Page 49 of Resisting You
Smiles cracked around the table and everyone’s faces softened. Lydia gave me an empathetic nod and said, “I hear you. This family is a lot to step into.” She sent me a little winkfrom across the table. And while I was comforted by that, it didn’t escape my notice how Noah tensed at our interaction.
“Thanks, Lydia,” I said.
A shrill whine came from the floor beside us and when I looked down, the puppy was on his hind legs, trying to paw at my thigh with his casted leg.
Yvonne cleared her throat, breaking our trance. “I hate to interrupt this moment,” she said, “But I think your little guy might need to go potty.”
Noah jumped up, scooping the puppy into his arms, being careful with the bandaged leg as I grabbed the leash that Yvonne had given us, clipping it to his oversized collar.
“You don’t need to come,” Noah offered, but I shrugged him off.
“I don’t mind. It’s so pretty here. I’d like a chance to see the stars above the lake.”
Together, we stepped outside and I paused to take a long inhale of the warm air. The navy sky was scattered with stars, like diamonds strewn across black velvet. Without the little bit of ambient light from the house and the moon, it would have been pitch black. But the ripples of moonlight shimmered across the lake and I inhaled deeply, taking it all in. “This town… this lake… it’s all so beautiful,” I said wistfully. “I can see why so many people love it here.”
Noah walked patiently beside the puppy as he limped near a shrub at the front of the house. “I’m surprised you like Maple Grove,” Noah said. “I guess I always pictured you as a city girl.”
I chuckled. “Me too. But, I don’t know. Something about the peace here calls to me. I could imagine splitting my time between a small town like this and New York.”
Noah nodded and tilted his face up to the moonlight. “I’ve been toying with that idea myself for a while. I feel like I need toreconnect with my family more and I just can’t do that living all my time in New York.”
A humorless chuckle caught my chest. “If you’re planning to start filming movies on top of your show, I doubt you’ll have much downtime.”
His smile faded. “Then maybe I need to rethink renewing my contract for the show.”
It was a big leap of faith for an actor to give up a steady paycheck on a hit show. I had no doubt Kristen would have a coronary. “Sometimes we need to make space for the bigger things we want in life.”
He glanced over at me, the blue of the moonlight slicing across his beautiful, angular face.
At our feet, the puppy gave a little yip, pulling our attention away. “What are you going to name him?”
“What shouldwename him?” Noah countered. “He’sourdog, not my dog.”
I gave Noah a small smile, but tilted my head, lowering my voice to a whisper. “Between us, we should think of him as your dog. I don’t want it to be a custody battle later.”
Sadness lingered in his expression for a moment before it lifted. “Okay, then. I was between two names… The first is Oliver. Because it was the first musical I was ever cast in as a kid.”
“That’s cute,” I said.
“I was eight years old and my mom had no idea the love affair she helped start between me and the theater when she took me to that audition. She thought it would just be a way for me to make friends, but then I got the lead role?—”
“And a star was born,” I finished for him.
He laughed and nodded. “Something like that.” I could just picture an adorably young Noah Blue Tripp with his bright blue eyes and dark, floppy hair. I bet he was adorable onstage and off.
“Okay,” I said. “What was the second idea?”
“I was thinking Birdie?—”
A snort escaped me and I quickly covered my face with my hand.
“What’s wrong with Birdie?” he asked, incredulous.
“Nothing! It’s just… Well, you’ll be a grown ass man with a little dog named Birdie!” I didn’t hide my laughter this time.
“Hey! Birdie is an adorable name!” he said, indignantly. “First of all, he was found with a bunch of birds. The ducks helped keep him alive for his first five months.Andit was my first romantic leading role… I played Conrad Birdie in Bye Bye Birdie.”
I rolled my eyes at that. “Of course you did.”
