“Hey Pops, I’m pretty tired, and I have some private trainings early tomorrow. Are you ready to head out?”
Tiana knew Pops would never leave a party early for himself, and if he thought she was leaving for him, it would never happen, her only hope was to convince him that they were leaving as a favor to her. He would be able to check her schedule for classes at the studio, which she had none of on the following morning, but thankfully, he’d have no clue what private lessons she might or might not have.
She could call an Uber, and they would be at Golden Years in ten minutes.
“Hey Mr. Matthews, how are you doing?” Dr. Kareem Stiles placed his hand on Pops’ shoulder. He was one of the on-call doctors at the assisted living home and had been the bus driver that evening.
“Currently under renovation,” Pops responded. No matter how out of it he was, he somehow managed to come up with a comeback to that question. Tiana often wondered how many he had locked and loaded and how he knew which he’d used before.
“I feel ya,” Dr. Stiles grinned. “Gus and Matilda are heading back, and we were just wondering if you wanted to catch a ride with us or not.”
Dr. Stiles glanced up at Tiana and then back down at Pops.
“Oh, well, yeah, I think that’s probably for the best. I always go with Matilda on her nightly walks. I don’t want her to go out there alone.”
“If you want to stay, I can walk with her,” Dr. Stiles offered.
“Oh no, we have our routine, it’s best to stick to it.” Pops stood, and Tiana grabbed his collapsible walker from beside the chairs. She opened it for him.
Once he was steady, he lifted his arm and wagged his finger in Tiana’s face. “You stay for at least one dance, Tiny. Why don’t you ask that rich fella over there?” He tilted his head to the leftwith a wink and a click of his tongue, like he would call a horse, and then headed out with Dr. Stiles.
Even before she glanced over her shoulder to see who Pops was referring to, she had a pretty good idea who it was. The ‘rich fella’ gave it away. Deacon St. Claire was new to the community. He was a single dad and billionaire in the tech field who had been a mystery for quite a while, but it turned out he moved to be closer to siblings he never knew he had, news that had just broken the night before. She got the gossip hot off the presses during classes that very morning. He was a half-brother to Frankie’s husband, Liam.
She turned her head and confirmed she was correct. Deacon stood, arms crossed, standing by the gift table. She was immediately struck by the way he carried himself with the quiet assurance of someone who didn't need to prove anything to anyone. His chest strained slightly against his button-down shirt, and his dark hair looked like he'd given it exactly three seconds of attention before deciding it was good enough. When he turned, she caught his profile, strong jaw with just enough stubble to look intentional, and eyes so dark they seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. There was something about him that suggested he'd weathered storms and come out stronger. He had a very protective vibe about him. She could picture him at his daughter’s school function, leaning against the back wall in a casual shirt, looking relaxed until the moment someone upset his kid, then those eyes would turn serious, and whoever caused the problem would suddenly remember an urgent appointment elsewhere.
He was a tall, sexy, charming enigma with a presence that radiated confidence.
And she had zero interest in him. When their eyes met, she felt nothing.
A polite grin tugged on her lips, and she quickly looked away, not wanting to give him the wrong idea. She wasn’t one to disappoint her Pops, but she had no plans to dance with Deacon or any man at the wedding. Well, there might be one man who could tempt her out on the floor, but that was probably the one man who she should stay away from.
5
Tiana knewthat she should leave. She’d been, for all intents and purposes, hiding in a dark corner of the tent people-watching for the past hour and a half. The problem was, she had no desire to go home to the depressing four hundred square foot cabin she was currently residing in since giving up her apartment to save money. The cabin was more shed-like than cabin-like but she’d done her best to make it feel cozy.
There was no heat, which was fine because she had a wood-burning stove. Still, it got cold at night. The electricity was shoddy, so that limited her food and activities. But the biggest issue was cell service and Wi-Fi were both sketchy, which made being there feel very isolating and a little scary at times. It was only about a mile away from civilization, but when that mile was surrounded by pine trees in a forest setting, it felt much more isolating than a city mile.
She promised herself after the next dance she would go. There was a fine line between absorbing all the love in the air and feeling like an outsider looking in, which was how she’d felt her entire life. It had always just been her. If she were beinghonest with herself, her people-watching had been mainly one person, Niko Costas.
He’d spent the majority of the night on the dance floor with relatives from his very large Greek family, mostly the kids. Tiana had done everything in her power not to fixate on him, but she had failed miserably. The man had more charisma in his little pinky than most people did in their entire bodies.
The last few notes of “Birds of a Feather” by Billie Eilish sounded and Tiana told herself it was time to pack it in. She didn’t want to spend the evening at home depressed, thinking about how ‘miserable’ her love life was. If she allowed herself to stay any longer, she was in serious danger of that happening. Plus, she’d noticed in the past ten minutes or so, it seemed the wedding had thinned out significantly, and she didn’t want to stay past her welcome.
She rose from her private, darkened corner and grabbed her jacket and purse. As soon as she stepped out of the white tent, she noticed that everyone she’d thought had left the wedding was gathered on the deck huddled in celebratory cheers. They’d already done the cake cutting, plus the bride and groom were on the periphery of the group gathered.
“Hey, what’s going on?” she asked one of Yaya’s nieces.
“AJ just asked Poppy to marry him.”
“Oh my gosh!” Proposals were literally Tiana’s favorite thing to witness. She went down rabbit holes on YouTube of proposals in her free time.
“Don’t worry,” Sue Ann, who owned the local café leaned over. “Tessa got video of it.”
“Oh good.”
Tiana was waiting her turn to congratulate Poppy before she left when her phone vibrated, and she pulled it out, thinking it would be Pops complaining about one of the residents. It wasn’t. It was Darla Bartlett, her ex-mother-in-law.
Darla: Hey sweetie, would love to see you when we’re in town. We’re staying at the Mountain Ridge Resort. Can’t wait to take a class at your studio. We’ll be here until the New Year, so whenever you’re free!
