Page 3 of Lucky Dance Date
“What were you doing in the bath at this time of day?”
Staying clean?I wanted to ask. But I knew that sarcasm would only make her angrier.
“I just got home and I was sweaty,” I explained, trying to keep my tone neutral.
“What were you doing that left you so sweaty?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I had several classes after school let out.”
She let out a dramatic sigh. “Fine.”
I counted to three in my head while I tried to decide if it was better to be blunt but annoy her, or make the requisite small talk until she got to the point. As much as I didn’t want to be on the phone with her longer than necessary, self-preservation won out.
“How are you and Dad?”
She made a small noise of approval, the only sign that she’d been prepared to scold me for the blunt option. “You father and I are well. The practice is busy and we’re thinking of expanding our office staff.”
Is that why she called, to try to pressure me into working for them?
It seemed too direct, and likely a trap. “Is that so?” I asked. “I bet if you talk to the college you’d get some interviews from those graduating with either office or dental administration degrees.”
She hummed, a bit of annoyance in her tone, but less than I expected. “It is an option worth considering. I’ll speak with your father about it.”
It was obvious that she’d wanted me to jump at the prospect of a ‘respectable’ of a job, but she hadn’t expected it either. A suggestion of where to look had been the safe option.
I decided a change of subject was in order. “You’re still headed to Hawaii for your honeymoon next month, right? Did you need me to watch Eddie for you?”
“Edward,” she huffed. “And no. We’ve got him booked for a stay at his favorite kennel.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “It’s not a problem.”
I knew she’d never let me dogsit Eddie, mostly because she thought that raving about how well the kennel staff cared for him earned her clout in her social circle. As if a bunch of upper-middle-class ladies pretending to have more money than they did actually cared about how much my parents spent on the dog. But it was a safe topic, and she was more likely to get to the point without getting angry if she thought I was behaving.
“I’m sure,” she replied, her tone a bit less snippy. “But I did want to invite you to dinner next week.”
“What’s the occasion?”
“Do you remember our friend Margaret? The one who moved away several years ago?”
“I do.”
“Well her nephew Cameron is moving out here, and she wanted to get together and introduce the two of you. We had a chance to meet him when we visited her last year and he’s a fine alpha.”
I winced. In her mind a fine alpha was the type that would try to knock me up at first sight and insist I stay home to raise the kids rather than perform and teach dance.
“What day?” I asked, walking out to where my calendar hung on the kitchen wall and hoping that I already had plans.
“That’s why I called, to find out when you’re free.”
A stone formed in the pit of my stomach. That meant that there was no way I’d be able to weasel out of the dinner, and also that the pressure would be on for me to date and mate. In their mind I wasn’t capable of making good decisions about alphas, or jobs. So they wanted to pair me with a man they’d already vetted and whom they thought could ‘rein me in’.
How many dinners would I have to endure with this strange alpha—playing nice—before I could convince him that I wasn’t the right omega? I shuddered at the thought.
José was the only alpha I wanted.
Still, I knew better than to upset my parents. Even if I wasn’t reliant on them for support any longer, they had ways to make me miserable.
The last time I’d defied them I’d lost nearly half my students due to rumors my mama had started. It had taken more than a year to recover, and I’d had to live off of credit cards for several months in my refusal to ask them for help.
