Strangers in the Night (25 page)

“Hello, Keila. You told me there’s something you need to share with our viewers?” Tess prompted.

A sigh came over the line and Jake felt powerless because he couldn’t protect her. What was she doing?

Keila cleared her throat. “Just that Jake hasn’t lied to you. Julia Hamilton and I are friends and I know for a fact that she and Jake really are just friends. She’d, well, actually like him to find someone.”

A splatter of “So do we!” shouts from the audience quieted Keila, who laughed softly. “And then I’m also calling in about the interior decorator’s story.” There was a pause and Jake realized he was gripping his chair so tightly, his hands hurt. “She says she was worried about people seeing them through a bay window at the house in Kankakee, but there’s no bay window anywhere in that house. You’d think a decorator would have a good eye and not make that mistake, I think … no, I’m sure she made the whole story up, not just the part about the non-existent bay window.”

“And how do you know there’s no bay window in that house?” Gretel, eyebrows raised, asked. Many in the audience were leaning forward.

“I know because … ” Another sigh, this time deeper. “I’m the woman he’s carrying in the picture. Jake invited to go up with him after I’d had a particularly bad day, but not because we were dating or anything. We never lied about that.” Keila now sounded nervous and unsure.

“But you’re obviously kissing in the picture,” Gretel began, but she was cut off by Jake.

“She said what she wanted to say, so just leave her alone now, she’s obviously uncomfortable.”

“What about you, are you uncomfortable?” Gretel shot back.

“Hell yeah!” Jake splayed his hands out. Everyone burst out laughing.

The line above went dead. He couldn’t help wonder what Keila was thinking now. His heart was no longer in the show, it was with Keila. She’d called and put herself out there to help him. How was she feeling? Why would she do that for him? And why did it still smell like Vicks and Bengay? He felt like he was finally coming undone.

“Fine, then let’s get back to where we were before Keila called in.” Tess quickly stepped in. “You were about to tell us how you feel about … the
mystery woman
.”

Jake looked at Tess. Tess looked at Jake. The whole set went still and quiet. Not even Gretel or Samantha made a sound. He could feel everyone’s eyes on him.

“I’d rather tell her in private. And in person.” He stood up, looked around at the cameras, trying to figure out which one was focused on him. “Keila, please meet me … ” God, how could he tell her where without half of Chicago showing up? He could call her or …

Well, everyone already knew they’d kissed. “Meet me where we shared our first kiss. As soon as you can. I’ll be waiting.” Jake was about to take off his microphone but instead looked at a camera again and said, “Please show up.”

He then ripped his microphone off and took off without a backward glance. Excited hoots and hollers followed him out.

Her heart thundering, Keila ran up the steps, two at a time, went to the closet and whipped out the first pair of jeans and sweater she saw, not caring that the jeans were too big and the sweater had a dorky snowman on it. She pulled them on, slipped her cell phone into her pocket, flew down the stairs, slipped her arm through her winter coat, opened the door, and saw a reporter already at her door. She’d probably come down as soon as Keila had spoken on TV.

A stampede and clattering in the kitchen caught her attention. Slamming the front door, she ran to the back, where her mother, her Aunt Gina, Tania, Robbie, and Mia were scattering in through the back door. “We watched the whole thing.
Que romántico!
” her aunt Gina called out.

“Come on, let’s go. The car’s in front of Mr. Patowski’s house. We cut through Robbie’s back yard. Don’t worry, we’ll lose the paps,
hija
!” her mother exclaimed.

“The paps? There’s just one reporter, ma. This isn’t Hollywood, You’re overreacting.”

“Where was your first kiss?” Robbie demanded as they cut through Robbie’s yard and entered his house.

“I can’t believe you put yourself out there like that, Keila. I swear I wanted to strangle you,” Tania shook her head.

“She really did want to strangle you. And Jake,” Aunt Gina said.

“At The H,” she said to Robbie before turning to Tania. “You came to strangle me? ‘Cause let me tell you, I’m fighting back. I’ve had it with your gloom and doom when it comes to relationships.”

“No. I didn’t come to strangle you. I came to talk, but they won’t let me. I need to talk to you, Keila, I really do.”

Everyone began scolding and chastising Tania at the same time and they sounded like a bunch of squabbling hens. “Stop!” Keila called. And they stopped. “Just give us a moment, okay? I promise I won’t let her get to me.”

Amid protests, she dragged her sister into Robbie’s living room. “You’re not going to talk me out of this, Tania. There’s no way, my heart’s made up.”

“Just hush, okay?” Tania interrupted before putting her hand on her forehead and sitting down on a sofa arm. When she looked up, a big, fat tear was rolling down her cheek and Keila instantly sat beside her, taking her sister’s hand. Her sister hadn’t cried in years.

“I don’t want to be like this, Keila. I really don’t. I don’t want to be negative. I just want to be the voice of reason. I love you so,
so
much and I don’t want you to ever feel so profoundly stupid that you just know you can never trust your judgment again. Or to ever question why you aren’t special enough to have the person you put so much trust in to love you enough. Just
enough
.” Tania trembled and Keila put her arm around her. “You have to be careful who you trust with your heart, Keila, you have to realize their inner thoughts and feelings can be wholly unknown to you, but their effects can end up hurting you badly.”

“I love you, too, Tania. Please stop holding on so tight to things that hurt, it kills us all to see you do that.” Keila and Tania hugged until exasperated voices called them from outside.

Tania wiped her eyes. “I think I can at least try to let go of worrying over you. That has to be a start. But no matter how this plays out I’m going to be there for you. Starting today. I love my daughter and because of her, I can’t regret anything, and I don’t want you to have regrets, either. So get off your butt; you need to go meet Jake so we can see how this whole thing will turn out,” she instructed, getting up, her no-nonsense, bossy attitude back.

They marched over to Mr. Patowski’s house, Mr. Patowski looking at them quizzically from his front porch. Opening the door to her car, her sister said, “Now squeeze in, dammit.”

“Both of you squeeze in and hide. If any of you are recognized, they’ll follow us! I’ll drive.” Aunt Gina took the keys away from Tania, who loudly protested. “No way, I’ve seen you drive, crazy woman. And what’s with this ‘we’ll be recognized and followed’ crap? You guys are watching way too much
Access Hollywood
.”

A minute later, they were on their way, a maniac at the wheel. As they zipped through the city at questionable speeds, Julia called to let Keila know she’d be waiting at the hotel with the special key card.

What seemed like an eternity later, Aunt Gina raced the car around the back of the hotel and Robbie and Tania practically shoved her out of the car. Keila made her way to the kitchen, as Julia had instructed, relieved there weren’t any reporters at all.

Both Julia and Patty were there with the key card, but Patty grabbed Keila, hugged her hard and wouldn’t let go. Julia had to step in and remind her Jake was waiting. Keila now walked slowly, unsure of what would happen next.

As soon as she stepped out onto the roof top garden she saw him, but he was dressed in completely different clothes than those she had just seen him in. Sporting a faded coat, hoodie, and jeans, he looked, as usual, sexy and dangerous to her well-being. He didn’t move, just stood back and studied her.

Keila, feeling more insecure than ever, looked around the rooftop garden. Finally, she looked up at him. “You had time to change?” she asked, as if they were old friends meeting on the streets, and not one-time lovers.

“One of the production assistants and I switched clothes. His idea. Tyrone led him out, head down, and everyone thought he was me. I took a bus and the L, and kept my head low, too,” Jake smiled and Keila’s heart skipped in her chest, as if it were trying to get nearer to him. They each took a few steps toward each other and Jake took hold of her hand. “I was afraid you wouldn’t come.”

Her heart dancing wildly, she took the plunge. “I really want to know how you feel about the mystery woman.”

“The one I danced with last summer? Or the one who wiped the floor with me during a news conference this fall? Or do you mean the one I spent the hottest weekend of my life with this Thanksgiving?”

Keila bit her lip and nodded.

Jake looked away from her. “Well, she keeps walking away from me, and each time she leaves, it cuts me, deeper and deeper. I’m not sure I want to just open myself up to her like that, and then have her walk away again.” He looked at her again, his eyes more blue than the unusually bright winter sky.

Keila looked into those beautiful eyes. “Maybe she wouldn’t walk away if she knew exactly what it was you wanted from her,” she challenged.

They just stared at each other for a beat and she shook her head, not wanting to come to yet another standstill with Jake Kelly. “I’m scared too, you know. I don’t want to lay my heart here at your feet and then find out you’re not sure about anything.” Keila stepped into him and buried her head in his chest, knowing she never wanted to leave, and fearing the immediate future. He took her face in his hands, and leaned down for a slow, hot, yet desperately lonely kiss she felt everywhere.

“I’m so in love with you it hurts,” Keila finally said, wiping tears away. “There, I said it first, are you happy?”

Jake hugged her close and spoke so low she had to strain to hear him. “I love you so much it scares the hell out of me. If I open myself up to you, if I start to think you and I can have what I’ve never allowed myself to hope I can have, and you decide to leave … ”

Keila laughed softly and sniffled. “We’re a sorry pair then, all hurt and scared.”

“I don’t want us to stay that way and I don’t want us to just
try
to get over everything that makes us hold back. I want to make this pact that we
will
let go. I won’t hurt you, Keila. I swear I’ll love you so well … ” he kissed her neck, sliding his hands completely around her waist.

She sighed and unconsciously began to sway softly, as if they were dancing to a slow, sultry song only she could hear. He began to move along with her.

Keila slipped her hands around his neck and pulled him closer to her, still moving in time, loving his kisses along her neck. “Okay. I’ll let go, and I’ll give this my all but you have to promise we’ll go slow. We’ll date. We’ll really open up and get to know everything about one another. We’ll argue politics till we’re blue in the face, but no talk of the future.”

“I agree. We’ll argue politics till you come over to my side, and we’ll give this our all, but just here and now, one day at a time,” he said, his warm breath tickling her ear. Keila sighed, placed her head on his shoulder, and let herself be happy. There was no way he’d ever get her to see his side, so they had all the time in the world.

“Promise me you won’t shut me out,” Keila whispered. “I don’t want to have to guess how you feel or what you’re thinking … ”

“Okay. Just don’t walk away from me, Keila,” Jake repeated, softly.

They were going to take things nice and slow. With the elections in just three months and her busy schedule of practice and performances, it’s not like they had a choice.

Keila closed her eyes and for the first time in years, she felt truly at peace with herself.

February 28th, Chicago Winter Dance Festival

A spirited piano and a teasing, lively string intro played by Michelle, Ralph, and Simone marked the beginning of “I Need to Know.” Marc Anthony’s sinuous, commanding voice rang out from the speakers as people began to loosen their hips to the sexy, steady beat, twirling and whirling away on the Jay Pritzker Pavilion stage at Millennium Park.

Trumpets called out and the dance floor really came to life. The vigorous crowd, the simmering moves, and the heat created by so many bodies grooving and swaying in close proximity kept the cold night air at bay.

• • •

Jake Kelly stood just outside the stage, the steady thumping rhythms reverberating within him. A steady stream of people, surprised to see him there, stopped by to shake his hand before heading off to dance. With the exception of a few family and friends, the night belonged to people just wanting to get down and get warm by working up a sweat on the last day of the
Winter Dance Festival
.

Tyrone danced with Mia, who giggled at his goofy moves, while Robbie and Cate demonstrated a few steps to an elderly couple who swiveled and gyrated their slightly arthritic hips.

His mother and Graciela tapped back and forth in a sorry imitation of salsa, deeply engrossed in a conversation, the topic of which he was sure he could guess in one try. Pete the Blogger and Julia had just met and Robbie had forced them to dance, but both were too self-aware to do anything but sway back and forth and smile at each other.

Meanwhile, Tess the hippie danced alone without a care in the world.

A swirl of white caught his attention, and he turned to see the subsequent flash of ankle socks and a pair of hairy legs. Quivering at the unruly sight, he looked up to see a priest swishing his long robe and dancing modestly with two sisters who were so in tune with one another, the people around them began to gravitate toward them, copying their smooth, synchronized steps. Soon, at least a dozen people were laughing and mimicking their amusing, made-up dance.