Throw Him My Way

Chapter 4

“Hello, Christian. Can I buy you a drink?”

Christian smiled, and Heidi found that she was riding a wave.

She had her balance, but there was this feeling that she might lose it at any moment that kept her sharp. It was exhilarating.

“I think it’s my turn.”

Heidi smiled, pleased.

“I’ll take a Scotch. Only if you have one, too.”

Christian had presence, she had to give him that, thought Heidi as the rather jaded bartender hopped to it. They had two glasses in front of them in no time.

She raised her glass.

“What shall we drink to?”

Christian smiled again, and Heidi felt like her heart had skipped a beat before speeding up.

The man looked potent. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had such a strong reaction to anybody.

Heidi usually kept all her emotions for her friends and her music.

That’s what mattered to her. That would never change.

Would it?

“To questionable decisions that turn out to be worth it.”

Well, that was pointed.

But the frank honestly was refreshing.

“As long as they’re worth it,” said Heidi, and clinked her glass to his.

Taking a sip, she put it aside.

She didn’t often drink hard spirits. She would take it slow.

The last thing she needed was another questionable decision.

“So, did you like the show?”

Christian grinned, and she nearly swooned.

His smile had packed a punch. But when he grinned, he had dimples.

She had always been a sucker for dimples.

Suddenly, it felt a bit too hot in there. She was assailed by a strong desire to fidget with her clothes and see if she could make herself sexier.

Of course, she told herself not to be so silly. But she couldn’t seem to help being a bit silly around Christian.

“It was pretty good. You’re really good, Heidi.”

She smiled, relieved.

Somehow, it would’ve hurt more than she would’ve liked to admit if he hadn’t thought her performance good.

Even if she knew that almost everybody else in that large room had loved it.

“Thank you,” she said, gracefully, and took a sip, wondering what she could ask next.

“So, how’s work?”

She could’ve kicked herself.

“On fire,” he quipped, startling her into a laugh.

“I didn’t think you’d joke about that.”

He shrugged, an easy movement that made her wonder what kind of muscles he had under that neat blue shirt.

“We all get through it somehow. How long have you been singing?”

It might be unfashionable, but Heidi loved talking about how she’d become a singer.

“I’ve been singing forever. I still hope for a day when I’ll be paid for it.”

Christian looked surprised.

“You have quite a following. I’d think a recording deal is right around a corner.”

Heidi chuckled.

“Oh, I wish. I’ve had a few offers, but they’ve always had… conditions. Most of them seemed to involve me taking my clothes off. But I have a reasonable following on YouTube. I keep sending tapes and links out. One day… Well, one day.”

Christian leaned towards her.

They weren’t all blue, thought Heidi, nearly driven incoherent by his proximity. His eyes had gray in them, too, like smoke rising into the evening sky.

“I believe you will be a star. You seem to have everything it takes to be one.”

Heidi smiled.

She knew she had a nice smile. If it had half the impact on him that his did on her, she’d be quite happy enough.

“That is very kind of you. So, how did you actually follow your dream?”

He raised his eyebrows.

With a chuckle, Heidi explained.

“Half the little kids seem to want to be a firefighter when they grow up. But most of them become lawyers or accountants. You must have stuck to your guns through everything.”

Christian laughed, and Heidi thought it might be one of the most attractive sounds she had ever heard.

“Actually, I wanted to be a clown.”

Heidi was delighted.

The man was nuts.

Just how she liked them.

Soon, they were engrossed in a debate that seemed to take in the finer points of clowns.

They went on to circuses, trapeze artists, gymnastics, glitter eye shadow, punk rock, and ended up talking, for some reason, about American Idol.

Heidi hardly knew how the time had flown by when it was time to declare the winner of the evening.

“They’re about to announce the winner,” said Christian.

Heidi shrugged.

“I never win. I mean, the money would be nice, but if that’s all I did this for, I’d have quit a long time ago.”

“… Heidi Richards.”

Her jaw dropped.

She had won an open mic night with actual prize money.

She never won those.

“Looks like your luck might be turning,” said Christian as she got her money and came back to the seat, after a few nonchalant waves and bows.

She thought she might even have dropped a curtsy.

“Well, five hundred is a lot. I guess I’m paying, tonight.”

Christian shook his head.

“I think this was our first date. You bought me my first drink, so it’s only fair that I pay for our first date. Don’t you think so?”

Heidi hesitated, but just for a moment.

She was drifting on sheer euphoria.

All of those times she had told herself that it didn’t matter if she won, and now that she had, she saw that it definitely did matter.

She felt like she could take over the world.

She tossed her hair back and smiled jauntily.

“All right. But the next date is on me.”

Christian quirked an eyebrow in that frankly sexy way that he had.

“Are you so sure of a next date?”

“Aren’t you?” tossed back Heidi.

He only smiled, and nodded.

Heidi knew one thing, for sure – she wanted this man, and she planned to have him.

*****

Heidi looked forward to the next date.

It wasn’t really a date. Neither was the one after that.

But for the next month, he was there at almost every single one of her gigs.

They didn’t meet during the day, but they talked.

She found him surprisingly easy to talk to. He understood, even when she tried to say as little as possible. She told him about her life, but very little about her family.

There was little to tell.

She regaled him with tales of the people who lived in the apartment building, and his response was to shake his head and mumble about firetraps.

The next night, he had a gift for her – a fire extinguisher, which she had to hail a cab to take home with her.

He told her about his large and interesting family. Those stories enthralled her. She had always wanted a family like that – one where everybody got in each other’s faces, but the undercurrent of love was so strong that it didn’t matter.