Chapter Three
“Wait.” Leah adjusted herself on the stool at the kitchen bar. “So, you’re telling me you went on a date withtheLawson Kane?”
She said it just like Law had said it last night, like I was supposed to know who he was and that it was supposed to mean something to me.
“Yeah.” I shrugged my shoulders as I continued to prep our lunches because today was going to be a long one. The day before the first performance of the weekend was always long. We ran through everything at least twice to make sure we had no difficulties. “You act like it’s supposed to be this big thing.”
“Oh, it’s big.” She jumped off the stool and headed toward me, shoving her phone in my face. “Lawson Kane, two times NASCAR champion. Driver of the twenty-two car and one of the most eligible bachelors in the sport.”
I took Leah’s phone and scrolled through it, reading what she had just told me. Single, six-foot-five, only child, been racing since he was twenty-one, was turning thirty-five this year, from Alabama, and parents were Cary and Luke.
“Again, why is this such a big deal?” I handed Leah’s phone back to her and watched as she bounced up and down with frustration and then pulled all of her chestnut hair on top of her head into a bun.
“We’re talking about Lawson Kane—”
“Law,” I cut her off.
“What?” Her head snapped up to me.
“He told me to call him Law.” I stood there with our lunches made as Leah stared at me like I was a crazy person.
“Were you just going to ignore the fact he told you a nickname to call him by?” Leah was screeching at me as she grabbed her duffle and we made our way out of the apartment. I grabbed for my bag by the door where I had made sure to put in two extra leos, just in case.
“I didn’t think anything of it.” I headed toward the stairs. The apartment we lived in was affordable for what we made together, but there were some things we had to do without and one of them was no elevator.
“So, you just let Lawson Kane, or Law as he lets you call him, take you on a date, kiss you, and then bring you home like nothing happened.”
“Yeah.” I shrugged again. It was becoming a habit fast, especially since I had no idea if any of this was anything to be concerned about. We walked down three flights of stairs to the lobby. My phone buzzed in the pocket of my bag and I pulled it out to see a notification from Law flashing across my screen.
Mornin’, sugar.
“Who’s that?” Leah looked over my shoulder, trying to see what was on my phone, but I held it to my chest. I left the message unopened. “Is it him? Show me!”
“All he said was good morning.”
We headed out onto the busy street and walked toward the dance studio only four blocks away.
“I don’t believe you.”
My phone buzzed again in my hand, telling me once more that I had a message waiting, and this time when I looked at the screen to make it go away, Leah was looking over my shoulder, ready to read what Law had sent. She was using her unnatural height, something that had helped further her ballet career. If I put her and Law next to each other, they would be the same height, but it worked for Leah with her long hair that went past her butt and deep grey eyes. She was an anomaly when you looked at her and then at her parents. She was all porcelain skin and they looked like they had been baking in the sun for decades. But she used it to her advantage whenever she could, which was how she scored the lead role in our current production.
Leah and I had known each other since kindergarten and hadn’t been separated since, and I dreaded the day it would happen, because I knew it was coming soon. She had been with her boyfriend for two years now, so of course the next step was moving in together and then marriage, which left me with moving back in with my parents because there was no way I could afford to live in the city on my own.
“He calls you sugar?” Leah’s voice rose to an octave I had never heard before. “Wait.”
She pulled me to a stop in front of the studio doors.
“You just met this man yesterday and you both already have nicknames for each other?”
“He only calls me sugar because he saw how much of it I take in my tea.” I rolled my eyes at Leah. I was for sure not going to tell her about how he put himself into my phone now, if she hadn’t already seen the name scrolled across the screen. When I saw it the other day I hadn’t changed it and I didn’t feel especially inclined to do so.
“You’re blushing!” She shoved her finger toward the beet red cheeks I knew were staring her in the face.
“Let’s just dance.” I shoved past her and made my way into the studio.
I spent the rest of the day thinking about Law as I tried to drown myself into our routine. I hadn’t replied to his text from this morning. In my head it was a test. How could this man, who was famous, by the way, want someone like me that he barely knew? I had reached for my phone a few times during rehearsal but stopped myself because I needed to focus.
That was one of the main reasons I had never dated before. Boys, I guess men now, were a distraction when it came to dancing. I had seen it too many times over the years. Couples getting into fights before a big show and then that person messing up, a boyfriend giving an ultimatum of dance or him, and then worst, the jealous boyfriend. One time a guy jumped on stage because the main dancer’s hand was too close to his girlfriend’s butt.
