14. Foolish Silly Dance

14

FOOLISH SILLY DANCE

“ O h wow,” Heather said to her the next morning.

She turned and looked at her longest employee who’d closed for her last night. She’d come back before eight yesterday as Dane had left a few minutes before.

Heather and Brittany were in the parking lot, the last two. She waved to them, rolled the window down and thanked Heather, then pulled away.

She did that hoping she wouldn’t get asked too many questions today.

“What?” she asked after Heather’s comment this morning.

Heather moved in and lowered her voice. “I thought it was an early date for you, but you got lucky.”

She turned and leaned against the bed that she’d just made for her first client.

“Between us?” she asked, moving her hand back and forth.

“Of course,” Heather said. “I know how the rest of them are. ”

“I got lucky twice,” she said and did a little giddy dance and then slapped her hand in front of her mouth.

Where the hell had that come from?

She’d never done that a day in her life.

Never been frivolous. There wasn’t much in her life that called for it.

When she got on her own she was serious.

She needed stability and put all her effort into that.

Sure, she had fun with friends, when she made them. Or dated, when she had time.

But she never did a foolish silly dance.

She never felt like she was floating on cloud nine.

“Good for you,” Heather said. “Is this serious or just something that happened?”

“I don’t know,” she said. “And I’m the kind of person who likes to know everything.”

“You do,” Heather said. “Considering how you were raised it all makes sense. Bet it feels odd not knowing now, doesn’t it?”

Heather knew the most about her and Sloane knew she could trust things wouldn’t go any further.

“Extremely,” she said. “I’m not sure I like the feeling, but on the other hand, it’s not so unpleasant. Or as much as I thought it would be.”

“Because though you don’t control it completely, you can still. You know that.”

“I do. We agreed spontaneity works for us.”

“Now those are some shocking words coming out of your mouth,” Heather said, her eyes wide.

“I know,” she said. “But I’m going to go with it. It’s not like he has a lot of free time. His job alone makes it hard. So does mine. Then add in he has his kids half the time.”

“And you don’t want his kids to know right now? ”

“That’s not my choice, but I’m not jumping at that conversation. It’s going to be in his court. He’d told me I’m the first person he’s been with since his divorce three years ago.”

“Noooooo,” Heather said. “I heard he’s a hot doctor.”

“He is, but he’s devoted to his kids and doing what is right for them.”

Heather reached her hand out and laid it on hers. “You’d respect that. You didn’t have a choice or a voice as a child. Not a parent that even put you first.”

“That’s right,” she said. “He’s so good with his kids by the sounds of it. I mean I haven’t seen it, but I did meet his daughter.”

“I heard that,” Heather said. “She came here with her grandmother and aunt.”

“Yes. She’s a character. Which is a good thing.”

“You’d think that,” Heather said. “Being a parent is not always so much fun.”

Heather had two daughters and she’d heard the stories. Both were young teens now.

“Not on my radar at this moment,” she said. “But I’d like it someday. Right now I have to learn to navigate this. No reason to push anything with the kids, but he talks about them all the time.”

“How do you feel about that?” Heather asked.

“I’m fine with it. I don’t want it to be this wall between us. That won’t work. I told him he’s a father first and foremost. I know it. I understand it. He knows about my background.”

“Holy cow,” Heather said. “You rarely tell anyone that, let alone a man you go on a date with.”

“I know. I just felt it was the thing to do and I’m not sure why. I was waiting for some reaction and there was nothing. I mean I dropped it like I was the prized karaoke singer landing the high note and walking off stage.”

“You sing horribly,” Heather said, grinning.

She laughed. “That’s right, I do.”

“He literally had no reaction at all?” Heather asked.

“None. He was waiting for me to continue. I was stunned. He said he’d never judge. He’s seen a lot of kids and knows you never get the whole story, but where I was born or to whom has nothing to do with me. He’s adopted.”

“That makes more sense,” Heather said. “It’s like a connection but not really.”

“I felt that way afterward. He got it. He joked about having baggage being divorced and I was like...really? More than escaping a cult? He laughed then.”

“Sounds to me like you two might be a good match. I’m so happy for you,” Heather said, grabbing her hands and doing a little jump up and down.

She joined in and was giggling again.

“I feel like an idiot right now but at the same time happier than I’ve ever been.”

“If anyone deserves it, it’s you,” Heather said.

“Thank you. I mean it.”

Her phone vibrated in her pocket and she expected that it was Colleen telling her her first client was here. Colleen hadn’t worked in a week as she’d been on vacation with her parents. She was a college student who normally worked nights or weekends but over the summer put more time in.

What shocked her was that the text came from Dane saying what a great time he had last night.

She debated texting him after he’d left last night and didn’t want to come off as clingy. He had to get his kids after work today and would have them all weekend. She didn’t expect they’d communicate much and wasn’t going to worry.

He was on call this week too starting on Saturday.

“I can tell by the look on your face it’s the man we are talking about.”

“It is,” she said. “I didn’t expect to hear from him today.”

“Even better,” Heather said, then looked at her own phone. “Time to get to work.”

“Me too,” she said when the text came in that her client was here too.

Before she went to get her client she snuck into her office and replied to Dane. He asked if she was able to talk.

She hesitated and said for a few minutes.

Her phone rang in her hand. “Morning,” he said.

“Same to you,” she said. “You’re not with a patient?”

“I will be in a few,” he said. “We had a meeting first and I thought I’d take a risk and see if you started your day.”

“Just about to,” she said. “I had a great time too.”

“Is it crazy to admit that I was going to text you last night but decided not to?”

“Not as crazy as me thinking the same thing.”

He laughed and the sound vibrated through her body. This was getting nuts.

Maybe missing all of this as a teen was catching up to her as an adult.

Was this what a crush felt like?

“Though I’m on call next week, starting Tuesday night I won’t have the kids for four days.”

“I’ll look at my schedule and see what I’ve got planned and when. Maybe I’ve got a gap somewhere to at least get dinner.”

“I’ll take whatever I can get and if it doesn’t work then we’ll try for another week. Just know that I could have to cancel last minute if called in.”

“Not a worry,” she said. “It’s going to work or it won’t. We’ll play it as it comes.”

Which, as Heather had reminded her, wasn’t how she lived her life.

It was scary as all hell to be saying that to a man, but she knew that if anyone understood that, it’d be Dane.

“I seem to be doing that more in my life than ever before. For once it’s working.”

“Glad to hear that,” she said.

And she was hoping it’d continue.

“I should go,” he said. “I like to try to start on time because I’m almost always behind. Some parents need to tell me every little thing their child is doing.”

She laughed. “I could see where that is nice and annoying at the same time.”

“It’s both. Some things I should know they might not think to tell me, the other times I don’t need to hear that little Bobby picks his nose and eats it.”

She burst out laughing. “Doesn’t every kid do that?”

“Every person on the face of this earth has picked their nose even if they say they haven’t. And I’ll leave it at that.”

She was still laughing when she hung up.

She’d never thought a man could brighten her day, but it seemed there were a lot of things she didn’t think could happen that were.