Chapter 26 #3
Her hair was a tiny bit longer, falling in stylish layers around her face, but otherwise, she hadn’t changed at all.
Scottie wasn’t sure what she had expected—maybe for their breakup to have had an effect on Tanya too.
But she looked as polished as ever in a fitted blazer, completely unaffected, as if neither their ten-year relationship nor their breakup had ever happened.
A rush of memories swept over Scottie, overwhelming her.
Tanya’s gaze was on her. She didn’t seem surprised. Perhaps she’d seen Scottie onstage earlier. She bent and whispered something to the woman sharing a table with her—possibly her new girlfriend. Then she crossed the room, heading straight for Scottie.
Scottie’s pulse thundered in her ears as she tracked Tanya’s path toward them.
“You okay?” Willow’s gentle voice cut through the haze.
“Yeah. No. Shit. Tanya’s here. She’s coming over.”
Willow’s head swiveled around. She stared toward the approaching figure. Her jaw tensed, and an emotion Scottie couldn’t read flickered across her face.
They both sat stiffly, watching Tanya walk toward them.
“Hi,” Tanya said when she reached the table. The familiar scent of her expensive perfume filled Scottie’s nose. “I saw you onstage earlier and thought I’d come over and say hi.”
Something soft touched Scottie’s hand on the table.
Scottie looked down, and it took her a second to understand that Willow had reached over, slid her hand over Scottie’s, and laced their fingers together.
The gentle contact and the softness of Willow’s skin against her own derailed Scottie’s thoughts.
She nearly forgot about Tanya as all of her senses locked onto Willow.
A tingle rushed up her arm, then spread through the rest of her body, and she was fairly sure it wasn’t due to static electricity this time.
“Tanya,” Scottie finally managed to get out. “Hi.”
Willow gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “Hi, I’m Willow.” A polite smile curved her lips, very different from the genuine one she’d given Scottie earlier, when she’d returned from the dance-off. She held Tanya’s gaze as if she belonged by Scottie’s side. “Scottie’s girlfriend.”
Willow’s fingers flexed around hers, as if she’d shocked even herself.
She had certainly stunned Scottie, who struggled to keep her expression neutral and not give them away.
Tanya’s gaze darted to Willow, then to their intertwined hands on the table.
Willow stroked her thumb across Scottie’s knuckles.
Scottie lost her breath. A swarm of butterflies took flight in her belly.
A shadow darted across Tanya’s face. “Nice to meet you, Willow,” she said, but it sounded like a polite string of words that had slipped out automatically.
She smoothed a hand down her blazer. “I’ll let you two get back to your evening.
” She turned toward Scottie. “It was good to see you. You’re looking well. ”
Scottie mumbled something that she hoped was “You too.”
Tanya lingered next to the table for a moment longer, and then, with one final nod, she turned and walked away.
Scottie sat frozen. She stared at Tanya’s retreating back, her fingers still laced with Willow’s. What just happened? She tore her gaze away from Tanya and directed it at their intertwined fingers. “What was that?”
“I have no idea.” Willow was still staring after Tanya. “She just waltzed over here and told you you’re looking well, like she still has every right to compliment you after what she did!”
What? Scottie’s head was spinning, so it took her a moment to figure out Willow was talking about Tanya. “No, I mean…this.” She nodded down at their hands.
Willow’s cheeks flushed a deep red. “I…I don’t know.” She started to withdraw, but Scottie held on.
“In case Tanya is still watching,” she said hastily.
“Right.” Willow left her hand where it was.
“Why did you tell her you were my girlfriend?” Scottie asked, trying not to get distracted by the way Willow’s skin felt against hers.
“I’m so sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.” Willow covered her face with her free hand. “That was completely inappropriate.”
Scottie softly pulled her fingers down. “I wasn’t complaining. I just wanted to know why.”
“I only had a second to think of something. I guess I reacted on instinct.”
Scottie couldn’t help arching her brows. Holding her hand and telling her ex they were a couple was an instinctive reaction?
“I didn’t want her to think you were sitting here, crying into your beer, waiting for her to take you back or something,” Willow added. “I wanted her to realize you’ve moved on. That you’re over it.”
Willow continued to ramble and apologize for a minute or two. Then she fell silent and directed a pleading look at Scottie. “Say something.”
Scottie didn’t know what to say. She was still stunned on so many levels—by Tanya’s sudden appearance, by Willow’s quick thinking and her uncharacteristically impulsive action.
But most of all, she was stunned by the effect Willow’s simple touch had on her.
As soon as Willow had intertwined their fingers, she’d been focused on the feel of Willow’s hand in hers, not on Tanya.
“I’m not,” Scottie finally said.
“Not what?”
“Not completely over it.”
“Oh,” Willow whispered and tried again to withdraw her hand.
Scottie tightened her grip. “The breakup really shook me. It tore my life apart without warning, and I’m still in the process of putting the pieces back together. But I just realized that while I’m not over it, I’m over her.”
“Really?” Willow asked quietly. “You seemed pretty shaken when you came face-to-face with her.”
“Oh yeah, I was. I’ve been dreading this moment for months—running into her somewhere.
Maybe even seeing her with someone new.” She gestured toward the woman at the table with Tanya.
“Seeing her caught me off guard, but it didn’t shatter me, nor does the thought of her with someone else.
” The tidal wave of grief and longing she’d expected had been more like a trickle of sadness. “I don’t want her back.”
What she wanted was to keep holding Willow’s hand.
Willow licked her lips. “Good. I mean, it’s good that you’re healing and aren’t considering taking her back after what she did to you.”
“Not an option,” Scottie said firmly. “Not that she would want me back.”
“Oh, I think she has a regret or two.”
“No, she doesn’t. She was the one who broke up with me.”
Willow snorted. “Did you see the way she looked at you…and at me, when I introduced myself as your girlfriend?”
“No, I didn’t,” Scottie said. “Truth be told, I was too busy staring at you.” She smiled and shook her head. “You’re full of surprises.”
Willow lowered her gaze to the tiny slivers of ice left in her otherwise empty glass. “I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t say that was a bad thing.”
Willow peeked up. “No?”
“Definitely not.” Scottie softly squeezed her hand. “Come on. Let’s order another drink. And this time, I need something stronger than soda.”
“God, yes,” Willow murmured.
Scottie signaled the waiter, careful to leave her other hand in Willow’s—just in case Tanya was still watching, of course.
~ ~ ~
Willow was glad that Scottie had asked if she could drive again. She was still in a daze. For a change, no tech glitch had interrupted this date…practice date. This time, Willow had been the one who had glitched. She couldn’t believe she had taken Scottie’s hand, pretending they were a couple!
As if by an unspoken agreement, they had kept holding hands all the way back to the car—just in case Tanya was watching them.
At least that was what Willow had told herself.
But deep down, she knew that wasn’t the true reason.
The truth was she hadn’t wanted to let go.
Holding Scottie’s hand had felt so right—as if they were connected, a unit, them against the world.
She had missed that feeling, and she hadn’t been quite ready to lose it.
When they had reached Scottie’s neighborhood, Willow had insisted on walking her to the door. The walk from the car to Scottie’s apartment building felt both much too short and impossibly long. They weren’t holding hands now, and the lack of contact between them felt strange…wrong, somehow.
They paused at the glass entrance door and turned to face each other. Willow wanted to reach out and run her fingers through the soft waves framing Scottie’s face.
What was wrong with her? She had never been a physically affectionate person.
The soft light above the front door cast a pale circle around them, illuminating Scottie’s broad, open features.
“I had a really good time,” Willow said. The words felt too clichéd, too inadequate after the wonderful yet complicated evening they’d had.
Scottie gave her a look that seemed as intimate as intertwining their fingers. “Me too. Thank you for planning this. It was perfect.”
Willow nodded and shifted her weight.
If this were a real date, this would be the moment where one of them would lean in and they’d kiss.
She wasn’t supposed to think about that. Of course that wouldn’t happen. This wasn’t a real date, no matter how much it had felt like one. The terms were clear: They were friends, and this was just a drill.
Still, the quiet between them stretched on. There was more to say. Finally, Willow couldn’t stand it anymore. She needed to break the tension. “So…how do you feel?” she asked and immediately regretted it.
The question was too open and could be misunderstood. Scottie might think she was asking how she felt about her. Before Scottie could even open her mouth, Willow rushed to add, “After running into your ex.”
Scottie directed her gaze upward as if thinking about it for a moment. “Free.” The word came out like an exhale. “I thought seeing her would reopen all my wounds so that I’d be back to square one and take another eight months to recover. But it didn’t. I’m fine. I can really start over now.”
Warmth filled Willow’s chest. She was truly happy for Scottie.
“Thank you for helping me shake off not just the rust but some of that burden too,” Scottie said.
Before Willow could find the right words to respond, Scottie leaned in.
Oh my God! Is she going to—?
Scottie brushed her lips against Willow’s cheek. It was just a barely there touch, short and impossibly tender.
But Willow’s entire body reacted as if Scottie had captured her mouth in a passionate lip-lock.
A dizzying wave of heat spiraled down her body, spreading all the way to her toes.
Her knees went weak. Her skin burned where Scottie’s lips had touched her cheek.
Her pulse thrummed. She was swaying on her feet and realized she had reached past Scottie and gripped the metal door handle next to her—which was probably what had stopped her from zapping Scottie again.
She had always thought swooning heroines who got weak in the knees were a silly, over-the-top Hollywood thing, not something that happened to real people. Definitely not something that happened to her.
But here she was, swaying on her feet, all because of a chaste, completely platonic kiss to the cheek.
She managed to get out a strangled, “Uh, good night.” She had no idea if that was the right response or what Scottie had said last.
“Good night,” Scottie answered, sounding as if she had lost track too.
Willow gave a quick, clumsy wave, then turned and fled to the car as fast as she could without breaking into a run. Somehow, she managed not to stumble and fall over her own feet. Her hands shook, so it took her a moment to unlock the driver’s side door.
She started the engine and drove away without allowing herself to look back.
Her heart was still racing by the time she parked in front of her own house. She turned off the engine but kept sitting in the dark, gripping the steering wheel.
The warmth of Scottie’s hand in hers and the gentle brush of her lips against Willow’s cheek lingered as if carved into her skin forever.
Images from tonight flashed through her mind: the joy on Scottie’s face when she had gotten to drive the Civic, the gentle touch on the small of her back, Scottie’s sensual dance moves on the stage, holding her hand, then her heartfelt thank-you and that tender kiss on the cheek.
Their second practice date had changed a lot of things for both of them.
Even though she was usually great at controlling and denying her feelings, Willow could no longer pretend Scottie was just a colleague she was friendly with. At least to herself, she could admit that if circumstances were different, she would want to date Scottie for real.
But while a lot had changed, one thing had remained the same. Scottie might feel free now, but Willow was still stuck. She would never be free of her weird effect on electronic devices.
What was she supposed to do now?