""Tonight, I Celebrate My Love"?" Sandra asked.
Fallon nodded.
"That"s a good song."
Camille agreed, "Yeah, I wish they wrote more songs like that."
Felicia returned to the table. "All right, Fallon, get up there and make your request. Alan"s expecting you."
Fallon grinned at the mention of the bar"s deejay. "Do you think he"s ready for me in a nostalgic mood? I"m going to make it easy on him tonight, because I"m pretty certain he"s going to have my song."
"What song?" Felicia asked.
""The song.""
"Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson?"
Felicia"s smile was infectious, and Fallon returned it. "Yeah."
"Good choice."
"I was thinking about dedicating the song to Marcus and the memory of that night." She wrinkled her nose and scrunched up her face. "Not that he"s going to be here to hear the dedication."
"It"s still a cool idea," Felicia replied. Her eyes widened, and she said, "It would be spooky if Marcus happened to be here and heard you dedicate it to him." She snapped her fingers. "That would definitely count as that fortune coming true. He"s someone from your past, and he already seems to have stolen your heart."
Fallon raised her eyebrow. "I don"t see a remote possibility of him being here."
"And why not?"
"Come on, surely Erik would have mentioned it by now if Marcus lived here, wouldn"t he?"
"You never know. Perhaps Erik didn"t think it appropriate considering the history between you and Marcus, especially since Marcus was married. Maybe Erik didn"t want to stir up any trouble," said Felicia.
"I hadn"t thought of that. But why not mention it now that Marcus is single again?"
"I don"t know, but I"m just saying he could show up here, right?"
"Technically speaking, yes. But even when we met, we lived in separate states."
"Right, and you moved out here after college. Who"s to say he didn"t move out here too?"
Fallon furrowed her brow. "I don"t know. It would be too coincidental, don"t you think?"
Felicia shrugged. "Maybe. But stranger things have happened. Let"s drink a toast to strange things happening tonight."
They raised their gla.s.ses, and Camille said, "Here"s to truth being stranger than fiction, and to Marcus showing up here tonight."
The other three women said "Here, here," then turned to watch the next person on the stage. Fallon excused herself and walked up toward the front of the bar to turn in her karaoke request.
AT A TABLE on the other side of the bar, a man covered his face with his hand and groaned, then peered at his friend from between his splayed fingers. "Erik, tell me again why on earth you wanted to come here. You don"t strike me as the karaoke type."
"Oh come on, Marcus, what could be more fun than watching a bunch of tipsy people butcher songs and make idiots of themselves?" Erik smiled and sipped his beer. "And you never know, there might be a decent singer in the lot."
Marcus rolled his eyes and shuddered in revulsion. "Maybe a few, but not enough to make up for this woman. I don"t think she could be any more off-key if she tried." He inclined his head toward the stage and the woman slaughtering "Black Velvet."
Erik laughed. "You might be right, but I could probably top her."
"Please, have mercy on me and everyone here, and don"t."
"Hey, I seem to recall you had a pretty decent singing voice at one time. Why don"t you get up there and perform something?"
Marcus arched his eyebrow. "And why should I do something like that?"
"Because I deserve to hear something better than this."
"Ha! You brought us here, so you suffer the consequences." He lifted his gla.s.s in salute and took a large gulp, then glanced around the crowd, pausing for a moment as he stared at a table across the bar with four beautiful women. Leaning over, he strained to see the women clearly and cursed the dim lighting. He wished he could see more than just the flash of red hair, and wondered if his eyes were playing a trick on him.
He jabbed his elbow against Erik"s arm. "Hey, look over there. Doesn"t that redhead seem familiar?"
Erik looked in the direction of Marcus" gaze. "I"m not sure. I can"t tell much in this place. It"s too dark."
The two men watched the voluptuous, t.i.tian-haired woman walk over to the sign-up area and make a request then return to her table.
"She seems familiar, but I just can"t tell in this lighting," said Marcus. He closed his eyes and reached for his non-existent gla.s.ses. His desire to see Fallon again was making him hallucinate.
Erik clapped him on the back. "She may or may not be familiar, but from what I can see in this light, she"s pretty. Why don"t we go over and see?"
Marcus shook his head. "I don"t know, Erik. I think it"s just a bad case of wishful thinking on my part. What with the conversation about first kisses this afternoon and seeing a redhead, it"s a case of wishing it was Fallon. And I don"t think I want to go to all this effort only to find out it"s not her."
"Suit yourself, buddy. Check it out. It looks like one of her friends is taking a turn at the mike." He rolled his eyes. "I just hope she"s a decent singer at the very least."
The blonde haired African-American woman left the table and sashayed up to the microphone. At the sound of her smoky, sultry voice filling the bar, Marcus arched his eyebrow and looked at Erik. Erik smiled when she began moving her hips to the music.
"She"s good," Marcus said.
Erik stared at the woman. "She"s also hot."
Marcus laughed. "Now I know why you wanted to come here. You"re on the prowl again, and I think I know who your next "victim" will be."
"Maybe." Erik grinned. The woman invited the crowd to sing and dance as she shook her body to Taste of Honey"s "Boogie Oogie Oogie." When she finished, they stood up and cheered.
She returned to her table, and Erik kept his gaze trained across the room. "She"s really good; better than the last singer. I"d like to meet her, and you could meet that redhead."
"I tell you what, I"ll get us another drink while you head over there." Marcus stood and lifted his gla.s.s to take another sip.
Erik grinned. "I"ll take you up on that offer of a drink, but I"ll wait to go over there."
Sipping the last of his soda as his gaze returned to the redhead, Marcus grabbed the gla.s.ses from the table and headed for the bar. Halfway across the room, he stopped in his tracks and looked around when he heard a somewhat familiar sound.
He muttered, "It can"t be. I"m just imagining things. There"s no way that was Fallon." He frowned. "It"s an auditory hallucination brought on by Ca.s.sie LeBeau and her d.a.m.n talk about first kisses."
He resumed his trek through the tables then waited at the bar to place his drink order. He considered mentioning his suspicion to Erik when he returned, but knew it was too incredible to hope that the red-haired woman and someone with a similar laugh meant Fallon was there.
FELICIA RETURNED TO the table and asked her friends, "Well?"
They smiled but didn"t speak.
"What? Do you want us to fall to our knees, bowing and sc.r.a.ping, and saying, "We"re not worthy, O great one"?" Fallon teased after a moment, "Do you want us to tell you that you sounded fantastic up there? You know you did, so don"t push your luck, girlfriend."
"Yeah, I know." Felicia spread her mouth wide in a c.o.c.ky grin.
Fallon snorted. "You"re just fishing, and you know it."
The women elbowed each other and rolled their eyes before turning to face the current singer. The deejay called Fallon"s name four songs later, and she strode up to the microphone. Once onstage, her vision was blinded by the bright spotlight, and she couldn"t see a thing but the lyrics She cleared her throat and spoke into the mike. "I know a lot of you listen to Ca.s.sie LeBeau and probably heard her discussing first kisses this afternoon. She brought back memories of my first kiss, so I"d like to dedicate this song to someone from my past. On my sixteenth birthday, he gave me my first kiss, and this song was playing in the background. I always think of him when I hear it."
Fallon nodded to the deejay, and the music started. She began to sing, barely glancing at the TV screen in front of her, recalling the lyrics from memory.
Across the bar, Marcus had just picked up the drinks and swung around to stare at the singer. The nagging feeling of familiarity was suddenly-amazingly-clear. The redhead was Fallon, his Fallon. He gripped the gla.s.ses to keep them from tumbling to the floor.
Maturity had only added to her beauty-her curves were more lavish, her face had more character, and she was more beautiful than he"d ever imagined she"d be. He watched her, mesmerized by how she sang to everyone in the bar while she seemed to be seeking out one person. Did she know he was there? Was she looking for him?
He glanced away from her for a moment to stare at his friend. He knew from Erik"s expression that Erik had known she would be here, and that was why he had suggested they come tonight.
Erik arched an eyebrow and grinned. Marcus mouthed something, and Erik shook his head, indicating he didn"t understand. Marcus took a deep breath and turned to watch Fallon sing. He remained by the bar, not wanting to miss a moment of her performance.
The song took him back twenty years to the dock. He recalled drawing the rose for her birthday gift, and how touched she"d seemed by his gift. The kiss was both the most exhilarating and most embarra.s.sing moment in his life. Exhilarating because he"d kissed the girl he"d fallen in love with, and embarra.s.sing because his best friend had interrupted the special moment. He remembered the deep joy at finally telling her how much he cared.
As he watched her now, twenty years later, he wondered why they"d lost touch. Why had he let this beautiful woman slip through his fingers? He shook his head as Fallon acknowledged the applause and glanced around the room one more time, as if she were still looking for someone in particular.
He quickly navigated his way to Erik, who leaned over and said, "Are you ready to visit that table now?"
Marcus inclined his head toward Fallon. "You knew, didn"t you? You wanted to come here because you knew she"d be here."
Erik shrugged. "Maybe." His smile gave him away. "I"ve kept in contact with Fallon, and she recently mentioned in an email that she and her friends come here regularly for a girls" night out. I thought maybe it was time to reunite you two kids."
Marcus stared, wondering why Erik never mentioned the fact that Fallon lived in the same city.
"Erik?"
Erik held up his hands. "Before you get mad, I never told you because you never asked, and while you were married to Amanda, I didn"t think it appropriate. Somehow I got the feeling it would have created more problems."
Marcus closed his eyes and swallowed. The pain of discovering his wife in the arms of another man had been difficult to cope with, but it hurt more to know that Fallon had been so near while he was going through his personal h.e.l.l. She had been right under his nose, and he never knew it.
He was willing to admit Erik was right; it would have created problems in his already crumbling marriage. He admitted many of the difficulties stemmed from his constant comparison of Amanda to Fallon.
The memory of his first love had played a role in all his dating relationships. Because no woman seemed to match up to the memory of Fallon, they never remained in his life longer than six months. His marriage to Amanda had been the only exception, and that had ended in disaster.
Marcus opened his eyes and looked across the room at the curvaceous woman who had haunted his dreams and thoughts for twenty years. Without speaking, he stood and walked toward her, not waiting to see if Erik followed.
FALLON WAS LAUGHING at some comment Felicia had made about the current singer when she felt someone beside her. She looked up and gasped at the sight of the man standing next to her table. Even without his gla.s.ses, she recognized him immediately. "Marcus?" she whispered.
Felicia, Camille, and Sandra stared at the man gazing at their friend. Fallon slowly stood and reached out to touch his face, her hand trembling as her fingertips skimmed his cheekbone, her thumb grazing the cleft in his chin.
Marcus grasped her hand and brushed her fingertips over his lips, kissing each one. She had trouble breathing as he pressed his mouth against her palm.
"You"re a dream, aren"t you?" she asked in a shaky voice.
He placed his hands around hers. "No, Fallon, I"m very real."
She stared at him, her heart pounding in her chest. He was here; the boy who"d kissed her on her sweet sixteen stood before her as a man. The years had honed his boyish features, creating a handsome and interesting face. Only his eyes had stayed the same-intense, watchful, and kind.
Erik broke the silence. "h.e.l.lo, Fallon."
Fallon let out a yelp. "Erik, what are you doing here?"
Marcus stepped aside as the two embraced.
Erik pulled away from Fallon and splayed his hands in front of him. "I promised you a surprise if I ever came to your fine city, and here he is."
Fallon faced Marcus, reaching out to touch his arm. Smiling, she gazed into his eyes. "It"s a wonderful surprise."
She grinned at her friends. "I guess you"ve figured out this is Marcus, and this tagalong here is Erik. Marcus and Erik, these are my friends Camille, Sandra and Felicia."
Everyone shook hands, and chairs were added to include the men into the group. Chills danced along Fallon"s spine when Marcus" shoulder brushed hers, and he leaned over to whisper, "Are you cold?"
They smiled as they remembered their special night. As adults, they understood her shiver had nothing to do with cold and everything to do with the physical contact between their bodies.
Fallon started to fight the urge to snuggle closer, then gave into the temptation to curl into the shelter of his arm. Just this slight contact with him thrilled her more than the intimacy she"d shared infrequently with Dan.
Marcus moved his free arm across his body and reached for Fallon"s hand, which sent more tingles of pleasure racing through her veins. A desperate need to be alone with him filled her.
Fallon and Marcus smiled at Erik"s attempts to flirt with Felicia, who seemed intent on ignoring him. Fallon peered at Marcus, her lips grazing his cheek. She pulled back as he turned his head, their lips inches apart.
The tension between them thickened, and everyone seemed to fade away until they were the only two at the table. He gazed at her lips, and she wondered if the touch of his mouth against hers would feel as exhilarating as the first time. She took inhaled then exhaled, her warm breath feathering over his mouth.
"Not yet," he muttered.
"What?"
"I"m waiting for the right time."
"The right time for what?"
"The right time to kiss you again. I need to be sure I pick the perfect moment."
Fallon laughed as a sense of contentment and joy flooded her. "How will you know?"
He shrugged his shoulders, his eyes dropping to her lips once more. "I"m not sure, but I"ll know."