Page 61 of Lavender and Linebackers

Eventually, she hands the puppy to the next person, and we step back out of the way. I had mentioned the puppies to Camden earlier in the evening, and he told me they easily land in the five figures at a charity auction. Who knew?

“Do you have any pets?” Alice asks, as we watch in the background as the people ooh and aah.

“I do. I have a cat named Felix.”

She turns to look at me. “You got a cat? You don’t even like cats?”

Historically, I haven’t. I shrug. “Well, I like this one.”

She thinks about this and frowns. “How long have you had him?”

“Since May. Found him under my truck one day.”

“So, is he still a kitten?”

“I’d say more teenager, and he one hundred percent acts like it too. Loves to knock things down, bites me when he wants to play, and then he crashes hard. You would like him.” I can’t help the small smile that forms when I think about him. He is kind of a terror, but somehow, he fits in the house. He fits with me.

He would fit with her too.

“Huh,” she says, still frowning.

“Do you have any pets?” I ask, wanting to know more about her too.

“No. Not yet.”

Leaving the auction room, the lights are a little dimmer and the band is a little louder. I know it’s a bad idea, but I can’t stop the words as they come out of my mouth.

“Will you dance with me?”

I hold out my hand for her, and she looks down at it. Please, Alice, don’t think too hard about this and just take the offering.

While watching me, she slowly slips her hand into mine. And I feel like I’ve won a million dollars.

We make our way onto the dance floor, where I spin her to face me. Beautiful chocolate eyes and thick lashes stare up at me. They’re vulnerable, and I know I’ve done this to her.

I look down at the ground, my eyes dragging over the shimmery fabric of her dress to her perfect little toes, with the bright-pink polished toenails peeking out at the bottom. Her shoes must be high-heeled tonight, as her head falls under my chin.

“Alice, this is hard for me, but I am trying,” I tell her. I don’t know what I’m necessarily trying to do, or say, but maybe it’s to call a truce?

One step at a time, she closes the distance between us, and her free hand, the one not wrapped in mine, slips around my back. Mine does the same where I pull her close so her body can mold with mine. Again, my hand is on her skin, and it’s soft, it’s her. Together we start swaying to the music.

“Why is this hard for you?” She tilts her head back to look at me. Her hair is done in this wavy old-Hollywood style, and it’s long enough that it brushes against my fingers. Having her this close, her sharp edges are gone, and she looks unguarded.

“You know why.” My thumb swipes back and forth. She arches into me the tiniest bit, and my lower stomach clenches.

“Do I?” She frowns. “Seems like there are a lot of things I don’t know.”

Breaking eye contact to end the conversation, she turns and lays her cheek against my chest. I pull our joined hands closer and rest my chin on top of her head. Lavender wafts my way, and my eyes slip shut to memorize this moment. I know it’s stolen. I know we probably shouldn’t be seen this close together, but I don’t care. There are unresolved issues, but none of that changes the way I feel about her. Deep down, she will always be my Alice. It wasn’t a slip up what I said to Sully. It was the truth.

And I’m always going to love her.

Chapter 21

Alice

Tonight was a strange night.

It wasn’t bad, quite the opposite actually, just strange.