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Alissa took off her glasses and cleaned them on the bottom of her shirt before putting them back on.
“Not really. It’s just that…” Alissa paused, trying to think of how to frame her questions. Josie knew both of them, so there was no use in pretending this wasn’t about her and Dane. “Is it normal for a man to get cold feet about asking his girlfriend to an event? It seems like it’s a given that they’d go together, but still, someone has to ask the other person, right?”
Josie nodded, biting her plush bottom lip for a moment. “I’d say so. But I know for a fact that Dane is head over heels for you, so if he’s getting cold feet, it’s probably temporary. I don’t think he’s losing feelings for you.”
That wasn’t the answer she was expecting from Josie either. In fact, her being there was sort of strange now that Alissa thought about it. She figured that she and Dane were having some sort of affair behind her back. Why was Josie so calm and collected about all of this? Wouldn’t she have been at least slightly uncomfortable?
“Thanks, Josie,” Alissa said.
“No problem.”
Josie went back to her desk, leaving Alissa more confused than ever. Josie wasn’t the type to lie easily. If she were hiding this big affair right under Alissa’s nose, Alissa felt as if she’d know. But then again, what if she was wrong and Josie was hiding something?
Still, that didn’t feel right to her. She had more questions than she had answers.
* * *
Dane glanced at the clock, breathing a sigh of relief that the day was almost over. It had been a long one filled with awkward interaction after awkward interaction. Conversations that he usually loved going to Alissa’s office for were done over email, drawing them out three times as long as usual. He had to plan when to get up to get water because he didn’t want to bump into Alissa.
It was exhausting. And Alissa wasn’t at all like the woman he had fallen for, at least not at that moment. Her distance hurt even more now that they had to be in the same office. At least Alissa had gone home for the day so her distance wasn’t smacking him in the face every fifteen minutes.
“Hey, did you want to have another dance lesson tonight?” Josie asked, resting her hand on the door frame of Dane’s office.
“I’m not really in the mood.” He ran his hands through his hair. “Alissa and I aren’t really getting along at the moment anyway.”
Josie glanced over her shoulder and stepped inside of his office, shutting the door behind her.
“I could guess that from how you guys went from chatting all the time to barely wanting to stand in the same room as each other,” Josie said. “I spoke with Alissa earlier and she asked about whether you were getting cold feet.”
Dane frowned, his eyes narrowing. Cold feet? About their relationship? He didn’t think things were that bad. Josie caught on to his confusion and gave him a patient smile.
“I think Alissa has caught on to us spending more time together for your dance lessons,” Josie said. “And I think she probably thinks you’re losing interest in her since we’re spending time together and you’re being secretive about what you’re doing.”
Dane stared blankly at Josie, wondering why he hadn’t put all the pieces together. It made so much sense that he was kicking himself for not getting it sooner. How had he not seen how his lessons with Josie had come off? A man and a woman spending time together in secret would raise flags for anyone, really.
“Should I tell her what’s going on so she’s not upset?” Dane asked.
Josie lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “I mean, it’s up to you, but you’ve come this far. The luau is soon and she’ll love the surprise. She’ll be so thrilled to see you do it and she’ll forgive you on the spot. She still has feelings for you so she won’t end things.”
Dane considered it. Alissa loved surprises and she loved it when he got outside of his comfort zone. If he held onto his secret for just a little while longer, it could be amazing. But he didn’t want her to continue feeling so bad. He never intended to hurt her.
“Okay, let’s keep going on the path we were on. But we have to be more subtle about meeting up so we won’t hurt Alissa’s feelings,” Dane said. “And I’ll be more intentional about showing her I care in the meantime.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The walk from Sandy’s to The Crab wasn’t long, but Luke drew it out as much as he could. He was sweating from both the evening warmth and his nerves at the conversation he was about to have with Hannah. Rehearsing what he was going to say over and over again helped, but also made him overanalyze everything.
All he had to do was apologize for misreading her. That was it.
He finally rounded the corner to The Crab. The sign was off, but he heard the sounds of gentle piano playing coming from inside the open door between the inside of the restaurant and the patio. He came closer and saw Hannah at the piano, playing a beautiful, but melancholy song. It was so complex, chords perfectly in sync and creating a mood that filled the air.
Her expression matched the music, though, to his dismay, her brows furrowed. Still, he sat down at one of the tables outside just to listen.
Hannah was so swept up in the music that she didn’t notice Luke at all until she came to a slower part. She jumped a little and stopped, her cheeks pink.
“Don’t stop,” he said. “I hope you don’t mind that I was eavesdropping.”
