Page 8 of Dance With Me
He got out of the car and walked to the front door and turned back to wave as Joe drove away. He put his key in the lock and banged his head against the door. What the fuck was he doing? Falling for the straight guy never ended well.
As he stepped through the open door, Rocco trotted over as usual and sat in front of him expectantly.
“What am I going to do, buddy? This guy’s everything I’m looking for, and I swear he’s interested. I’ve seen it in his eyes.” He bent down to stroke Rocco. “Remain professional. That’s what I need to do. Concentrate on the dance, not the man.”
Rocco looked at him with what appeared to be understanding, tilting his head to the side. Sometimes Seb would swear Rocco really did know what he was saying.
“Come on, let’s go for a walk.” Seb stood up, grabbed his collar and lead, and headed down to the river bank for a long walk and a think.
Chapter Five
Joe
When Joe arrived home that afternoon, Clare was sitting on the sofa in the lounge, arms crossed, waiting for him. She looked furious, eyes blazing. She had her legs crossed, and her foot bounced up and down in annoyance.
“Where the hell have you been all day? There was a wedding fayre I wanted to go to today. Ithoughtyou were coming with me.” Yep, well and truly pissed off.
“Why didn’t you call or message me?” Joe asked. He cringed internally, knowing she had, and he’d ignored them, not wanting his outing with Seb to end. He’d had such a good time, drinking coffee, eating lunch, and basking in Seb’s undivided attention.
“I did, but you didn’t reply. I’m fucking annoyed with you, Joe. Not only did you walk out on me this morning, but then you ignored all my calls and texts.”
He winced at her words. He couldn’t really blame her for her mood. He should have come home earlier.
Joe got out his phone to see how many calls and text messages he’d actually missed. Wow, there were a lot. What could he say, though? He couldn’t exactly tell her where he’d been. That would not go down well.
“I had the phone on silent and only just checked it. I’m sorry, I should have kept in touch, but I drove to the beach. I needed some sea air. My headache just wouldn’t clear.”
Clare looked sceptical, and he wasn’t sure she believed him. He wouldn’t have believed him, either.
“Is it too late to go now?” he asked. “It’s only three thirty.” He thought if they could at least go for a couple of hours, she might be happier.
“Well, I suppose if we went now, we could have a couple of hours there. It doesn’t close until six.” She got up from the sofa. “I’ll get my bag.” She stormed upstairs, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
Happy to have hopefully avoided a confrontation, Joe went back out to the car to wait for her. As he sat, he thought about his afternoon with Seb. He’d really enjoyed spending time with him, just talking. Laughing about his ineptitude at dancing and just generally having a great time. He couldn’t remember when he’d last had such a carefree day.
Clare got in the car, and he cringed as she slammed the door, clearly still not happy. She refused to speak to him all the way there, resisting all his attempts to start a conversation. When they got to the fayre, he followed her as she wandered around. This wasnothis idea of fun.
The cake had already been sorted, the dresses and suits and the flowers too, so they only needed to look for a car and the wedding favours.
Joe was thoroughly bored until he spotted a beautiful 1930s style Jaguar Coupe in navy and white. It was superb but, unfortunately, wasn’t available for their wedding date. He would have paid over the odds to secure that beauty, but as the wedding was only eleven weeks away, the only car they could get was a white Mercedes. He was happy enough with it, but Clare made her dissatisfaction known. At least the car was another thing they could tick off the list.
Eventually, the fayre closed, and Joe decided to take Clare for a meal to try to make up for the upset he’d caused earlier. He did feel bad about it even though he’d been enjoying himself, so he took her to their favourite Italian restaurant. Clare seemed to have forgotten her previous annoyance with him and was talking non-stop about the wedding, what they still needed to do, how much time they had left, and eventually, the conversation turned to the dance.
“Do you think you’ll be able to do it?” Clare asked as she sipped her wine.
“The dance?” Joe frowned at the question. “I certainly hope so. We have a few weeks yet, and we’ve only just started learning it. I’m sure I can make it look at least part-way decent. Seb seems like he knows his stuff.” He did not want to discuss Seb with Clare.
“He does, doesn’t he?” She sat for a while, a thoughtful look on her face. “Did you know he was gay?”
Wow, where did that come from? Joe really didn’t know why this mattered. Clare knew he was bisexual, but it had never been an issue for her, so why she seemed bothered by Seb’s sexuality puzzled him.
“I didn’t know, no, but why does it matter? As long as he can teach us the dance, I don’t see a problem.” He took a sip of water, not quite sure where she was going with this. Joe hadn’t known for certain that Seb was gay, but he’d suspected. Either way, it wasn’t a problem for him, far from it, if he was honest.
“I just wondered, that’s all.” Clare looked away from him and gazed off into the distance. Something was on her mind, but Joe couldn’t work out what.
“Look, I don’t have anything against Seb being gay, the same way I hope you don’t have an issue with me being bisexual. At the end of the day, Clare, I’m marrying you, so I think you know where my heart lies.” Honestly, he was getting a little annoyed at her attitude. She’d never brought this up before, so why now?
“I know, I know. I just sometimes get insecure knowing that you could fall for a man at any time—like I won’t be good enough. The dating pool has always been bigger for you, and Seb is a good-looking guy.” She still wouldn’t look at him but played with the stem of her wine glass as she spoke, swirling the deep red wine within.
