, hoping wildly.

She shook her head. “In New York. Like we talked about. Then it goes to London.”

He wrenched back and narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t tell me you were looking for work in London.”

She huffed. Oh, she breathed fire. That woman knew how to be angry with him. She’d mastered it. She pointed a finger at his chest. “No, I didn’t tell you, because there was nothing to tell, and now I am telling you that my modern dance teacher called me today to tell me Lars Branson just lost his assistant choreographer for the West End production of West Side Story and asked did he know anyone who could fill in at a moment’s notice? He mentioned me, since he knew I was looking for work, and the job starts in New York and then moves to London at the end of the summer. I didn’t say yes because I wanted to talk to you about it first. To see if you’d even want to go to London with me.”

“But I thought you were looking for work here,” he said, his arms spinning in circles, as if she’d understand he meant all of the United States of America. “Not overseas.”

“I wasn’t looking, Brent. Don’t you get it? And unlike you, I didn’t take the job. Yet. I said I’d need to check with my fiancé, which is evidently more than it occurred to you to do.”

“I thought you’d be happy for me. I thought you’d want to come with me. C’mon, Shannon. I said yes because it’s the opportunity of a lifetime. And you’ll come with me, won’t you?” He stepped closer and slinked his hand around her waist, her body under his fingertips sending that electric charge through him that only she had the power to do. Since the moment he laid eyes on Shannon Paige-Prince two years ago, in the audience at an open mic night at a local comedy club, he knew he had to have her. He’d nearly forgotten the next line in his bit. He’d barely been able to look away from her, from those jade green eyes and those ruby red lips, slightly parted as she’d watched him on stage, and laughed at the punch lines. His friend Hal had told him in advance that he was bringing along someone he had to meet, since both Brent and Shannon grew up in Vegas.