Chapter 5
Willow
To-Do List
Eat cake
Dance
Start over
I brushed a few strands of hair off my face, catching my breath after falling into a chair at our table.
The ice sloshed in my cup, and I held it to my chest to cool down after leaving my date on the dance floor.
Deacon was still in the middle of the crowd, dancing with a group of people he’d become best friends with over the course of the wedding reception.
The wedding was more fun than I thought it would be.
The music was loud, the food was good, and it was too dark in the hall for anyone to recognize me as Drowning Girl.
Dina approached, pushing her gown aside to take the seat next to me. “I was hoping I’d get a minute to see you!” She wrapped me in an awkward side hug, and I tried to keep my distance and not get her dress sweaty. “It’s been years!”
“Congratulations,” I said, taking in her wide smile. “It was a beautiful wedding.”
“Thank God it’s over. I’m telling you, when it’s you, just elope!” She laughed and then covered her mouth. “Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t think.”
I waved off her apology, wishing I could crawl into a hole in the dance floor, perhaps near where Deacon had talked the groom into doing the worm. “It’s okay. No big deal.”
“That meme is everywhere. I mean, how could I forget you broke up with your guy? And here I brought it up again. I’m the worst.” She took my hand in hers, the light glinting off her engagement ring and wedding band. “But how are you? How is Cruz? How long are you in town?”
“Good,” I lied. “Work is good.” It was good for the person doing it, anyway, since I’d been let go.
“Everything is great.” I heard the obvious lie in my voice, but she didn’t seem to notice, and her expression softened with relief.
People did that. Even if their care was genuine, they visibly let out a breath when you told them their concern was unwarranted.
“Oh, good.” She squeezed my hand again and looked over my shoulder.
“I think my husband has a crush on your date,” she joked, pointing at the two men now sharing a laugh as Deacon helped her husband off the ground.
She winked before standing to join him. “He’s cute!
” She gave me another side hug with a promise to catch up soon.
We’d never follow through, though, and I threw back the rest of my drink.
“Save me,” Deacon said, approaching the table with an outstretched hand.
“From what?”
“Aunt Gail,” he said, motioning over his shoulder. “She’s a little handsy and this is a slow one.”
He had ditched the jacket, and his shirtsleeves were rolled up over his veined forearms. He shook his outstretched hand again, giving me a puppy dog expression. “Please?”
I accepted his hand and let him lead me to the dance floor.
I didn’t want to get too close to Deacon, so I kept my distance, making it feel even more like an eighth-grade dance than a wedding, but he pulled me closer.
“You seem to attract a lot of older women. The barista, Aunt Gail…Cruz mentioned you were a ladies’ man, but he didn’t mention the ladies had so many years on you. ”
“Cruz probably exaggerated,” he said, resting a palm on my waist, the touch innocent but warm and heavy. “All women have their own kind of grace and sensuality, but I can’t fend off Aunt Gail and help you avoid Cousin Rupert at the same time.”
“I don’t think Rupert’s going to be a problem. He hasn’t even asked me to dance all night.”
“Probably lying in wait.” A couple nearby called out to Deacon, who returned the greeting without missing a beat.
“I can’t believe you’ve met so many people since we got here.”
He shrugged. “Everyone is drinking and dancing. It’s easy to make friends.”
“For you.” I nodded and looked away, hoping he wouldn’t notice that no one was greeting me. “You’re good at it. I’m awful at these things. At parties or big events, I used to just hang out on the periphery with my…with Spencer.”
Deacon nodded but then gripped my hand tighter and twirled me in a circle, interrupting my thoughts. When he pulled me back to him, there was a surprised giggle on my lips, and he winked. “So, you’re here for three months. What do you want to do while you’re in town?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging one shoulder. “I guess look for a job. I have a little bit of savings and, of course, I’m not paying rent, but I’ll need something when I go home.”
“Think bigger.” He spun me out and back again, the twirl leaving me disoriented before I was against his chest again. “If you could finish the three months having said you did something, what would it be?”
“This is another big question?”
His hand flexed against my waist and he grinned. “I only do big, Willow.”
I rolled my eyes at his cheesy line and traced the seam of his shirt over his shoulder. “Start over, I guess,” I said, honestly, blaming the heat of the dance floor and the strength of the mojito. “I’m single and I lost my job. Good a time as any to hit reset, right?”
“I’m single and I lost my job,” he mused. “Not the same, but resetting probably isn’t that bad. Where will you start?”
I just laughed, looking around us at the couples dancing with their bodies pressed together.
“I have no idea. It’s like I looked up and everyone seems to have things figured out except for me.
” I stepped on Deacon’s toe with my foot and cringed.
“Sorry. I’ve only ever danced with one other person before. ”
“Only one dance partner? That’s practically criminal.” He twirled me again, and though I stumbled, I laughed. “Your ex was your first slow dance?”
I nodded. “First dance. Only dance partner. Once we started dating and stayed together through college, I assumed he’d be the only.”
“No,” Deacon said. “None of that.” He pressed his hand to my lower back, pulling me closer to lead me around the dance floor. “Consider this a re-do.”
“A re-do?”
He nodded, taking my hand and guiding it around his neck. “A re-do on your first slow dance with none of that eighth-grade fumbling. We’re adults now.” His hand moved down the middle of my back, and he pulled me toward him.
“Where did you learn to do this so well? I know it wasn’t in the military.”
“My physical therapist made me dance to regain my balance.” He laughed near my ear. “I’m gonna dip you now.”
“What?” I panicked, clutching his shirt. “No, I’m not ready!”
“Too late!” He held me and dipped us both in what was probably a pretty sad move, but I was already laughing too hard to care. We earned applause from some of the couples around us just as the DJ shifted to a song with a faster tempo.
“Oh my God. I can’t believe that just happened,” I said as we walked off the dance floor.
“Good re-do?” He nicked his beer bottle from the table and took a swig.
“Definitely,” I agreed, nodding when he asked if I wanted another drink.
I watched Deacon disappear into the crowd, joining in conversation with that group of Dina’s friends by the bar while he waited.
A redhead in a tight green dress looked particularly interested and held out her phone, I assumed offering her number.
I bit into a piece of ice from my glass when he pulled out his phone as well before reminding myself this wasn’t an actual date.
The dance had been amazing, though, and the idea of re-doing my first slow dance was ridiculous, but it sparked something inside me.
It had been so freeing to replace that memory with this one that had nothing to do with Spencer and what I thought my life would look like.
The life that would include marriage and kids and a happy family.
I tapped my fingers on the table, drumming my nails against the linen tablecloth.
Deacon was chatting with an older man now, holding both our drinks in his hands. Maybe he was onto something.
Deacon set the drinks down on the table, but as the opening beats to the next song played, he took my hand again. “Another dance, or are you ready to head home?”
I would normally agree to going home, but I accepted his hand again, feeling a boost of bravery from the cocktail I’d had earlier. Everything about tonight had been completely different from what I’d feared—I’d convinced myself that every time I went out in public it would end in disaster.
“Let’s dance.” I followed him to the floor. “You can teach me some new moves.”