Backstage Romance: An Austen-Inspired Romantic Comedy Box Set by Gigi Blume (ebook reader with highlighter txt) 📕

“We’re not in high school. Guys don’t ask girls to go steady. Besides, the whole theatre company was taking bets on the wedding date.”

A wash of pink spread over her face, and she shrunk behind a throw pillow to hide it.

“Okay, maybe not a wedding date,” I amended, “but still. You just think too well of people in general to let me say anything against them. But you’re the only person I know that’s even close to perfect. It’s true. And as you know, I don’t think well of anybody. Not even myself. The more I see of the world, the more I think everyone in it are psychos.”

“You know, I don’t mind being the idiot,” she said as if in thought. “I liked him. He didn’t return the feeling. End of story. If he liked me as much as you think he did, we’d still be together. But he didn’t, and I’m fine with that. I won’t hold him to any promises he never made.”

She was a better person than I, always seeing the best in people even when they broke her heart. In the end, it wasn’t up to me to be offended for her. It was her life, after all. Still, there was a tiny part of me that wanted to squeeze Bing’s nipples with a vice grip. I wondered if Jorge could get me one of those from the scene shop. If I actually thought it would work, I’d be on it in an instant.

I couldn’t help but hope, however, that it was possible, even probable that Bing might still come to his senses. That he would get over whatever was keeping him from opening up to Jane. That he would give in to his obvious attraction to her. I watched him every day at rehearsal. I was sure he still carried a torch for her, but something prevented him from admitting it. Maybe the idea scared him? Maybe it was moving too fast. Guys tend to freak out about these things. If only he had better influences. Someone like Cole, who in his time of life saw what he wanted and took it. He never displayed his affection for Holly at the theatre. He was a professional. But every other nanosecond of his free time was spent with her, and in the moments I’d witnessed, he was the most romantic person on the planet. He made Romeo look like a schmuck. Actually, scratch that. Romeo was a schmuck.

If only Bing could recognize what he was missing.

Pirates of Penzance was on its feet. The magic truly began to form at the sitzprobe—a fancy German term for rehearsing for the first time with an orchestra. Fitz was brilliant, and from the first note of the show, I felt shivers down my spine. That was the beauty of live theatre right there. That was what I was talking about with Jorge the first day we met.

Cole had worked the cast to the nubs of our toes to get the show up and running to the closest to perfection as possible. Truthfully, I was a little worried there for a while. But most of the kinks were ironed out, and we were ready to go. Tech rehearsals had been from hell, but other than that, it was an exhilarating thing to behold. The show was awesome. It was better than awesome—it was funny and energetic and beautiful.

I found myself enthralled by everyone’s performance. Even Will’s. He was actually an excellent performer. Perhaps I hadn’t noticed it before because I actively avoided him whenever I could. But now that the show was in run-throughs, there were fewer opportunities to hide from him. It was annoying, for once he began to sing, I couldn’t peel my eyes off him. He commanded the stage. Bigger than life. It truly was a glorious thing to see the Pirate King. His booming voice shook my center and tilted my equilibrium.

Gah! Why did he have to be so talented? It made it so much harder to dislike him.

Every concern I had in the weeks of toil were laid aside when we completed our first dress rehearsal. It was magical. Earth stopped on its axis to applaud. It was masterful. It was also weeks before we’d have an audience because we had to break for the holidays.

The Gardiner Theatre had a Christmas tradition of hosting holiday concerts with the local philharmonic. The house sold out every year, and it was a major draw for the season. All the subscribing patrons looked forward to a spread of holiday hors d’oeuvres on the terrace before the concerts. During this time, the Gardiner was transformed into a winter wonderland. This annual event was one of the reasons Stella scheduled our rehearsals to end in mid-December. We would have to be completely ready to open after the new year, and there was no time for rehearsals at Christmas. A schedule like that was generally unheard of in a professional or even amateur theatre. But Stella was determined for a January opening, and there was no other way around it. Therefore, the company had a long break. Which meant no Caroline and, best of all, no Will for three glorious weeks. What would I do with all the excess sarcasm?

Jane booked the first flight out of California she could find. I hadn’t even realized she’d been packed for days until I noticed her wear the same three outfits in regular circulation. When she left, the apartment was so quiet, I found myself tuning in to telenovelas just to see what the appeal was. From what I gathered, there was a whole lotta cheatin’ going on. Those characters were in serious need of a hobby. Or a chastity belt.

I was able to use my extra time to catch up with Charlotte over pedicures and peppermint lattes. Everything was going swimmingly until she invited me to a New Year's Eve party at Rosings.

That sounded like the