Chapter 20
“Zoe, are you okay?” Noella placed her hand on my shoulder and looked into my eyes.
“I’m alright.” I forced a smile. “You keep dancing, I just need some fresh air.”
“Hon, you don’t have to lie to me.” She frowned. “It didn’t work, did it?”
“No.” I sighed. “I just don’t understand it. I can’t get him out of my head, no matter how hard I try. It’s awful.”
“Listen.” She pushed the door open and pulled me outside. “After my divorce, I had a really hard time. I thought about him all the time. I didn’t want to, but I did. I tried everything I could to ignore it, but nothing worked. It just took time.” She met my eyes. “That may be what it takes with Trent.”
“But I don’t want things to end with him. I can’t believe I messed things up so much that he doesn’t even want to be my friend. I came here thinking I had something to be angry about, something to dance off of my mind. But the truth is, I’m not angry.” I looked at her, stunned my own admission. “I’m not angry at all.”
“You just miss him?” She smiled some.
“Yes. If he were here right now, I’d pull him right out onto the dance floor with me. He treated me so coldly, and yet it doesn’t even matter to me. How messed up is that?” I shook my head.
“It’s not messed up, sweetie. It just means that you are in deeper than you know. I don’t know how to tell you this, but what’s between you and Trent might be bigger than both of you.”
“How does that help anything?” I groaned in frustration.
“Listen. The important thing is to repair your friendship with him. Things can happen naturally from there. But you have to give it that chance. Oh! And I forgot to tell you that Sammy is going to be in town this weekend. She’s accepting an award and she’s invited us to attend. Unfortunately I can’t go. I have some commitments with the boys. Hanna is going to try, but she’s not feeling great. You may be the only one that’s able to attend. Dawn and Garrett are busy, and obviously Blu is in New York. Do you think you’ll be able to make it? She has a few extra tickets.”
“Absolutely I’ll make it.” I grinned. “I’ll call her tonight. A good dose of Samantha is exactly what I need.”
“Great. I know she’ll love to see you.” She slung her arm around my shoulders as we walked toward the parking lot. “I want to thank you for tonight.”
“Thank me? Why? I’m a mess.” I frowned as we reached the car.
“No, you introduced me to a part of myself that I don’t think I’ve ever met.” She laughed. “I danced with more men tonight than I think I have in my entire life, and I loved every minute of it. Most of them didn’t even introduce themselves, and I was okay with that. It was just fun, no strings attached, no pressure to do more than what I’m comfortable with, no need to exchange phone numbers. Just fun.”
“I’m glad you had a good time.” I smiled at her as we got into the car. “I really am.”
“I wish you’d had some fun too.” She studied me for a moment. “I know that you think everything is going badly right now, but try to keep your mind on the positive. You still have your business and the best group of friends ever. Of course I could be a little biased about that last part.”
“I do have the best friends ever.” I leaned over to hug her. “I’m okay. And you’re right about Trent. I need to focus on our friendship instead of trying to force something that clearly isn’t going to happen.”
“I don’t think that’s exactly what I said.” She raised an eyebrow. “But your friendship is a great place to start.”
After I dropped Noella off at home, I drove around for a little while. I thought about my business and how I’d been feeling a little pressured by it lately. I loved my business, I really did. I couldn’t think of anything I’d rather do for a living, but somewhere along the way it had become a bit more of a burden than I’d expected. Maybe I was distracting myself from that by creating this silly crush on Trent.
When I arrived home, I sent an e-mail to Samantha. I figured that it was too late for us to talk, but I requested one of the tickets. A few minutes later my phone rang.
“Hello?” I smiled. “What are you doing up so late?”
“I’m just working on my speech for the ceremony. I’m so happy you can come. I thought maybe you should invite Trent.”
“Trent?” My throat grew dry at the mention of him.
“Sure, you said he was a fan, right? Plus it’ll give me a chance to meet him and get a good read on him. I want to know what this guy is really like and if he’s good enough to be hanging around you.”
“Hm…I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that. He’s not that interested in being around me.”
“I doubt that. So should I reserve two tickets for you?”
I started to say no, then decided against it. If I was going to rebuild my friendship with Trent, this might be the perfect way to start.