“Dance with me,” Tanner says.
All it takes is a single turn and I’m right back to my place in his arms. My hands slip around his neck and my tears fight to spill. I can feel the goodbye in his fingertips as they grip my hipsand I see it in his tear-filled eyes. This dance is the truce before the end.
We sway for only a moment longer before I feel Tanner’s entire body stiffen under my arms. When I turn my head to see what it is, I find Sebastian dancing with Winnie on top of his feet.
“Mommy. I’m dancing with Uncle Seb.”
“Seb?” Tanner asks, fingers digging into me.
“Yeah, this is my brother-in-law. Well, ex-brother-in-law, I guess.”
Winnie giggles as Seb scoops her up into his arms and brings her over.
“Tanner this is Sebastian. And Sebastian, this is?—"
“Our Tanner.” Winnie cuts me off.
“The one you were telling me all about?” Sebastian smirks. “The one your mom kisses? Her boyfriend?”
My cheeks flush and I shake my head. “Oh my God.”
“Nice to meet you man.” Sebastian reaches his hand out to shake Tanner’s.
“Sebastian.” Tanner’s eyebrows pinch together. “Nice to meet you.”
The song picks up and Winnie crawls out of Sebastian’s arms and drags him back to the middle of the dance floor.
“I thought that was Ethan.” Tanner continues to hold me as he watches them go like ghosts.
“Youwhat?”
He looks at me with what almost resembles fear, then grabs my hand and begins pulling me from the dance floor.
“Tanner wait—” I call out. “What do you mean you thought that was Ethan?”
“That night.” He stops suddenly and spins to face me. “After getting the new fish, I finished up some paperwork at the shop then called off the rest of my shift. I grabbed a pizza and came right back over. You two were up on the balcony, hugging and hekissed your head and I thought it was Ethan. I just couldn’t process it. If I went up there, I would have killed him. Or at least tried to. So I tried to wait a minute to calm down, but then Dollie called and asked why you were leaving, it wasn’t just that you were trying to leave, I thought you were going back to him. I thought you chose Ethan.”
43
TANNER
Iwent to Chicago nearly two years ago on a mission to find this girl that Rhett would not shut up about. He had moved to the city to be this cool, big, literary editor and yet he never even talked about the city until she entered the picture.
We would be sitting around Morton's on the rare weekend he would come home, and he would find any and every excuse to bring this Lauren girl up. Of course, his siblings and my sister gave me the assignment to go figure out if Lauren Dorada was even real. So, I loaded up the Green Bastard, my ninety-seven Ford Ranger, and drove its rickety ass down to Chicago.
By my last night in town, there was still no sightings of this girl, other than the white wine and coffee creamer in Rhett’s fridge. That night we ended up at this stick-up-the-ass social club with some vague promise from Rhett’s buddy that Lauren would be there.
So, we stood there drinking beers around a rooftop fire until I swear to God, Rhett nearly snapped the neck of the beer he was drinking. We were minutes from finishing our drinks and bailing, when out onto the rooftop walked this red head with big bright eyes. And she was beautiful. Drop dead gorgeous, really. But I,myself, almost dropped dead when the girl behind her stepped out.
This girl had brown hair and it was swept back away from her face. She had round lips and heavy lashed eyes. I was a goner. Right then and there, across the shitty rooftop, at a shitty party, on a shitty Chicago night, I was in love, and I didn’t even know this woman’s name.
Rhett introduced me to Lauren, but the brunette pushed her hand toward me. “Hannah. Lauren’s sister.”
“This istheLauren?” I teased Rhett like I couldn’t hear his brooding heartbeat from where I stood.
“Yes,” he grumbled. “TheLauren.”
“And this istheRhett,” Hannah had said, and that smile, holy shit. “Tanner, how about you and I go compare notes.”
