As the day retired, and sun began to set, Heather closed up the Barre and Tap for the night and made her way around the building to her upstairs apartment. She tossed her bag by the door, and collapsed on the couch, ready to put the awful day behind her. No evening classes were on the schedule, so she could cuddle up with a tub of ice cream for dinner and sappy movies so she could drown in the tears that had been threatening all day.
To her surprise, classes were pretty much in full attendance, despite the town notice Nora sent out via Facebook. She did, however, notice a few stink eyes from the mom bench, even some from the married ones. What was that all about? This was just several shakes of salt on the proverbial wound. New York over, love life over, stuck in a dead end small town, and now the talk of such. Awesome. She was going to need a bigger spoon.
Ice cream in hand, she wandered back to the living room where she planned to hug a blanket and pretend she was anywhere else in the world. As soon as her ass hit the couch, a knock at the door startled her right back to her feet. She wasn’t expecting anyone. The only one that ever stopped to visit was Sara, and she had just said goodnight to her moments before at the dance studio.
A second knock convinced her it was someone she knew, so she answered – instantly regretting that she did. Clay Walker was standing there, take out bags in one hand, and flowers in the other. What the hell was this? She aggressively grabbed him by the front of his shirt and briskly yanked him inside before poking her head out the door, looking around for lookyloo’s – namely Nora Kinkaid.
“What the hell, Clay? What are you doing here?” she asked, her tone a little harsher than she intended.
“I uh, saw the Facebook thing. I wanted to see if you were okay, and apologize.” He was nervous and she could hear it in his voice.
“Why would you need to apologize? You had nothing to do with….wait, or did you?”
“No, No…promise. I was as surprised as you,” he defended. “Besides, how could I take the pic if I was…you know…in the pic?”
“Good point. So what’s all this?” she questioned, pointing to his hands full of stuff.
“Oh! Well, I thought maybe we should talk. I wanted to make sure you were okay, and thought maybe food would help?” A sheepish grin crossed his face, his sincerity working overtime on her hard edges.
“And the flowers? We going to eat those too?” Crossing her arms, her eyes narrowed, waiting to see just how far he was going to take this.
“Oh, those are just because. They were bright, and pretty…made me think of…you. I mean…who doesn’t like flowers?” Clay handed her the flowers, his eyes were locked on hers, and his words felt sentimental.
“Good point. I mean about liking flowers, not the other part.” She was beginning to soften, against her better judgement. Something about this man was trumping her anti man and relationship convictions.
“I wasn’t sure what you liked so I stopped at the Sweet and Savory and got a little of everything.” He started sifting through the two bags hanging from his other arm. “I have a veggie soup, Panini, some pasta salad thing, and of course dessert.”
“Dessert?” she asked, looking at the tub of ice cream she was still holding. “What kind of…dessert?”
“Cheesecake, brownies, and these stuffed croissant things Lexi insisted on.”
Heather grabbed the bag he was digging through, assuming it was the dessert bag. “Sit. I’ll grab another spoon, and some forks.”
“Spoons and forks?” he questioned in amusement.
“Well, yeah. You have some spoon food and fork food…we need both.” He chuckled at her reasoning, and appreciated the sassy sway she added to her hips, as she walked to the kitchen.
She returned from the kitchen, utensils in hand, sans ice cream – it seemed that she traded the ice cream in for whatever he had in the bag. Nodding to the couch, he took her cue and sat. Though it probably should have felt awkward, the silence between them, it didn’t. She helped him pull each container from the bags, and set every one up on the coffee table before them like their own little indoor picnic.
“So…” he said, in between bites, “should we talk about this?”
“About what?” Her elusiveness was just deflection – she knew exactly what he was talking about.
“Nora…what she said. I don’t know about you, but it definitely had an impact on my day. I wanted to be sure it didn’t interfere with yours. She had no right…” his words trailed off as he tried to gauge her position and what he should say next.
“You’re right, she didn’t, but she did, so… It really wasn’t a big deal. I got a few side eye glances and glares from dance moms, but that’s about it. Didn’t bother me.” Giving up on the real food, she shifted her focus to the desert boxes, a clear sign that it did indeed bother her.
“And that’s why you just crumbled brownie all over your cheesecake? Because it didn’t bother you?”
She looked at the mess she had made in the cheesecake container, then to him. “Sorry, it’s just better this way.”
He laughed at the innocence in her tone after being busted for hijacking both desserts and destroying them.
Responding to his raised eyebrow, she scooted closer to him on the couch and stretched the container out in front of her. “Here, you eat out of this side. We’ll come back to that salad later.”
He indulged, taking a bite and immediately letting out a satisfied sigh. She was right, it was better, but he couldn’t be certain if it was the brownie or her that made it so. They sat in silence, taking turns with the dessert, each taking the occasional glance at the other.
There was something sweet between them. No conversation to engage in, but still pleasant, and natural. Clay wondered what, if anything, that meant. It was easy, enjoyable, even satisfying. Either Heather was as easy going as they came, or she was just really hungry. Perhaps both.
“So, you really okay with this?” he asked, breaking their long silence.
“I mean, yeah. I don’t know what not being okay with it would accomplish. What’s done is done. We were caught, that’s what we get.” Her reply was matter-of-fact and to the point with an unruffled shoulder shrug.
“What we get? Like this is punishment? You know we did nothing wrong, right? We are two adults, of sound mind, capable of…adulting. Nora isn’t the town mom. She needs to just keep her nose out of everyone’s business.”
“Adulting? Is that what we did?” she grinned, enjoying his adorable rant. “It may be okay, but hookups aren’t typically considered endearing, so I get it.”
“Heather…it wasn’t just a hookup.” His eyes were fixed on hers as he searched for the right words to assure her without scaring her away. “You aren’t a hookup kind of girl. You’re better than that. Deserve better than that.”
“Really? You’ve known me five minutes and you’re so sure about what kind of girl I am and what I deserve?” Her tone was more sarcastic than defensive, maybe even amused. “Is this another one of your attempts at a pick-up line? Because if it is, I’d have to say you’re zero for two, Doc.”
She shot him a sly grin and mischievous wink before slowly licking her spoon clean in a seductive manner, then her full lips. Was she flirting? Was his attempt to make amends about to earn him a second act?
“Well, is it working? Because I was trying to fix what happened, but if…” his words were cut short when she quickly straddled his lap, taking his mouth hard.
Happy to indulge, he replied with roaming hands and gave her all that she asked for, meeting her every move and stroke of her tongue with his own.
“Maybe…” she said breathless, “we should try it again. Really give the town something to talk about.”
“Is Nora in your closet over there? How is the town going to know…you know?”
“Shut up, Doc, and kiss me.”
So he did. He kissed her and kissed her, amongst other things, eventually picking her up and carrying her to the bed at the other end of her loft apartment. Whereas the night before was edgy, primal, and raw, this night it was soft, sweet, and sensual. They took their time, each giving and receiving equally.
As the early evening fell to night, Heather and the good doctor found themselves back on the couch, where they had been a number of hours, talking about everything and nothing. Something some might consider more intimate than the deed they had done just before. It was genuine, sincere, and sweet.
“I better get going,” Clay said, checking his watch, “early morning with the kids at the clinic.”
A shy smile greeted him, as she teased back, “Funny, me too, only mine will be dancing, not coughing.”
“Are you sure about that? Mine cough because they were around other coughers…maybe at your studio.”
“Hey, thanks for the food, it was very thoughtful. I enjoyed…your company.” Her cheeks went crimson, as did his, her reference to company, made clear.
“Of course. It was my pleasure, you’re good company to keep.” He hadn’t realized the power of those words, one word in particular; keep, until it fell from his lips. Keep seemed simple, innocent, but in this situation it was anything but, and he saw those walls that he had been chiseling away at, go right back up.
“Uh, Clay. I had a good time, really, you’re a sweet guy, but…”
“But you aren’t available, relationships aren’t for you, and men are off limits? Did I get it all?” His chuckle was slightly sarcastic and really just a way to guard his own emotions.
“I’m sorry…” Sorry was all that she could say. There really weren’t any other words for what she was feeling. In a perfect world, with perfect circumstances, and perfect outcomes…Clay would be the kind of guy she would want to have dessert with…often. But, her luck had been anything but good when it came to relationships, and she had learned her lesson. Hard.
“It’s fine. We talked about this already. I get it…it really was nice though. I mean that.” He had made his way out the front door and stopped just outside on the landing at the top of the stairs to her apartment.
A quick smile and wink were tossed her way, before he leaned in for a sweet kiss, and said, “Have a good night, twinkle toes.”
She watched him walk down the steps, and disappear around the corner, while holding her hands to her lips. Twinkle toes, silly, but sweet, and she actually liked it. Her heart ached a bit in that moment, ached for him. She only wished she could throw caution to the wind, take a chance, and see where things led with the good doctor.
It was odd to her that she could feel so drawn to someone she had only just met, and consider letting her guard down just one more time to see where the journey took her. As she stood there, in small town USA, alone, she was quickly reminded why she couldn’t. Men were something she just wasn’t good at, and St. Helena wasn’t her forever.
Good sex and cheesecake…the day didn’t end nearly as shitty as it had started.