Forever Your Girl Read online

  Forever Your Girl

  A Katie Parker Production: Act 6

  Jenny B. Jones

  Sweet Pea Productions

  © 2020 Jenny B. Jones

  * * *

  This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or publisher.

  Unless otherwise identified, all Scripture quotations in this publication are taken from the New American Standard Bible (nasb), © The Lockman Foundation 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995.

  * * *

  Cover Design: Llewellen Designs

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  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Prologue

  Preview Of Engaged in Trouble

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Also by Jenny B. Jones

  Chapter One

  Something is in the air. And I don’t just mean the popcorn.

  I sit beside my sweetie Charlie Benson at Bubba’s Big Picture Cinema and wonder at this anxious knot in my belly. After moving to Chicago to be with Charlie, the two of us have hardly made it back to our hometown of In Between these past two years. Tonight, we’re parked beneath the stars at this national treasure of a drive-in. We share a diet soda, a tub of popcorn almost as big as our rental car, and the occasional kiss.

  But this evening, Charlie’s kiss is different. And it has me on high alert, my lady intuition tingling.

  Charlie taps an erratic beat on the armrest with his hand. The boy is not the nervous, fidgety sort. “Are you okay?” His question interrupts my attempt to decipher the tune he’s hammering. I was torn between “Amazing Grace” and “Fat Bottomed Girls.”

  “Yes,” I say. “I was about to ask you the same thing.”

  “That's the fifth time you’ve checked your phone in the last minute.” More tapping as he nods towards the large screen in the distance. “I thought Overboard was one of your favorite movies.”

  It’s true. I’m a sucker for a good amnesia love story.

  With no small amount of regret and hesitation, I stick my phone back into a purse that’s spilled into the floorboard. "It's fine. Everything is fine." Though my boyfriend’s apparently developed a tick. Oh, and there’s the fact that I’m awaiting the fate of my last audition. Only a huge new play that could determine the fate of the rest of my life. No big deal. “Yeah, nothing wrong with me.”

  My last role at the Winnifred Theater in Chicago was a school-girl in Wicked. While it was an honor to have a part in my all-time favorite show, the line “Oh, my!” didn’t exactly propel me to stardom. I’ve been on a hundred auditions in the last year, and let’s just say I’ve kissed a lot of frogs. The only thing substantial that’s turned up is rejection. So much so, I’ve quit telling Charlie about my auditions.

  But last week, I read for an incredible part. And I have this feeling.

  Could be reflux.

  Could also be God finally throwing open the doors to my future as a Broadway actress.

  “This place was one of our first dates,” Charlie says. “Remember?”

  I smile and reach my hand into the popcorn bucket between us. “Bubba’s does hold a lot of great memories." When Charlie and I were in high school, we saved this place when it was about to be demolished. “It's still the best spot to watch 80s movies." And sometimes, like tonight, the popcorn tastes like it’s just as vintage.

  I return my attention to the screen as Goldie Hawn’s butler gets philosophical. “Most of us go through life with blinders on. Knowing only that little station to which we were born…”

  Suddenly the butler freezes. Then the screen flicks twice before going dark.

  I hear groans from outside and realize I’ve never seen the drive-in so packed. It seems the whole town of In Between has shown up for tonight’s double feature.

  “At some point, Buford’s going to have to update his equipment.” I reach for the drink and take a deep sip.

  “That would ruin part of the charm,” Charlie says.

  We watch as the screen snaps, crackles, and pops. Bubba’s Big Picture is as fickle as the weather, but Buford always gets the show back on. “I wonder what’s happening.”

  “Probably some new kid operating the reel.” Charlie leans forward in his seat, and his dark hair falls across his forehead. “Look at that full moon. Let’s get out and sit on the hood until they get the movie fixed.”

  Opening my car door, I breathe in the evening air, taking in the scent that is solely the drive-in—a mix of peanut oil, car exhaust, and stale cotton candy. Charlie throws an old quilt on the hood of the rental sedan, then with a hand, helps me up.

  The speaker box coughs and sputters as if blowing out the cobwebs. A voice comes through loud and clear over the sound waves as an image begins to take shape on the screen.

  I’m instantly on alert because what I’m looking at is not Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell.

  “We apologize for the interruption, folks,” says a voice through the speaker that sounds suspiciously like my grandmother Maxine. “There seems to be a glitch in this classic love story.”

  I look at my boyfriend as he takes my hand. “What’s happening?”

  "Just watch.” With a laugh, he wraps his arm around me and pulls me to the warmth of his side. “I think we’re about to get to my favorite part."

  Soon there’s a new movie playing for the large crowd. I choke on a breath of humid air as I see a video of Charlie and me on the screen. “That’s us.”

  Maxine’s recorded voice begins to narrate. “Once upon a time, a sixteen- year old girl fell from a tree, landing with a splash into a pool. And one very lucky boy helped fish the girl out. Little did he know, the girl didn’t just crash into the water. She crashed into his life.”

  I hold a hand over my parted lips while familiar songs from our high school years play. A progression of images and videos come to life, as Charlie now tells the story of our relationship. I see the pictures of us during
my first year at In Between High School, both wearing Fighting Chihuahua T-shirts. There we are in our church youth group. I laugh as a photo scrolls by of Charlie sitting in a church row beside a pretty blonde, while I scowl in the seat behind them, fuming at the sight of my future boyfriend. Video plays of my first theater role as Juliet, and Charlie passing the football at the state championship his senior year.

  “Our first dance,” I whisper as a new photo appears. “I’d been grounded, and you showed up on my back porch with a bouquet.” I’m pretty sure I fell for him that night. Who could’ve resisted a boy on your porch in a suit and tie, bringing music and a slow dance?

  As Charlie’s voice narrates the starts and stops of our long journey, newer memories flash on the screen. The two of us skydiving in Chicago. Our vacation in New York last summer for one of my many auditions. Photos of our families. The two of us kissing beneath the mistletoe last Christmas.

  “Katie Parker and Charlie Benson are a love story for the ages,” his recorded voice says. “And now it’s time for their happily ever after.”

  My heart stutters as Charlie slips off the hood and tugs me with him. His smiling eyes on mine, Charlie drops to one knee and pulls a velvet box from his pocket. “Katie…”

  Tears fill my eyes, and I hate that I already look like a blubbery cliché. “Yes?”

  Voices around us pull my attention, and I startle to see the entire town of In Between has gotten out of their cars and now circles the two of us like nosy neighbors.

  Or people who love us.

  Frances waves over to my left. My grandmother, grandfather, and parents wave to our right.

  This is happening. Charlie is about to propose marriage.

  That knot in my stomach does a little flip. And tightens.

  Charlie clutches my fingers as the evening air breezes through his hair. “Over the years, we’ve built a friendship. Together we’ve saved a drive-in theater, we’ve saved a town, and we’ve saved your Valiant. But you…you saved me.” He pauses as his gray eyes glisten. “You’ve become my best friend in adulthood, my confidante as we navigate our life away from In Between. We’ve taken the long way to get here.”

  “Like forever, kiddies!” Maxine calls. “For-ever.”

  “We had a few rough patches, taking breaks, and doing life separately. But it was always you, Katie Parker Scott. My heart always led me back to you. I know our futures aren’t certain. I don’t know where my job will ultimately take me. You don’t know where your next play might lead you. But here’s what I can say for certain—I would follow you to every stage, every theater, every play. Anywhere. I want to be the guy waiting for you at the backstage door, roses in hand, for the rest of your life. I love you, and I am your biggest fan.” He fumbles with the box, finally releasing the lid.

  The crowd gives a collective, “Awww.”

  A stunning diamond solitaire set in rose gold glitters in the moonlight. “Katie Parker Scott, will you marry me?”

  “I…”

  A retrospective of memories flashes through my mind. Life with my biological mother. The fights, the hurts, the drama. The day the caseworker left me with my foster parents, James and Millie. I’d cried into my pillow that night, praying one day I’d get my own fairy tale ending. The night Charlie kissed me on the stage of the Valiant theater, and my heart had forever set its tempo to beat in time with his. The time before my mom’s funeral, years later, when I’d kissed him, wishing and hoping that one day we’d be together.

  Now here we are. Standing in the circle of family and friends who are suspended in a joyously expectant tableau, waiting for my certain response.

  “Yes.” I nod and smile as my future husband rises and reaches for my hands. “I’ll marry you, Charlie Benson.” The crowd erupts into whoops and cheers. Millie and James embrace, while Maxine whistles through her fingers, then high fives her husband and everyone around her.

  Charlie slips the engagement ring over my finger. I’m vaguely aware of the thought that I’m glad my nails don’t look terrible, and I’m having a good hair night. The ring wobbles in its final resting place and will need to be sized. “It has room to grow. Kind of like us.” He smiles then draws me to him. “I love you, Parker.”

  “Love you, Charlie.”

  Then against a background of celebratory cheers, a canopy of stars twinkling overhead, and Maxine breaking into the first verse of “Going to the Chapel,” Charlie kisses me.

  My first kiss as an engaged woman.

  Charlie smells like shampoo, safety, and sunlight when his lips capture mine. I can feel his smile, and I lean into it, wanting to burn this moment into my memory. His arms hold me tightly as my hands curve around his back. The ring on my left hand provides a new weight, a new anchor to this boy who’s become a man. My man.

  Charlie’s lips are soft on mine, feather strokes of promises I know he’ll keep. The crowd finally falls away in my head. It’s just Charlie and me.

  Anxiety tries to push every button I have, but I take a deep breath and hold on tighter to my new fiancé. There will time enough later to worry about all the details: a wedding, the cost, the statistical probability of staying married past six weeks with my dysfunctional DNA.

  Charlie’s eyes meet my gaze as he reluctantly pulls apart, placing one final kiss on my forehead. “Ready to celebrate?”

  Grinning, I tuck my head into his shoulder and nod.

  “She said yes!” Charlie yells, igniting more whoops of glee. “Nachos, popcorn, and pizza on the house.” If I thought the enthusiasm was loud for our engagement, it doesn’t come close to the crowd’s response to an open snack bar. “I was going to have it catered, but this seemed more you.”

  “Low-quality snacks? Very me.”

  The large movie screen flickers, then Overboard flares back to life. People mill about, with just as many heading toward us as beelining for the snack bar. I think how much easier greeting everyone would be with a bowl of nachos, but I suppose I can press through and soldier on.

  Because I’m engaged!

  “Katie, sweetheart.” Millie is the first family member to congratulate me, hugging me close against her cotton dress. “I’m so happy for you.” Tears glaze her eyes, and she tries in vain to blink the waterworks away. “We’re going to have so much fun planning.” She hugs Charlie. “How much time do we have?”

  “Six months,” Charlie says, just as I blurt out, “A year.”

  Charlie and I exchange a look, but I keep my smile in place. “It’s going to be a while.”

  “Welcome to the family.” James shakes Charlie’s hand. “It’s about time.”

  Chapter Two

  Two Years Later

  * * *

  Change was in the air. I could feel it in my bones and taste it on my lips. My role in my latest play had come to an end, by choice, and Charlie and I would be bound for New York next month. I had another job lined up, and Charlie easily transferred within his company to the Manhattan office. That wasn’t the change coming.

  It was something else. The winds had shifted in my spirit, and I felt unsettled.

  Maybe I just needed to return to my favorite place and reset.

  Last night we’d stayed out till two a.m. celebrating the end of my run as precocious Alice Roosevelt in The Widow, a play about her father Teddy, and I was exhausted. I was ready for a bedtime before midnight and a town that didn’t move so fast.

  “Katie? Katie.” Charlie waves his hand in front of my face, pulling me back to the moment. “You okay?” he asks, and I realize the car has stopped moving, and we’re once again sitting in my parents’ driveway, home on this Saturday night for the Fourth of July weekend.

  “Yes, of course.” My lips curve into what I hope is a believable smile. With our suitcases stowed in the backseat, we’re each staying at our respective parents’ houses for the next two weeks until our New York apartment is ready.

  Charlie leans over and kisses me, though his eyes regard me with caution. “We’re sett
led on the wedding date, right? We can tell our families?”

  I wrap my hand around my convenience store fountain drink, my palm damp from the cool condensation. “Yes. Sure. Unless you think we should wait until I hear back from my last audition.” Mary, my agent, had said we’d hear before the weekend was out.

  “No.” The rental car door opens with a loud, creaky protest. “I don’t.”

  “Katie!” Millie rushes out of the front door, a sight for sore eyes. I haven’t seen her and James in six months, and I’ve missed them more than I care to admit. “Give me a hug.”

  “Hi, James.” Charlie sets down two worn carry-on bags and shakes my dad’s hand before James claps him on the back and yanks him into a hug of his own.

  “We’ve missed you both,” James says. “But what a six months you’ve had, eh?”

  It’s true. The last two years have been a whirlwind. The Widow began as a small play in Chicago, but word-of-mouth launched it into the stratosphere of theater success. It’s set to open in New York in the winter, and Charlie and I are moving with it. I’ll be returning as teenage Alice. Unless something else better comes along. Like a lead role.