Rows of boats bob in the distance. I cross the bridge and head toward them to find the marina and coffee shop Nathan had mentioned. Here’s hoping they also serve sandwiches, because I really don’t have much food left in the crash pad other than the granola I offered Journey. There are also almonds and cookies leftover from flights, which everyone contributes to a bowl on the table, but airplane snacks get old quickly.
My cell vibrates in the pocket along the leg of my yoga pants. I jump as if it’s an alarm. I guess Crew Scheduling cannot be predicted. This spike in my heart rate is not going to help me stop panting before I answer the call.
I pull my phone out, with plans to call Nathan for a ride after this, but the image of my boyfriend on my phone screen stops me. Wyatt is Face-Timing. With joy I slide my thumb across the screen.
“Hey, stranger,” I greet him happily.
He’s got chiseled good looks with dirty-blond curls atop his head and blue eyes so icy they give me chills. “Sorry I didn’t get a chance to call last night. We had to get all the paperwork in for a new patent. I was at the office until midnight to make our deadline. Thankfully, they gave me today off.”
I shake my head at the irony of our timing and another missed connection. “You should have flown up today and come jogging with me. I found this amazing trail that leads out to a harbor.” I tap the icon to flip my camera around so he can see the scenic view rather than a close-up of my head. “Isn’t it serene?”
“We have harbors here too, you know.”
“I know.” I flip the camera back around to smile at him. “I heard thatin San Francisco, a lot of crew live on boats. You’re not supposed to live on them, but they’re gone so often that it doesn’t matter. Maybe I’ll do that when I’m transferred to SFO. Rent a boat in a slip instead of an apartment.”
I’d given up my apartment with my dance friends in order to pay for the crash pad. My parents are storing my furniture, and I’m planning to stay with them on visits home. After my dancing career ended, they offered to let me move back into my old bedroom permanently, but that just feels like an even bigger step backward.
“Why don’t you move in with me?” Wyatt asks nonchalantly.
I try to keep my expression just as casual, as if this is a casual thing. All my blinking and twitching probably gives me away. But what exactly is he proposing? “Do you want to get married?”
“Of course I want to marry you. Eventually. When life calms down, ya know?”
I study his expression. Though it might come across as bored to most people, I can tell by the curve on one side of his mouth that he’s pressing his lips together to keep from smiling too widely and ruining his cool-guy image.
My heart pitter-patters at the invitation, even though it’s not the invitation I was hoping for. It’s one step closer, I guess. I’m just not sure it’s a step I’m willing to take. My parents raised me with old-fashioned values, and though they seem to get in the way sometimes, I believe they’re actually the building blocks for the life I’m trying to create.
I don’t want to start a fight, so I just say, “Does life ever calm down?”
“Good point.” He hooks a hand behind his neck and lets the subject drop. “So you’re a jogger now, huh? Are you jogging alone? I thought you were afraid of getting murdered by random strangers.”
“Oh, I am.” I angle the phone down to show him where Maverick sits beside me, the best wingman ever. His tongue hangs out as he watches the birds, and I should probably get him some water. “Nathan let me walk his dog while he demos his house. Win-win.”
I lift the camera to see Wyatt again. His eyes have pinched tight. “This is the Nathan you flew with a couple of weeks ago?”
Wyatt doesn’t even know about yesterday, and I probably shouldn’t mention it. We so rarely get a chance to connect that I want to enjoy the moments we have together. “Yeah, he lives across the street and knows my fear.” Time to pivot. “I didn’t think I’d enjoy jogging, but maybe just getting into nature is healing. I actually feel good. Kind of like when I hiked the Manitou Incline.”
“With Nathan?”
I don’t want to give Wyatt reason to be jealous. He’s already had enough reasons to be untrusting after his ex cheated on him. “I’ve got two more days on reserve, then I’ll fly to San Francisco to show you how much I’ve missed you. You have nothing to worry about. I won’t even see Nathan again, unless it has to do with Maverick.”
Wyatt’s eyebrows dip.
“Maverick is the dog.”
Wyatt shakes his head. “Or if you get put on the same trip again.”
I twist my lips because there’s nothing I can say to that. Unless I tell him that Nathan and I have only worked trips together because we picked up those trips on our off time.
He sighs. “I understand you traveled a lot for ballet, but since we didn’t meet until after that, I’m not used to the long-distance thing. I just want you here with me.”
Wyatt and I met in the hospital after my surgery, when he came to visit his dad, who was my surgeon. I’d been drugged and asked him if I’d died, saying he looked like an angel. He joked my pickup line was usually used on women. I confessed that I was afraid I’d never get picked up again, though I’m sure I was thinking of ballet lifts. He claimed that was ridiculous and vowed that the next time he came to see his dad, he’d bring me flowers. And he did.
I honestly don’t remember our first meeting, but he told me the story when bringing me a bouquet of roses. I wasn’t receiving bouquets on stage anymore, and just smelling their sweet floral scent made me cry.
Wyatt was the only good thing I had during that time, so I centered my life entirely on him to feel good about something. Now that I’m enjoying life again, it seems to be hard for him to share me with other good things.
“I want that too,” I agree, though even when I’m based in San Francisco, I’ll still be gone a lot. I’m not going to think about that yet. We’ll make this work.
