Page 31 of Dancing in the Rain

His gaze drifted away and across the patio. He said nothing.

She shifted in her chair and sank her teeth briefly into her bottom lip. Had she made him that uncomfortable?

“Okay, I’ll tell you about me,” she said. “I live in Chelsea, in Manhattan, in a tiny, expensive apartment. I don’t have any really good friends in New York…some friends I go out with on weekends. My best friend from childhood still lives here in Chicago and we’re getting together this weekend.”

“No husband or boyfriend?”

“No. I date, but it’s mostly just for companionship. I’m a bit of a workaholic.”

“Workaholic, huh.”

“Yes. It’s kind of funny. When Sara and I were kids, she was the overachiever who was always studying. I was kind of into boys and parties.” She made a face. “But when she started her career, she changed…no,shedidn’t change. She just changed her priorities, I guess. She still wanted to succeed, obviously, but Chloe was the most important thing to her. She left a high-powered law firm to take a job as a corporate counsel.”

Peyton hadn’t totally understood Sara’s change of heart when it came to her career. Although Peyton had liked to have fun in her teenage years, they’d both had firm plans for their future, including college degrees and successful careers. But Sara had a child, and Peyton didn’t. Peyton never planned to have a family. She wasn’t going to be one of those women who tried to balance work and life and had to compromise on both. She’d be there to give her all to her career.

“Yeah, she mentioned that.”

“And I ended up the workaholic.” She looked down and straightened the knife in front of her. “I hope I can put Chloe first.”

“You will.”

“I don’t have time for a lot of hobbies,” she continued so as not to get bogged down with emotion again. “But I run a few times a week, and I belong to a wine-tasting club that gets together once a month.”

“Wine.”

“Yes.”

“You like red or white?”

“I like both.”

“Thought maybe you were a teetotaler.”

She grinned. “Did I sound all judgy about the booze?”

“Yeah.”

“Sorry. I like my wine, believe me. But I’m a responsible drinker.”

Drew grimaced. “Shot received.”

She smiled at him. He wasn’t stupid, anyway. “Okay, now you.”

“Okay.” He drew in a breath. “Outside of hockey and my hockey buddies, I don’t have much going on. I used to work out a lot but I haven’t been lately. I like golfing, so I’ve been doing that. I spent some time at home this summer with my parents. I do a kids’ hockey camp there every year, and my knee was good enough to be able to do that. I hung out with my friend Dougie and his wife and kids at their summer place. They have a boat and we did some water-skiing and fishing. Swimming. I…work with Paterson House.” He paused. “Except I haven’t done much recently.”

“Tell me about Paterson House.”

“It’s a youth center that encourages kids to get involved with sports. Kids who wouldn’t be able to afford it. I’ve done some fund-raising events for them and I used to go hang out and skate with the kids when I could.”

Her heart softened in her chest as he talked about working with kids at Paterson House and his hockey camp.This. This was what she wanted to know about him, things that made him a good man, a man good enough to be Chloe’s dad.

“You and your wife never had kids,” she commented.

“Nope. We bought that house last year because I thought maybe we would, but…well, things didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Hey, don’t be sorry. It’s probably for the best. Come to think of it, you and I might be kind of the same. I was pretty focused on hockey, hockey, hockey. If I wasn’t playing, I was practicing or working out, and we were away on road trips a lot. Christy had to make her own life, and when I retired, I discovered it didn’t include me.”

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