Page 25 of Chasing Clouds

“Downplay something you love just because it’s new to me. Tell me about this. What would you call it? I mean, I know nothing about you other than you were dancing in New York, friends with my brother, and marrying an asshole.”

She looks at me and her eyes flare with a tiny bit of the fire I’ve seen rise up in her. She’s mentally debating how much she wants to share with me, and I’m hoping she’ll share it all. Setting down her cup, she faces me and stands tall.

“This is something I think about almost every minute I’m awake. It’s more than just a hobby to me, so I don’t know what I would call it. I love working with my hands, building, creating, taking things no one wants and turning them into something beautiful.”

“I know what I would call it: your dream job. I think this sounds great.”

She lets out a sigh.

“If this is your passion, why were you dancing in New York?”

“It was expected.” She frowns and redoes her hair on top of her head.

Walking to her coffee, I pick it up and take a sip. It’s cold; she’s been out here for a while.

“Have you always done what’s expected of you?” I’m trying not to judge her, but it’s kind of hard.

Pressing her lips together, she takes the coffee out of my hands and moves to a coffeemaker that’s sitting on a countertop near the back. “No.” She doesn’t elaborate, just brews another cup, and steam floats out the top.

“Sugar?”

“No, just cream.”

She pours it in, stirs, and then walks the cup back to me.

“Thank you.”

She nods.

“So, what were you doing before you came to Savannah?” she asks, changing the subject as she jumps up and sits on top of the dresser she’s currently working on. Her feet dangle and she swings her legs. I’m momentarily distracted and clear my throat.

“Not much, since it’s the offseason for us. Mostly we spend time catching up on things that are put on the backburner during the year, like traveling. Some get married”—I wink at her—“and others have businesses or charities they run on the side. I’m involved with the Boys and Girls Club of Tampa Bay, which is where I’ve been spending most of my time, but I don’t have to report anywhere until the third week of April.”

“Kids, wow. Do you want kids one day?”

I laugh and she smiles along with me. “No. I never plan on getting married or having kids.”

Her smile drops. “You don’t want to get married one day?”

“No.”

There are at least a dozen questions sitting on the tip of her tongue, but she doesn’t ask them. Even if she did, I wouldn’t answer.

Taking a sip of the coffee, I walk over and lean on the table closest to her. “Have you given any thought to what you want to happen next?”

She lets out a long, slow sigh. “I have, but honestly, I just don’t know. For so long I’ve had this vision of what my life was going to be, and now I feel like I’ve dumped everything into a blender and things are all muddled and undefined. There’s my family, Patrick, and my life here, but now I’ve been given the opportunity to do and be what I want, and I don’t know if this is it anymore. I just need a little more time to figure out how to manage this mess I’ve made.”

“How much time?” I ask, probably a little too quickly, and she misinterprets my question.

Guilt slips across her features and she shrugs her shoulders. She doesn’t want to ask, and I’m pretty sure she doesn’t feel she has a right to, but what she doesn’t realize is this just might work out for both of us. “Honestly, I don’t know. I’m the one inconveniencing your life, so you tell me. Whatever you want, whenever you want, I’ll do it.”

I cross my arms over my chest and decide to just lay it all on the line. “Turns out, the team’s PR department doesn’t like to be blindsided. The owners and management of our team have a zero tolerance policy for drama or scandal of any kind, and apparently, me marrying a senator’s daughter on a whim is just that.”

She flinches.

“I stand behind what I said last night—nothing has to be decided today—but . . . how does two months sound?”

“Two months?” Her brows shoot up. I had been worried she would say no, but with that reaction, it might be a yes.