“Not quite. I have to turn off lights and lock up.”
“Can I help?”
“No thanks. I’ve got the routine down.”
“In that case, I’ll get the troops home. Thank you again for tonight. As an introduction to ballet, it was incredible.”
“I’m glad you liked it. Enjoy the rest of your evening.”
“Thanks. You too.”
He strode toward the door, pausing on the threshold to peek back.
Devyn was taking off her pointe shoes, giving him a view of her classic profile.
The scene was almost like a Degas painting, based on what he remembered from the one art appreciation class he’d taken in college to fulfill the humanities requirement.
But Devyn was real, not brushstrokes on a canvas. And for the moment, she was inhabiting his world.
He gripped the edge of the door. Shook his head.
Who could ever have imagined that a guy who spent his days in a mill, handling rough lumber and breathing sawdust, would cross paths with a beautiful ballerina who danced to classical music and oozed refinement and culture and class?
And who would also stir up latent longings best left dormant.
Quashing the sudden surge in his pulse, he stepped through the door and closed it behind him with a definitive click.
That’s what he should do with thoughts of Devyn too. She was completely out of his league.
Besides, he hadn’t even been able to make a relationship work with someone whowasin his league. Olivia had ticked all the boxes—beautiful, smart, interested in having a family, similar background. Yet in the end, their increasingly divergent priorities had doomed them. If warning signs had been there in the early days, he’d missed them.
Meaning he could miss them again with another woman who came fromcomparablecircumstances, let alone someone from a totally different sphere.
He picked up his pace toward the car.
The reality was, a woman like Devyn, who’d danced before dignitaries and traveled to glitzy cities around the globe, would never be satisfied in a small town like Hope Harbor ... even if she had fond memories of her younger years here. Getting involved with someone like her would be like living with the sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
And life was too short to spend it waiting for a sword to fall.
When he reached the car and slid behind the wheel, Gramp angled toward him. “Well?”
“I’m not taking dancing lessons.” He shoved the key in the ignition.
Gramp tut-tutted. “What a missed opportunity.”
“It’s not that big of a deal. I can muddle through one dance without instruction if I have to.”
“I wasn’t talking about the dancing lesson.”
Of course he wasn’t.
Aaron started the engine. Put the car in reverse. Backed out in silence.
“Why don’t you want to let Miss Devyn teach you to dance, Dad?” Isabel latched onto his gaze in the rearview mirror.
“I don’t want to waste her time, honey.” He broke eye contact and put the car in drive. Accelerated toward home.
“I don’t think she’d think it was a waste of time. I can tell she likes you.”
