Page 56 of Dancing in the Rain

Nik picked her up and they met the group at Au Bar, an upscale Gold Coast bar and restaurant with black-and white-checkered floors and lots of wood and brass. Her friends all greeted her with hugs: Victoria, with whom she’d gone to high school, and her fiancée Katerina; Hannah and Aidan, whom Peyton had met in college; and Jax, whom she’d worked with at Campbell and Partners when she started her career. Jax was a geeky tech expert who’d developed an amazing integrated platform that gave real-time access to all social insights like demographics, geolocation, influence, in-depth sentiment, and topic categorization. Aidan was an attorney with a high-powered law firm in the city, Victoria now taught second grade, and Hannah was on her sixth job since college, now working in marketing.

“So sorry to hear about Sara,” Victoria said, catching Peyton’s hand and squeezing it. “It’s just awful.”

“It is.” She gave them a brief update about her sister, though she didn’t want to dwell on that all night. “But I want to hear about you guys. What’s new?”

Jax was bored at Campbell and Partners. He’d started there about a year before she had and they’d bonded over a shared sense of humor and work ethic. Despite having lunches and happy hour drinks together during the years they’d worked at the same place, she’d never been attracted to Jax as more than a friend. They could talk for hours about work and she’d even given him dating advice a time or two.

Aidan was stressed and near burnout at his law firm. “Thought I wanted to work for one of the biggest firms in the city,” he said, looking down at his drink. “And everyone said there’d be pressure working in that kind of environment. Idiot that I was, I figured I could deal with pressure. Hell, I like pressure. I always did my best work under pressure in college. But it’s fucking getting to me.”

He, Hannah, and Peyton had met in their freshman year of college in psychology class. Peyton had been attracted to him at first, with his clean-cut good looks and athletic body, but he’d had a long-term girlfriend then, so she’d abandoned any thoughts of being more than friends with him. And theyhadbecome good friends. She hated seeing him look so miserable.

“The client is everything,” he continued. “I get paid to resolve conflict, usually between two acrimonious and irrational sides. These conflicts are never happy things. I only get involved after things have gone horribly wrong.”

“Sounds like my job.” Peyton smiled.

“But you get some satisfaction out of making things better. Most of the time I’m just making things even worse…Protracted, expensive lawsuits just drag things out and make people even more miserable.”

Victoria was full of wedding plans and Hannah was thinking of quitting her latest job and going back to school. Peyton had lost track of how many jobs Hannah’d held. She’d graduated with a marketing degree but had never seemed to find something she loved enough to stick with.

“What’s wrong with this job?” Aidan asked teasingly. “Not enough time off?”

She frowned at him. “That’s not it. I can work hard, if it’s something I care about. It’s just so…pointless.” She sighed. “I work for a company that makes boxes.”

Peyton grinned. “They’re a huge company.”

“Lots of opportunity for advancement,” Aidan added. “Wasn’t that why you took the job there?”

“Yes. And the pay is good. “But…” Hannah shook her head. “It doesn’t feel like I’m doing much to make the world a better place.”

“Ah.” Peyton nodded. “You need something more connected with your values.”

“Yes.” Hannah glumly stirred her cocktail. “I just haven’t found that place yet.”

They ordered cocktails and a bunch of plates to share—sliders and shrimp cocktails and a meat and cheese platter. Conversation flowed, laughter relaxed everyone, and Peyton was glad she’d made herself come out. Keeping friendships took work and it was easy to let things slide in the business of life, especially being so consumed with Sara, but it was important to have those connections. To have a little fun, even though life was crap.

Kind of like dancing in the rain.

—

Drew dragged himself out of bed early Monday morning. He was actually a morning person, but his routine recently had been going out drinking, picking up women, and staying out late. With no reason to get up in the morning, he’d taken to sleeping in however long he wanted before getting up and trying to fill his day.

Today he had a reason to get up. He had to get over to the Watt household and make sure Chloe was up and ready for school.

A fast shower, a stop at Starbucks for a venti Americano, and a short drive later, he was there. Peyton had given him a key yesterday when he’d come by for some last-minute instructions, and he used it to let himself in to the quiet house. That now-familiar scent of raspberry lemonade greeted him.

He passed by the den and peeked in the open door. Sara was sleeping in the dark room. The hospice worker would be there soon to give Sara her morning meds, get her showered and dressed, and hopefully get some breakfast in her.

He jogged up the stairs and knocked on Chloe’s door. “Yo, Chloe, you up?”

The door opened immediately. She wore a pair of shorts and matching tank top, white with a blue duck pattern. Her long hair would have made a comfortable home for a family of sparrows. She scowled. “No, I’m still in bed.”

“Smart-ass.”

She rolled her eyes. “I’m just getting dressed.”

“Okay. I’ll make your breakfast.”

He headed back down. Peyton had showed him around the kitchen. Chloe apparently liked instant oatmeal with blueberries on top and orange juice. He microwaved the cereal and poured her juice while sipping his coffee. Just as she arrived to climb onto a stool at the counter, the doorbell rang.

---