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“You’re playing with fire, Ms. Fair. You better watch out or else you’ll wind up getting burned.”
She didn’t say anything in response to that, and for a few moments it seemed as if everything faded away except for the two of them. Terrence gave silent thanks to the historical movie he’d made years ago that required him to learn the waltz.
It had been boring as hell at the time, and his dance partner had smoked what smelled like three packs a day instead of eating. Not to mention, she couldn’t go more than two seconds without stepping on his toes.
Dancing with Ronnie was the exact opposite of that experience. She smelled like cinnamon and sunshine, and she’d yet to step on his feet. It was easy to picture her as she was five years ago, not far removed from the debutante who nodoubt hated every moment of her two balls. He wondered who she’d danced with. Would it have been only her father, or some teenaged boy who, without question, had been vetted as an appropriate escort for Senator Lewis’s only daughter? Had she fit as comfortably in that teenager’s arms as she did in his?
He wasn’t prepared for the rush of rage that swept over him at the thought of Ronnie being in the arms of someone else.
Down boy, he told himself.You don’t have a hold on her now. You certainly didn’t then.
He didn’t think he’d have minded learning to waltz if Ronnie had been his partner all those years ago.
But of course she couldn’t have been. She’d have been too young.
He shoved that thought aside, not wanting to visit that particular memory at the moment. Instead, he was getting ready to ask if she’d had the opportunity to waltz since her debutante days when the music was interrupted by what had to be a ringtone of sorts.
“That’s Andie’s ringtone. I have to get that.” Ronnie pulled away and walked to the table where she’d left her phone.
No one in the room made a sound when she answered.
“Hey,” Ronnie said in greeting. “What’s up?”
There was a silence as she listened, and her face broke out into a grin when she replied. “Yes, it’s been a very productive day. For both of us. We were just getting ready to leave.”
Ronnie listened again, and he guessed Andie said something about him. Or at least he supposed that was why Ronnie looked his way and said, “Sure,” to something Andie said.
“Is everything okay?” he asked when she disconnected.
“Yes,” Ronnie replied. “She’s going to text me a list of things she needs us to stop by and pick up at Winnie’s place. She said you knew how to get there and to let you know she’d called you first but you weren’t answering your phone.”
“Damn it.” Terrence pulled his phone out of his pocket and winced at the two missed calls. “I turned the ringer off when I started playing piano.”
“You know where Winnie’s place is?” she asked.
“Yes.” It’d been at least a year, maybe two, since he’d been to Winnie’s place, but it was easy to get to and he remembered the way. “But if we want to stand a chance of getting back to the island tonight, we need to wrap things up here.”
“The girls and I have finished. Are we coming back next weekend?”
Terrence nodded. “That’s my understanding.”
It took longerthan Terrence had anticipated to say goodbye to all the kids and confirm the next weekend with the Burkes. He glanced at the time when he started the car and had to refrain from gnashing his teeth together. With every passing second, it became less and less likely that he and Ronnie would be able to get a boat to the island tonight.
He knew they wouldn’t be able to call for an academy boat. There were strict rules regarding their operation, and the main one concerned times of operation. It had been put into place about three years ago when a group of students thought it’d be fun to go night sailing.
It shouldn’t be a problem to find someone else unaffiliated with the academy and willing to take them over to the island as long as they were able to find what they needed to at Winnie’s in a reasonable amount of time. But they were pushing it, and he’d be lying to say he didn’t feel uneasy about the entire situation.
“Who’s Winnie?” Ronnie asked.
From the way she acted, he assumed she had no clue about how close she was to spending the night on the mainland. Hewasn’t going to tell her either. He’d let the night play out and see how things went.
“You haven’t heard about Winnie?” he asked in reply to her question.
“No.”
“Ah.” He smiled. “Winnie was Mariela’s best friend. She was also Lennox’s submissive. She died in a car accident years and years ago.”
“That sounds… interesting.”
