Page 41 of Dance With Me
“Anyway, how was your date last night?” he asked with a smirk on his face.
Hayden took the chair opposite Seb.
“A date, you say? Who was the lucky guy?”
“It wasn’t a date, Dom, and you know it,” Seb said indignantly.
“Then what would you call it? Tell us what happened, and we’ll decide whether it was a date or not.” Dom turned to Hayden. “He was out with Joe.”
Hayden’s eyebrows rose. “How interesting? Please enlighten us.” They both smiled knowingly at Seb.
Seb related the events of the previous night. The drive to the beach, playing with Rocco, the walk along the seafront and the chips and finally, the journey home.
When he’d finished with it all, Hayden and Dom looked at each other meaningfully. “Definitely a date.”
Seb rolled his eyes. “So not a date.”
“OK, answer me this then. If Joe, Mr McHotty Pants, was single and had asked you to go to the beach with him and sit on the front and eat fish and chips with him, would you have called it a date?”
Hayden sat nodding, looking between Seb and Dom. “It was a date.”
“It wasn’t a fucking date, and there’s not likely to be another. I’m done with it. You were right, Dom. I can’t put my heart on the line. I’ll only get hurt when the inevitable happens. Let’s just go away, the three of us, like we said yesterday.
“Joe will be happily married, Stalker Guy will have given up, and we’ll be in some far-flung country where there’s lots of sun, sex and more sex.”
“I can get on board with that,” said Hayden. “When do we leave?”
“We’ll give it four weeks. By then, I won’t be teaching Joe and Clare anymore and the kids will have finished for the summer. That gives you a month to find someone to cover the coffee shop for you. Think you can do it?”
“Definitely. What do you say, Dom?”
Dom looked sheepish. “Well, I could probably do it, but I’m not making any promises.”
“What the hell, Dom? You were up for it yesterday. What changed?” Seb asked, looking annoyed.
“Nothing, nothing. I just might have something else coming up. That’s all.” He looked away, refusing to meet Seb’s eyes.
“Anyway, what are you going to do about Joe?” Dom asked.
“Absolutely nothing. What is there to be done? I just know that I’m done.”
“Done with what?” asked a familiar voice from the door.
Three heads turned to find Joe standing in the doorway.
“Hi, I thought I might find you here. Saw your car outside, but the studio was locked. Can we talk, Seb?”
Dom picked up Rocco’s lead. “I’ll take him next door. See you in a while.” He patted Seb on the shoulder as he left.
Hayden stood up too. “I’ve got muffins to bake. Can I get you a coffee, Joe?”
“I’m good, thanks. I just need to speak to Seb for a moment, then I need to get back to work.”
Seb looked at Joe, his eyes questioning. “What are you doing here?”
“It might be me, but I thought things ended a bit weird last night. I wasn’t sure you’d answer the phone if I rang, so I did the next best thing and came to see you. I hope that was OK. You seemed upset, and I didn’t know if I’d done or said something to you.”
Seb was torn between telling him to go or waiting to see what he had to say.
