"Rosalind Chambers," the boys said in unison.
She rolled her eyes and laughed. All men had the same reaction to the redhead. "That's the one. Did you go to Vista Verde, too?" she asked, turning her eyes to Big.
"Yup."
"Small world," she smiled.
He shrugged in response, shoving another cookie into his mouth.
"I didn't catch your name," James said, trying to deflect his friend's rude behavior.
"Oh, sorry. I'm Alisha. Alisha Larrington."
"It's always nice to meet someone from New York. Right, Big?"
"Sure," he grinned wickedly.
"So, what do you do, Alisha?" James asked.
"Well, currently I'm in Chicago on Broadway," she smiled softly. Even though she'd been in the production for a year, she still got a thrill from realizing what she'd accomplished.
"Are you like a chorus girl or something?" Big asked, making her turn disdainful eyes toward him.
"Something like that," she said tartly.
"That's really cool," James smiled.
"Yes, well, I've taken up enough of your time. James, it was so nice meeting you. I can't wait to tell Maggie about running into you. She'll laugh her ass off." She cast her eyes to the man with the dangerous good looks and sullen attitude. "Sorry—again. I hope you enjoy the cookies."
"They were really good," James said. "Don't mind him—he's kind of an asshole," he staged whispered.
Big scoffed. Some best friend he had.
"I could kind of see that," Alisha said with a smirk, pleased at the look of shock on his face. She lifted a hand and headed for the door.
Big punched James hard on the shoulder and handed him the tin of cookies. "Hey, Alisha," he called, striding after her.
She halted her steps and rolled her eyes. Was he going to be rude some more, because she'd just about had her fill for the day. Turning, she nearly bumped into him he was so close. "Yes?" she asked, taking a large step back to distance herself from him.
"So, the cookies are good."
"Thanks."
"I was thinking there was something else you could do for me though—to fully apologize." He grinned like the Cheshire cat.
Her mouth fell open. "That's offensive," she said haughtily.
Big realized what she meant and grinned impishly. "Relax, princess, that's not what I meant. But if it was, you would be anything but offended."
"Ugh, I take it back. You're not kind of an asshole, you are an asshole."
"I know. Look, about the show that you're in—"
"Yes?" she asked, crossing her arms over her chest, feeling uncomfortable under his intense gaze.
"It's not really my thing, but our moms are coming to town," he gestured towards James, "and they always want to go see a show."
She arched a perfectly manicured brow, "And?"
"Thing is, I told them I'd take care of the tickets and—"
"You forgot?" she guessed.
"Yeah. And if my mom doesn't get to see a show, she'll heap the world's biggest guilt trip on me, and she's already been on my case this week. I'd just as soon avoid another round of that. She's got the market cornered on Jewish guilt trips."
Alisha sighed. When he flashed a crooked grin at her she rolled her eyes but laughed softly. "You had to go and play the Jewish mother card, didn't you?"
His brows raised in surprise. "You, too?"
"My bubbie—she's famous for her guilt trips. 'Li-Sha, when are you gonna find a nice Jewish boy? Why don't you go to Temple more often? Li-Sha, there are tons of nice Jewish boys in New Yawk. When are you gonna have babies, Li-Sha.' I get it," she grinned.
Big genuinely laughed then. Maybe he'd misjudged her. "So, think you could help me avoid all that by hooking me up with some tickets?" He flashed his crooked half smile that had always served him well with the opposite sex.
"I'll see what I can do—just being a chorus girl and all," she drawled sarcastically. The sarcasm was clearly lost on him when he only smiled. "What day?" she asked with a sigh.
"How's Thursday?" he grinned.
"Four tickets?" she asked, and he nodded in affirmation. "Fine. The Ambassador Theater on west 49th. The tickets will be at will-call. Show's at 8:00."
"Thanks—you just saved my ass."
"Then I guess that makes us even." She headed for the door and was nearly in the clear when he called out again.
"Can't wait to see the show."
She turned, regarded the roguish smile on his face and felt something flutter in her stomach. "Yes, well, hopefully you can pick me out in the background," she snapped and flounced off.
Her cell phone rang, and she saw Maggie's name on the caller ID. "Hey—how'd it go?"
"WE GOT IT! WE GOT IT! WE GOT IT! Our clothes are actually going to be in Bergdorf’s!"
Alisha squealed and started jumping up and down on the sidewalk, not caring what she looked like to passersby. "Maggie! I'm so proud of you two. We have to celebrate."
"Definitely! How about tonight after your show?"
"Perfect. Oh, and Maggie, you'll never guess who I ran into today…"
Chapter 3
Rosemary Biggerman and Annie Keller giggled like school girls as they strode down the New York City sidewalk towards the Ambassador Theater with their sons in tow. The foursome had gone to dinner and now they were on their way to see Chicago thanks to the free tickets he'd finagled from the hot and crazy Alisha Larrington. Big experienced a moment of panic as they neared the theater when he wondered if she'd forgotten to leave the tickets or maybe she'd just been jerking his chain about them in the first place. He might be an asshole, but he really didn't want to disappoint his mother, or James's. His nerves were calmed when he gave his name at the will-call window and the girl smiled at him and slid an envelope with Biggerman written neatly on the outside. He pulled the tickets out of the envelope and read the note she'd enclosed.
Hopefully these will spare you a guilt trip of Jewish proportions.
Enjoy the show!
-Alisha
Big grinned smugly and handed everyone a ticket. He held the
