Page 30 of Austen Persuaded

I exhaled slowly. “Oh, did she … did you …”Just ask him already.“Did she ask about me?”

“Ah, not that I remember. She seemed distracted, like she was looking for someone but nervous? I don’t know. It was quick.” Rainn shrugged and took a sip of water. “No big deal, just wanted to let you know. It wasn’t weird or anything.”

It sounded as though Viviana had been alone at the race, which was odd. She always ran with her best friend, Jack. I wondered if there was a story there.

“Back to Kylan, we don’t know how long he’s in town, do we? A bike ride in the park suggests an extended stay,” Rainn said.

I frowned. I’d started to fear this too. What was he doing in the Twin Cities anyway?

No, it doesn’t matter.

I don’t need—or want—to know.

He just needs to wrap it up and go home, so I can go back to living my life pretending like … like I didn’t meet the love of my life four years ago and then push him away, forever.

Chapter 8

Smiling dreamily, I savored my second bite of the crab cake in front of me.

“Divine?” Joel asked.

“It’s … almost beyond words,” I said breathily. The crab cake was rich and buttery, with a lemony zing and just a whisper of crispness around the edges, with the aioli adding a creamy, tangy kick that perfectly balanced the flavors. “My favorite appetizer has never tasted so good. And you know I love aioli. Rafael, why haven’t you taken me here before? Such a tiny place, I’ve probably driven by hundreds of times before and not noticed it.”

“I didn’t know it existed until recently.”

“Well, thanks for taking me out to lunch, guys. This is already a thousand times better than the plain sandwich I would’ve eaten at home.”

We ate in silence for a few minutes, and then Joel spoke up. “So, Annie, what are you up to this week? Free as a bird, must be nice, eh?”

I inhaled softly. “I hadn’t thought of it that way. I don’t really know what I’m going to do this week … or any week, for that matter. Noplans.” I stuffed the rest of the crab cake in my mouth and closed my eyes to savor it.

At least he waited until I’d finished my last bite. “Have you given any more thought to my offer to teach part time?”

I licked my lips and then smiled as I saw the server approaching with our entrees already. After the food was arranged in front of us, I looked at him thoughtfully before picking up my utensils and diving into my stir-fry. “Not really.” After a few bites, I exclaimed, “OK, this dish is amazing too. Please take me out to lunch every day.”

Joel smiled. “It is delicious. But you should really consider his offer, Annie. I’ve seen you dance ballet, and Raf tells me you’ve done contemporary too. In my professional opinion, you’re phenomenal, for someone who doesn’t train regularly.”

That gave me pause. Hewasa professional. He was also my friend—well, my best friend’s fiancé to be specific—but also a very talented professional. He knew dance talent when he saw it. I’d always felt like a natural on the stage, though pursuing it as a career had never interested me. Still, I had nothing else going on right now. “Oh, what the heck. Sure, I’ll teach your little dancers, Rafael. Temporarily.”

Rafael’s face lit up as he literally squealed and bounced out of his chair. “Yay, I’m so glad. The kids are going toloveyou. Or hate you, but sometimes that’s a good thing in a dance teacher,” he said with a laugh. “But actually, I can arrange it so you have some teen and adult classes too, not just little kids.”

“Sure, I’m open to whatever. I’ve never been good at tap or hip-hop though. I can handle ballet or maybe contemporary. Possibly jazz if you’re in a pinch.”

“Let’s go over the schedules this afternoon and figure out what classes would work best. The other two teachers have some flexibility and probably wouldn’t hate us too much if I shuffled some classes around. Are you around this afternoon?” Rafael asked. “Wait, what am I saying? Of course you’re around. You have literally nothing to do.”

I opened my mouth to utter a sarcastic retort and then laughed instead. “You’re right.”

As we continued to eat and the two lovers began discussing wedding ideas, my mind began to drift. I was kind of excited to actually get paid to teach dance, just for fun for a while, though it wasn’t my true calling. But what was? I needed to keep thinking about what I truly wanted. I had no idea.

“Annie, are you listening?”

I jolted, looking at the two men. “I, uh, sorry. Daydreaming. What’s up?”

“We were just discussing the wedding. Big, flashy wedding, small cozy one, or elope. What do you think?”

“Uh, I really can’t make that kind of decision for you. What are you leaning toward?”

Rafael looked exasperated. “We just finished talking about that. You didn’t hear any of it?”

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