As she drove to downtown Maple Falls, she thought about him again—more accurately, about the two of them last night, before Anita and Tanner had shown up. The way he’d held her in his arms, the yearning she thought she saw in his eyes as they danced, the scent of his cologne. It all made the tingles go haywire. It had been different from their first encounter in the Sunset parking lot. That had been hormones going haywire for both of them. The tender kiss they’d shared in the supply closet during Anita’s reception had been different too. Even though she had accepted his apology then, her guard was still up.
But last night was different. Natural. Comfortable. She’d felt so secure in his arms she had almost lost her mind and kissed him. Thank goodness they’d been interrupted. If she had kissed him, that would have added another complication, and she didn’t want any more of those. Besides, she would have been rebuffed. He saw her only as a friend now, and that was the way things had to be. She needed to remember the reason he was at the dance studio today was that Sunnyhad asked him to come, even though they had already made plans to swim. Ever since that fateful night at the theater, she’d come in second, even in a pretend relationship.
Olivia pulled up in front of the dance studio, her eyes burning. This was stupid. She was getting upset over nothing. Kingston was free to do what he wanted, and she was sure what he didn’t want was her hovering and watching his every move.
She squealed out of the parking space and drove home.
Chapter16
“I’m sorry, Sunny,” Kingston said as he miscounted his steps for the fourth—or was it fifth? sixth?—time since they started practicing.
“It’s okay.” She stepped out of his arms and went to her phone on top of the piano. “Let’s take a little break.”
He nodded, rubbing the back of his neck. He and Sunny had been practicing for almost an hour, and he was still making mistakes. She gestured for him to sit down on one of the folding chairs near the front window, then picked up a pink water bottle and joined him.
He slouched in the chair. The short dance she’d choreographed wasn’t hard, but he couldn’t remember the steps. “I don’t know what I’m doing wrong.”
“Your concentration is off.” She took a calm sip of the water. “Or maybe you’d rather be dancing with someone else? Olivia, perhaps?”
Kingston turned to her. She’d nailed it. He kept thinking about Olivia. Their dance together last night, holding herhand in church this morning . . . Oh. He guessed Sunny, along with most of Maple Falls, had seen them holding hands. He wasn’t upset about it either. That was the point—to let everyone know that they were together so when they broke up, his mother would leave them alone.
He frowned. That had sounded good in theory. He’d known it would be hard to resist Olivia, but he hadn’t anticipated her being constantly on his mind.
Sunny adjusted the buckle on her dance shoe. “If I’d known you and Olivia were together, I would have planned a spotlight dance for the two of you. I must admit, I thought you two had chemistry when I saw you dancing together last week.”
He almost laughed. How did she not notice how angry Olivia was with him? “We were a little on the outs that night.”
“It looked like passion to me.” Sunny straightened and smiled. “It’s not too late to plan a dance for the two of you, if you’re interested.”
That sounded like a great idea. He imagined their practice sessions, all the opportunities he’d have to hold her... He smiled. He was being a little selfish, and he’d have to keep himself in check. But ultimately, he wanted to spend time with Olivia. He’d just seen her less than three hours ago and he was already missing her.
“Just think about it,” Sunny said as her phone started to ring. “And talk it over with her. Excuse me for a minute. I’ll be right back.”
While she crossed the room and picked up her phone off the piano, he pulled out his cell and called Olivia. Therewould still be time to swim after he was finished here, and maybe they could go out for a bite to eat afterward. If nothing else, it would make his mother happy. When he’d told her they weren’t coming over this afternoon, she’d sounded disappointed. “Oh well, there are plenty of other days you two can swim. The pool will be open until mid-October.”
The buzz of his phone ringing Olivia’s sounded in his ear. Mid-October. That would be around the time he would be going back to work. After that he wouldn’t have as much free time as he had now, so he needed to make the best of it.With Olivia.They still hadn’t discussed when they were going to break up, and he wasn’t in any hurry to have that conversation. He wanted to enjoy their relationship as long as it lasted.
His call went to voice mail, and he smiled at her crisp, no-nonsense recording.
“This is Olivia Farnsworth. Please leave a message.”
“Hey, it’s me.” He glanced up to see that Sunny wasn’t in the room. “I’m almost finished here. If you’re up for it, we can still have that swim lesson today. Call me when you can.”
He hung up. She must still be with her girlfriends. After church he’d overheard them talking about getting Chinese and going to Riley’s house. But her not answering brought up something he hadn’t realized—that outside of library hours, he didn’t know her schedule.
Sunny entered the dance room from the back of the studio where her office and the restroom were located. “I hate to cut this short, but something cropped up at the lastminute. Don’t worry about our dance. It’s going to be fine. You can practice with Olivia.”
Now that was a homework assignment he could get enthused about.
He noticed Sunny had changed out of her leotard and dance skirt into jeans and a purple short-sleeved blouse. She’d also taken down her bun and had tied her long hair into a ponytail at the nape of her neck, and she was turning out all the lights, apparently in a hurry. “Everything okay?”
“Sure.” She pulled down the front shade, then faced him, blushing a little. “Bubba just called.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.” She picked up her dance bag and flung the strap over her thin shoulder. “We’ve been kind of talking. He just invited me to see his niece in her first play at the high school. It’s my favorite musical—South Pacific. I couldn’t tell him no. The matinee starts in an hour.”
Her and Bubba? That was a surprise. “No worries. I understand.”
