Emily was beyond excited all the way over to the high school. Madison had given her a simple but elegant updo, with soft curls framing her face and neck. And she went all out on the makeup, something she never did, including a deep red lip, that no longer reminded her of Mika, for some strange reason. She hit all her pulse points with a perfume heavy in jasmine and rose scent notes.
But now, in the parking lot, she was feeling a little overdressed, and she closed and belted her coat self-consciously. In fact, she buttoned it almost all the way to the top. The only thing that looked even slightly dressy were her lower legs, and the silver heels she'd bought back at Von Houten's but never wore.
She click-click-clicked against the tile floor of the high school entryway, but she was the only one who seemed to notice. Everyone else was excited about the program, the season, or just the company they were with.
The box office was festooned with silver and gold foil garlands and paper doily snowflakes. The two girls selling tickets were dressed in white blouses and green plaid vests and ties. Two boys and another girl were dressed similarly, standing by the doors, acting as ushers.
When it was her turn in line, Emily handed her debit card to the girl closest to her. "One please."
"Okay. That will be—" The girl stopped and looked up at her. She showed Emily's card to the other girl.
"You already have a ticket." The second girl pulled out an envelope marked Will Call.
Emily blushed, though she wasn't sure why. "I didn't—"
"Leo left it for you." The first girl beamed with some secret knowledge.
"Oh. Okay." He must have done that earlier in the week because they had definitely not parted amicably last night. "Thanks."
The second girl was smiling widely too. "He was just here, asking if you'd gotten here yet."
"Really?" Emily felt weirdly happy and surprised.
The first girl stood up in the booth and called over Emily's shoulder to one of the ushers. "Dax! This is Emily!"
Dax and the other two turned their attention to her. All three ushers smiled. Dax came over and offered an arm, a strangely gallant gesture for a teen boy. "Right this way, ma'am."
Emily's face reddened with the attention of everyone in the lobby. Dax beamed. He led her down the center aisle to the front row. The center seat wore a sign, Reserved for Emily Shepherd. Dax bowed deeply and indicated the seat with a flourish of his hand. She laughed, nervous, embarrassed, happy, surprised.
As she settled in her chair, taking care to keep the dress covered, a couple of faces appeared from the backstage edge of the curtains. Two girls looked right at her and then disappeared into a ruffle of fabric.
Suddenly, Leo's face appeared around the curtain. He looked right at her. His face broke into a wide grin, and it was obvious the kids had rushed to tell him she was there. Her cheeks were on fire with the knowledge that everyone was looking at her.
But he composed himself quickly and disappeared behind the curtain, with some instructions to some unseen others backstage. Emily glanced at the woman next to her, a parent probably, expecting some sort of recrimination for her special seating arrangement. The woman just smiled at her and went back to looking at the printed program.
In a few minutes, the pianist came from the backstage, down the steps, and sat at the piano. She gave Emily a bright, friendly smile, and started to play Jingle Bells. The audience quieted. The house lights dimmed, and a spotlight hit the red velvet across the stage. The curtains parted in the center and Leo stepped out, as Jingle Bells became softer and slower and faded to background music.
He was dressed in the most hideous Christmas sweater she had ever seen, rows of brightly dressed elves, cows with Santa hats, gingerbread men, and t-rexes all dancing across a bright red background. He held a microphone up and addressed the audience. "Good evening families and friends. Welcome to this year's Holiday Extravaganza. The kids have worked really hard on this for the last six weeks and it's about thirty percent of their grade this semester, so don't hold back on your appreciation tonight."
Emily, and the rest of the audience laughed and applauded.
"Okay, that's enough." He motioned for them to stop. "Seriously, though. We had a really good time putting this program together, from choosing our theme, to selecting the numbers, to all those after school hours rehearsing. You're going to see a lot of singing, a lot of dancing, a lot of acting, and a little bit of acrobatics."
The audience laughed.
"No, I'm not joking. Two of the kids are going to be doing some tumbling and some flips. Dressed as elves. It works. I promise." Leo laughed, too. "I'm so proud of what they've done here, and I know you will be, too."
More applause. He waited for it to die down before continuing. "Our theme this year is gifts—the ones under the tree, the ones we give to others, and the ones in our heart. The ones we most cherish."
"And there are other gifts, those unexpected things that happen that just make everything... better. Those gifts from The Universe are the best of all." He looked down at Emily once more and she could see a seriousness behind his smile. When he looked up at the rest of the audience again—just a fraction of a second later—she knew he was addressing her. "We hope you enjoy our program tonight. We're so glad you're here."
**
The Christmas program was actually pretty good. It was certainly worlds better than when she had been part of the choir. And there were solos—a lot of them. But they weren't the stand up in front of everyone and sing by yourself kind of solos. Instead, almost everyone sang a line or two at a time as part of a musical dialog with another person or the rest of the group. All the songs and scenes told the story of a diverse group of people and their various hopes and dreams as they approached the holiday season.
From time to time, she noticed Leo watching the kids from the wings, encouraging them, congratulating them as they exited after their number. He was good with them—a good teacher. Every one of them were proud to be part of the group, happy with what they were doing. None of them threw up on the stage.
She was caught up in the emotional currency of the show, though, so most of the time, her attention was on the kids. She did notice, however, he turned his attention to her every so often. When she would catch him, he'd just smile and go back to directing his show.
The final number included students in costumes as they sang—a family with children around a tree, an instructor tapping out time for a ballerina, a group of friends hanging out, a child with a stuffed puppy, two old people dancing around and on a park bench—and, of course, the acrobatic elves. When the curtain closed, the audience stood and applauded a long time.
Emily couldn't help but think this, too, was one of the gifts Leo had spoken about—the support and appreciation of family and friends. When Leo appeared onstage again at the end of the show to thank everyone for coming, several students joined him, applauding as well. Then the curtains opened again, and all of the choirs were on stage, applauding each other, applauding their audience, applauding their teacher.
He was smiling and applauding them, as well. And he smiled down at her. Several of his students smiled at her, too. She wondered what he had told them all about her that they were so invested in her being there.
Yet, it didn't matter. She was happy. She was glad she came, glad she had seen firsthand Leo's gift. He wasn't just a nice guy with her. He was a nice guy, period. He was more than a nice guy. He was something special.
He was the kind of guy she would like to be with. She paused, considered it again. Yes. He was the guy she would like to be with. When that thought hit her, she smiled until it hurt her face.
After the applause began to die down and the house lights came up, Leo hopped down from the stage—not even bothering to go to the steps at the side—and came to her. She thought for a moment he was going to hug her. She thought for a moment she was going to hug him.
In the end, they both stood and grinned at each other awkwardly.
"Did you like it?" He was so hopeful and nervous.
She nodded, smiling. "I loved it. It was brilliant."
He nodded, obviously happy. "Yeah, all the kids did such a great job."
A couple of parents congratulated Leo, interrupting their awkward exchange. She waited until no one was around again.
"I was so impressed," Emily couldn't stop smiling, herself. "And the solos... I can't believe so many solos."
He put his hands up in front of him. "Only if they want to. I never pressure anyone."
"I know." She couldn't help her big stupid grin. "It was really great."
Dadcop patted Leo on the back as he walked by with his daughter. "Good show, Leo."
"Thanks." He smiled. "Chloe did a great job tonight. You should let her get that car."
Dadcop gave his daughter a look. "Nice try."
Leo shrugged at her.
"See you in January, Leo." Chloe said to Leo, even though she was smiling at Emily.
Dadcop noticed it too. "Good to see you again, too, Ma'am."
"Oh my God, what did you tell everyone?" She laughed self-consciously when they walked away.
"Nothing. I promise." Leo smirked. "I said I hoped my friend came to the show."
"Bye Leo." A group of kids passed, obviously watching the two of them. "Merry Christmas."
"Have a good Christmas, guys." He waved. Then he met Emily's accusing stare. "I think I also said I really like you."
As if on cue, a group of kids still on stage burst into giggles and one of the girls called. "Omigod, Leo. Are you not even going to kiss her?"
Emily put her head down and shielded her face with her hand. She could literally feel the blush prickling her cheeks.
Leo leaned in and lowered his voice. "I might have also said they had to perform extra well tonight because I was trying to impress you enough to go out with me."
"Oh my God." She was laughing, blushing, shaking her head. And yet, she felt truly happy for the first time in a while.
"So, I've got to do some stuff here—clean up, talk to parents." He raised both eyebrows. "But after, do you want to maybe--?"
"Yeah." She smiled. Yes to whatever the end of that sentence was. "Yeah, I do."
"We could get some coffee. Or it's late, maybe some hot cocoa? Or a steak or..." He broke into laughter.
"Yes. Let's do all of that," she said. She looked around at the dozens of parents and families still in the auditorium. "I can help you clean up. You do your thing."
"Okay. I won't be long." He grinned and motioned for two of the girls to help her and he went to meet with a group of parents.
The two girls, Rachel and Ella, were obviously still amped from the performance. They were giggly and chatty and told Emily how pretty her hair was, how nice her smile was. The three of them were taking down the Christmas tree and putting it in its box, when Rachel laughed and said, "Who knew public puking was the way to make someone fall in love with you?"
"What?" Emily stopped, a red bauble in her hand. She glanced back at Leo, talking to a group of parents, then back at the girls. "What do you mean?"
Ella confirmed, "He told us that's when he knew you were the girl for him."
"That's weird," Emily laughed. "He said he liked me because I threw up onstage?"
"Because he thought you were fragile and strong at the same time," Rachel nodded matter-of-factly, as if that were something Emily should know. "Leo's complex like that."
"Yeah." She cast him another look. This time he saw her, smiled, and waved. "He's pretty fantastic."