Page 53 of Dancing in the Rain

“Thanks.”

His big presence and energy field made her skin tingle. His arm brushed hers and she resisted the urge to lean over and rub herself against him. God. What was wrong with her?

“You’re welcome.” He looked around the studio. “Nice place.”

“It’s a good studio. The owner is a friend of Sara’s, actually. She danced professionally for a few years but she discovered she really loves teaching. Now she has a bunch of teachers working for her.”

“Cool.”

“This is only the third class this year, so we won’t see them do much, I think.”

They watched Chloe talking and laughing with a couple of other girls, hanging on to the barre that lined the wall. Then everyone moved into a row and the music of Nicki Minaj was audible from inside the studio.

Drew frowned. “Those moves look awfully grown-up.”

Peyton smiled and sipped her tea. “Uh-oh. Protective dad alert.”

“I’m just saying…they’re kids.”

She nudged him with her elbow. “It’s just dancing. Come on, watch her. She’s good.”

After a moment he said, “She is.”

They watched in silence for a while. Then Drew said, “Did you talk to your boss?”

“Yes, I did.” She hesitated. “I’ve scheduled the client meeting for Monday morning. While I’m there, I’ll meet with my team and also with some of the other departments that work on my projects and get as much done as I can that day. I can fly to New York Sunday night and be back Monday night, late.” She caught her bottom lip between her teeth briefly. “If you’re still willing to help, that would be awesome.”

“Of course I will. Just tell me what I need to do.”

“I’m going to talk to the hospice worker about coming that day to help Sara. But if you could make Chloe’s breakfast and get her off to school, that would be great. I can write down times and stuff. I’ll make her lunch. She gets home from school around four. It’s okay if you’re not there, but could you help her get something ready for dinner and see if Sara will eat?”

“Sure.”

“Then make sure she does her homework.”

“Do you want me to stay until you get back?”

“Um, sure.”

“Okay. It’s all good.”

“Thank you. You really don’t mind?”

He turned and leveled a steady gaze on her. “Peyton. I don’t mind.”

She held his gaze and nodded. They turned back to watching Chloe.

“How did you get into reputation management?”

She smiled. “My degree is in public relations. I developed an interest in reputation management and got hired by a small firm here in Chicago. I took an entry-level position there and my plan was to get some experience and hopefully move up or move to a bigger firm that hires more high-profile clients.”

“What do you love about it?”

“I love the tech parts of it—searching out things and finding ways to either minimize them or emphasize them, depending on the client’s goals. And I love solving problems for my clients, whether it’s an individual who posted something stupid on Facebook and now it’s come back to haunt him, or a company whose reputation has been tarnished because of something they did. I’m good at solving problems.”

“I can see that.”

She flashed him a quick smile. “I worked my way up at that company, and then I got headhunted by Sentinel and they convinced me to move to New York.”

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