Page 33 of Not Catching Love

“So what if I am?”

He turns off the flowing water and dries his hands before passing the towel to me. “Sure. I’ll do it.”

“Okay.”

“And so you know …” He steps in so my towel-covered hands are pressed between us. “I won’t say no to a thank-you booty tap. In case you get the urge.”

Motherfucker. I’ve got the urge. I’ve got the urge good.

Ishould nothave the urge because having the urge is very bad, but fuck me, tell that to my dick. I hurry to step back and get some distance before the stupid thing gets ideas.

“Right. Well. I’ll see you over there.”

I scramble from the room like Xander might bite me. Honestly, I’m not so sure I’d put it past him. I’m also definitely sure I wouldn’t hate it.

There are ten residents I dance with each week, and it’s less of me teaching them how and more of them teaching me. Dancing socially used to be a big thing before it became all fist pumps and twerking and—well, fuck. There I go, sounding like an old man again. I might as well book my room here now.

Since I’m late, Carla has taken it upon herself to get the music started, and I watch as they bop along to the beat. There are eight women and two men, and watching them laugh and get into it without any hint of self-consciousness makes me smile. Maybe getting old isn’t so bad.

“Here he is,” Carla says, lifting her hands. “We were beginning to think you’d forgotten about us.”

“Never.” I shift the table nearest me out of the way. “Did you scissors paper rock for who gets to dance with me first?”

“I won!” Jessie says.

“Hey, no fair.” Nerves hit me at the familiar voice, and I glance back in time to watch Xander walk into the room. “I wasn’t here for that.”

Conversation breaks out, and I sigh. “Xander’s here to help me.”

His cute nose wrinkles his freckles together. “Helpyou?”

“Looks like you need another scissors paper rock to see who dances with him first,” I tell them.

Carla, Mabel, and Josie immediately start a best of three, and I lower my voice so only Xander can hear me.

“Don’t worry, I made sure they all know you’re pro booty tap. You’ll feel very thanked once this class is over.”

The glare he sends me is adorable, and I move away before he can reply.

Throughout the whole hour, I can’t help but track where he is in the room. As much as I want him to be having fun, I also want to make sure he’s being politer than he usually is. Carla isn’t the kind who’d take being insulted as a good thing, and she probably wouldn’t hide her distaste either.

I love these people. We’ve been dancing together for well over a year now, and I’ve gotten to know them and sometimes their families well. I know their stories, and it’s so interesting to hear about how every one of them has lived an amazingly different life.

It hurts sometimes too. Not long after I started, we lost Alana. Then Adam broke his hip. Josie is forgetting more than she’s remembering lately, but dancing is one of those things that’s holding strong.

“Where did you find the little cutie?” Carla asks when it’s my turn with her.

“He … runs the art class.” Not a complete lie.

Her eyes cut to Xander and back to me. “The art class?”

“He’s very talented.”

“He’s a terrible dancer. Didn’t even know what the two-step is.”

“Neither did I until you taught it to me.”

Her lips quirk. “I hope he comes back.”

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