as though the nostalgic memories were pleasant.
Her own family was more about backstabbing, which made her sad. Weren’t parents supposed to love and protect their children? Hers had exploited her, and their selfish needs had superseded hers and her siblings’. “I haven’t done anything truly competitive in a few years, and I’m not afraid of anything, but there’s a reason my parents didn’t name me Grace.”
Nick grinned. “I’m happy my mother didn’t let my dad name me Heriberto and my twin brother Mattero like he wanted to.”
Roxanne started to laugh. She was enjoying her lunch with Nick. He was an entertaining man and from some of the looks she was getting from women at other tables, they were just a touch envious she was the one having lunch with the most handsome man in the whole restaurant.
“What happens next?” Roxanne asked. Her salad was delicious and the company was delightful. She felt herself relaxing.
“The official announcement of the next season’s contestants will be on The Morning Show with Daniel Torres next Monday and then later on Entertainment Tonight and The Insider, but before then, we’ll be doing short little interviews that will go up on the show’s website immediately after the announcement. I want to set up a time for you to come in for an interview. My assistant will call you later today with your schedule. We’ll start with hair, makeup and head shots, then do the interview. Next week after the announcement we’re filming a commercial. So you’ll need an appointment with the wardrobe department and then you and I will practice a quick dance move for the teaser trailer. Nothing elaborate, just something easy to showcase you.”
“I get to practice my dance moves.” She flung out her hand trying to quell the nervous fluttering in her stomach and tipped over a glass of water that ended up half in her salad and the rest quickly spreading across the table and dripping down to Nick’s pants. “I’m sorry.” She sprang up.
The waitress hurried over with napkins and started sopping up the mess.
“I should have just settled for jazz hands,” Roxanne said, chagrined at making such a mess. She was never at her best with men and the idea of dancing on TV in front of millions of people was making her more clumsy than normal.
He laughed. “I used to work in a restaurant and this is not the worst thing that has happened to me.” He took a pile of napkins and helped the waitress mop up the water. “We’re outside in southern California, my clothes will dry.”
Heat flooded her face. “I’m so embarrassed.”
“Don’t cry over spilled water,” he said.
The waitress wiped up the last bit of water and picked up the drenched salad. She grinned at Roxanne. “I can remake your salad but, honey, you look like you could use a piece of chocolate-silk cream pie instead.”
“No, thank you and I’m done with the salad. I’m going to have to fit in a tight dress.”
“Bring her a piece of pie,” Nick said, his eyes alight with amusement. “Trust me, you’ll work it off starting tomorrow.”
* * *
Nick found himself chuckling in the car as he drove back to the studio. He hadn’t had so much fun with a woman in a long time. He tended to keep things on a light note with the women he normally dated after the bad experience with the stalker had left him shaken.
Roxanne was full of surprises. She had more determination than dance talent, but he could work with that. He wouldn’t be able to turn her into a swan, but he could turn her into a competent dancer. Her personality would do the rest. He just had a feeling the audience was going to love her.
Once at the studio, he found himself walking into his brother’s office instead of heading farther down the hall to his own.
Daniel was hunched over his laptop, frowning. He looked up and his face transformed into a smile.
“What cha doin’, bro?” Nick said. He flopped into a chair.
Daniel grinned. “Greer wants to design a cake that looks like a parade float and actually moves.”
“If anyone can create that, she can. I have total confidence in her.” Greer Courtland was Daniel’s soon-to-be bride. She also designed parade floats for the Rose Parade. Daniel had been impressed by her talent and fallen in love with her while filming segments of the progress of his Rose Parade float. They were planning a January wedding because Greer wouldn’t be able to get away until after October.
“I just want to get married,” Daniel said. “I just want her to be mine forever, so everyone can see. All these details are making me crazy. I’ve spent years looking for her. I never have to date again. I have the woman of my dreams. I just want to get married.”
Nick held up his hands. “Whoa, there. What brought this on?”
Daniel scrubbed his face with his hands. “I’m ready to get on with the next phase of my life.” Daniel wasn’t the most patient man in the world. He could fake patience well, but underneath he would seethe. “Okay. I got that off my chest and can get on with my day. But that needed to be said.”
“You need to tell Greer.”
“I’m good now. I am willing to have the wedding of her dreams because it’s more important to make her happy. Dad sat down and gave me the ‘now that you’re getting married’ speech. His talk boiled down to his ‘happy wife, happy life’ metaphor.”
“That must have been uncomfortable.”
“It was more uncomfortable than the sex talk.”
“Yeah, he just gave us a condom and hoped for the best.” Nick remembered the talk clearly. He and Daniel had been fifteen and they’d received only one warning from their mother. There would be no Torres baby-daddies, she’d told them. And like their other brothers, they listened.
“I want to grab Greer and head to Vegas like Mom and Dad did.”
“And disappoint Nina,” Nick said. Their sister was the planner in the family. With Greer and her sisters busy with the floats they was currently building, she’d asked Nina to help with the wedding plans.
Daniel rubbed her temple.
“Good luck, bro,” Nick said cheerfully. “I’ll leave you to it.”
He closed the door on Daniel’s groan and headed to his office.
* * *
The morning of the announcement, Roxanne was up and out the door by 4:00 a.m. racing for the studio to have her hair and makeup done before the big announcement on Daniel Torres’s show. She grabbed her laptop and the file of her current client so she could work during the lulls. She couldn’t afford to waste one minute.
The drive from Pacific Palisades to the studio went more smoothly than normal. No accidents jammed the freeway and traffic was unusually light. She walked into the studio still yawning, a huge cup of coffee in one hand. She never skipped her morning coffee.
After her hair and makeup were finished, she joined the other contestants on the set. Nick reached for her hand and pulled her out slightly ahead of the others.
“We’re
