To her surprise, Bea gave her shoulders a quick squeeze. “I was gonna miss you something fierce,” she whispered.
Vivian didn’t try to hold her when she stepped back, though she wanted to. “I should hope so,” she said, which made Bea roll her eyes again. “Come on, time for you to go wow ’em.”
It was crowded and rowdy on the dance floor that night, and at times people were stacked around the bar three and four deep. Vivian eyed the new bartender each time she went to collect another round of drinks, wondering cynically if he would last.
“Can you make something without gin? I can’t stand the stuff.”
The eager request caught Vivian’s attention as she went to drop off her tray and start her first break, though she wasn’t sure why. Did she recognize the person talking?
But it was a girl she had never seen before, smiling hopefully at Danny, who clapped a hand to his heart and pretended to be shocked. “Won’t drink our gin?” he teased her. “What is the world coming to when I can’t serve a pretty doll my signature fizz?”
She giggled. “Is that all you know how to make?” she teased him back. “They told me you could shake up anything.”
“Oh, well, in that case.” Danny leaned his elbows on the bar and grinned at her. “You look more like a whiskey girl to me. Am I right?”
And that part caught her attention too. Gin and whiskey, she realized.
She hadn’t really had time to care about who was poisoning Huxley Buchanan because she wasn’t being accused of poisoning him. But it had to be someone around him more than Maggie Chambers had been. Someone like a wife who convinced him and his stepson to share a drink every night. Or a stepson who did what his mother told him.
She set her tray down slowly, staring at Danny and the girl while they continued to banter, Danny barely needing to watch his hands while he mixed her drink.
Some people didn’t like gin cocktails.
Corny Rokesby had been one of them.
“Viv?”
The quiet voice interrupted her train of thought, and Vivian turned to find Leo standing near her, spinning his hat on the bar with one hand while he eyed her uneasily. “Wasn’t sure if I’d find you here or not,” he said.
Vivian swallowed. “You okay?” she asked, not sure what else to say.
For some reason, that made him smile. “I’m doing swell,” he said, stepping closer to give her shoulder a gentle bump. “You?”
“Running my feet off,” she said. It felt easier to talk about work than anything else. “Lotta troublemakers here tonight.”
She gave him a glance that pretended to be stern, and his smile grew. It felt good to tease him again. But it was almost too light, asif both of them were playing a role, not sure exactly what the other expected.
“Well.” Leo ran a hand through his hair. “If you have a break coming up soon, can I take you for a spin?”
Vivian almost said no. But he was smiling at her, and for a moment it felt like when they had first met, when he had been nothing but a charming stranger with fast feet and a killer smile. When everything between them had been all possibility and no history.
“I’m on a break now,” she said softly. “If you’re free.”
It was a foxtrot—not one of her favorites, but simple to fall into. They still moved like they had the first time they’d danced together, like they’d been dancing forever. It was easy to glide across the floor in each other’s arms.
And it hurt, because the distance was still there. He wasn’t a charming stranger. Being with him, being held by him, was comforting. But it was also a reminder of everything hard that had happened, everything she didn’t want to think about and he didn’t want to discuss. Vivian didn’t know if that was the sort of thing time could heal, if they would be able to forgive each other for the way they hadn’t been able to weather the storm together.
Sometimes hard things bring you together,Florence had said.And sometimes they push you apart. And sometimes it’s no one’s fault which it ends up being.
When the dance ended, Vivian didn’t pull away. Leo held her close, and she rested her head against his shoulder. Neither of them spoke for a long time. The other dancers moved around them, and if they complained, Vivian didn’t hear it.
“Thanks, Leo,” she said at last. “For trying. For everything.”
He hooked a finger under her chin and lifted it, bending to brush a single, sweet kiss against her lips. “Anytime, Viv,” he said softly. “We’re pals, yeah?”
“Always.” Her smile trembled, but she nodded. “Always.”
He held her until it was time for her to return to work. And then he found another partner and got back out on the dance floor. Because Vivian and Leo had that in common, too. When they were dancing, the rest of the world didn’t exist.
