‘Brynn, thanks so much for doing this, you look incredible.’ Ruby forced a smile to her lips, determined not to let on to anyone she had an empty space in her chest she was terrified might never be filled.
Watching The Way We Were – especially in her Katie outfit from the scene she had relived with Luke yesterday evening in Brynn’s Bar – was about to increase the torture.
She missed him, so much, already. He’d walked away from her just over twenty-four hours ago and it had been a titanic effort not to fall completely to pieces in the hours since. Luckily, she and the rest of the team had had their hands full organising tonight’s screening. But now the lobby was packed with people rocking their Babs and Bob outfits – just as predicted there were enough Yentls to fill a synagogue – and she could feel the tears queuing up in her throat. How on earth was she going to survive listening to Brynn sing the song she had hummed for Luke yesterday, the last time she’d touched him?
Brynn winked, the gold lamé gown sparkling in the fairy lights Ruby and Jacie had spent the morning stringing across the newly repainted lobby.
‘Thanks honey, you look perfect as Katie,’ Brynn replied. ‘Matty always said you had more heart and tenacity than La Streisand. He wasn’t wrong.’
She forced her mouth to curve. ‘High praise indeed. Shall I announce you?’
‘Oh my!’ Brynn’s gaze locked on something over Ruby’s shoulder and his eyes brightened. ‘Your Hubbell changed his mind. How wonderful.’
What? No, it can’t be.
Ruby swung round. Her heart stopped beating for two crucial seconds, then started beating so hard she was scared she might pass out … Or, worse, might be having an out-of-body experience. Because she could see Luke walking towards her.
But this wasn’t Luke as she knew him, in his thousand dollar suits, or his paint-splattered overalls and tool belt, or his worn jeans and sweaters as he climbed into her apartment late at night, or his stretchy boxers the morning after, or nothing at all as they spooned in her too small bed.
This was a new Luke, dressed in Navy whites, the black-and-gold epaulettes standing out against the pristine uniform, the officer’s cap perched rakishly on his dark hair, his jaw clean shaven, the true blue gaze locked on her face as he ignored the spontaneous applause and headed straight towards her.
He came back.
She was definitely having an out-of-body experience. But if this was an illusion it was the best illusion of her life. She could see Jacie – in her white two-piece suit with sail boat flares from What’s Up Doc? – grinning at her and clapping, Gerry and Tozer – in their matching pin-stripes from The Sting – laughing too, and Beryl clutching her Funny Girl pearls as if she were about to faint with the romance of it all.
I know how you feel.
The piano intro for Streisand’s signature song from the film floated over the applause, and Brynn’s Dolly began to hum the tune. Just as Dolly’s smoky voice caressed the opening lyrics about misty waters and memories, Luke reached Ruby. Taking her hand in his, he dragged her towards him and gripped her round the waist.
‘I think this is my dance,’ he said, his gruff American accent prickling over her skin and making her heart jiggle in her chest.
‘Luke?’ was all she could manage, still not sure she could believe this was actually happening.
‘That’s Hubbell to you,’ he said with a smile. And her heart lifted into her throat.
‘I thought you were flying home tonight?’
‘I’ve got unfinished business.’
She laughed, the joyous sound matching the gloriously romantic song as Luke – or rather, Hubbell – held her close and led her in a slow dance in the small space the crowd had made for them.
She had no idea why he was here. But he’d dressed up for her as a character from the most turgid melodrama in movie history, and made a spectacle of himself in front of everyone, just to give her this precious moment. Surely that had to mean something … wonderful.
***
The rest of the evening went by in a blur.
He sat through the film with his strong, supportive arm slung around her shoulders, and after it ended … Finally, they snuck away upstairs – with him using the flat’s main entrance for the first time since the day he had come to fix her boiler.
Leading her down the darkened corridor, he made his way to her bedroom. The fairy lights flickered above the bed as they both got naked.
Within seconds they were falling on to the sheets she’d changed that afternoon because the scent of him in her bed only made the yearning worse.
Skin to skin, sigh to sigh, mouth to mouth, lips to flesh, they devoured each other. He touched and tasted her everywhere he knew would get her to gasp, sigh, beg. The first orgasm flowed through her as if it were a right.
She could feel his urgency, sense his desperation as he plunged into her.
He worked his hips, hitting the sweet spot he’d found weeks ago and ruthlessly exploited ever since.
She clung to his shoulders and rode the storm.
At last, she let herself fall, hearing his deep grunt of completion.
As she lay in the circle of his arms in the dark room, the flicker of lights shining on sweaty skin, she breathed in the delicious scent of him. There were a thousand things she wanted to say to him, a thousand more questions she wanted to ask. But she swallowed them down and placed her hand on his chest instead, scared to break the spell too soon. Happy just to live in this magnificent moment and hope it meant more.
He clasped her fingers in his.
‘I told you that was the longest damn melodrama in movie history,’ he said.
And she laughed. ‘I’d have to agree with you now.’
She snuggled into his side, closed her eyes as his hand settled on her hair.
‘Did you iron your hair, too? Like Babs in the movie?’ he asked.
She smiled, so he had been paying attention. ‘I borrowed Jacie’s straighteners,’ she said, round a yawn.
‘Go to sleep,’ he said, dropping a gentle kiss on her forehead.
She wanted to ask him if he would still be here in the morning but chose not to, in case the answer ruined her happy ending.
So she allowed her mind to drift, and let her body float. Accepting the fact that whatever happened tomorrow, she would always have this perfect night for the rest of her life.