Page 11 of It Had to be You

"One. Two. Three. One. Two. Three."

Reaching out, she pressed a button on the stereo and the music picked up without fail, rolling along. "One. Two. Three. One…" she let her words fade out and she moved along the lines of the class encouraging everyone with smiles and nods. She offered comments as she went. "Loosen your shoulders."

"Just move."

"Doing great!"

"I love that smile."

The music ended a few sets after and the whole group paused for a moment. Then they looked around the room at each other. One of the men in the back chuckled. "That was actually fun."

Tatum grinned and gestured at him in the back row. "That’s the spirit, Jake." When he gave her a half-wave and then a thumbs up, he stood a little taller.

Alexander couldn’t help but want her attention a little himself.

"Okay, folks! Front line, turn around and face your partners!"

Some turned, but more than that seemed to freeze in place or hesitate.

"Oh, come on!" Tatum’s laughter was infectious. "You’re all matched up. There’s no need to worry about each other. I promise you, after dancing with each other in these classes, you’ll learn so much about your partner."

A gentleman in the back row gave a little groan. "I’m not trying to scare her away!"

Tatum waved away his concern. "The fact that all of you are here to learn together? I think that’s a great sign about all of you. So, let’s continue on."

Less than ten minutes later, Alexander had several realizations. One, he wasn’t actually hopeless at dancing. Two, this kind of class wasn’t what Blair had in mind. She was practically bouncing on her feet, anxious to move things along. The group had spread apart, each couple finding enough room on the floor that they weren’t in danger of bumping into anyone.

"The next step," Tatum announced, "is to reach out and touch your partners!"

A few coughs and more than a few laughs were the response to her words.

"What I mean is that we get to see how amazing everyone is going to be together."

Blair leaned in closer. "Finally!"

Turning to look at her, Alexander shook his head. "What are you talking about?"

Ben waved and Tatum excused herself and crossed over to the other side of the room.

"Well, we’re not going to wait." Picking up his left hand with her right, she lifted it up and took his other hand and put it on her waist. "There." With a sigh, she gave him a bright smile. "Now I can show you what to do."

Looking around the room, Alex hesitated. "I think we should wait."

"We don’t need to." Blair’s tone was insistent. "I know how to do this. I was a debutante, and we all learned a waltz that we performed at the ball. It’s simple."

He smiled at her. "If you know how to waltz, why did you sign us up for this class?"

Leaning closer, Blair looked up at him from under the elegant sweep of her bangs. "Because I wanted to impress you, Alex. We’re always at the same functions. Everything from fundraisers to awards ceremonies and there’s always a band. I’ve never seen you dance. So, I signed us up for the classes thinkingyou’d see how much fun it is and then we can go to the events and dance."

Tilting his head to the side, he looked at her, confused. "I always see you on the dance floor at these events. You don’t need me to dance with you."

She sighed, squeezing his hand that she was holding up by his shoulder. "Hardly anyone our age dances," she explained, "it’s always older men and family friends. The worst are employees trying to get on my good side. I go home most nights with bruises on my feet. I’m pretty sure one of my pinky-toes is mangled from the last awards event I went to and-"

Blair stopped in mid-sentence and he knew why a moment later. His hand that she’d placed at her waist felt the vibrations of her phone.

Alexander felt his shoulders sag and he let go of her hand. "You brought your phone?"

Shrugging, Blair reached into her pocket and pulled out the slim phone and swiped to open the messaging app. "You know that problem last night? Well, they were able to fix most of it, but there were still some things that needed to be wrapped up."

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