three
As the bride and groom waltzed around the marble floor of the restored Blue Pines courthouse-turned-museum, Candace wondered if they’d even noticed the rest of people in the building. If dancing with your new husband was anything like dancing with Colin, then not only did the newlyweds not see the guests, they had entered their own little world.
Rats. She had only gone two minutes without thinking about him. She needed to put an end to the relationship before he got hurt. She hadn’t intended for things to keep deepening between them. She met him near the end of year nine of her ten-year plan. At some point, she’d decided he would even be her tenth kiss, but she had never acted on the completion of that bucket-list item since the friendship had grown more intense than with any guy she had ever known. Colin had made her question all her teenage assumptions about men and drop that one item from her bucket list. Because of that, she had never even tried to kiss him, or anyone else, since she had gone out with the law student almost a year and a half ago.
Zoe sat down next to Candace as Tessa’s mom and Sean’s grandfather joined the dance. “We’re up next.”
“Speaking of which—how are you getting along with Nick?”
“We’ll survive the day.” Zoe had barely finished the sentence when Nick and the best man joined them.
Candace loved dancing. However, the best man had barely mastered the two-step shuffle. It was a relief when Colin cut in and they could do their own variation of the fox-trot. It had been a pleasant surprise last year at Mandy and Daniel’s wedding, where she had also been the maid of honor, to learn that Colin danced—and not just the standard moves. He danced ballroom, including the cha-cha and tango, and he led with the finesse of Fred Astaire.
“Do you think you can swing in that dress?” Colin spun her out.
“East Coast or West?”
“Texas push.”
Candace took an extra step. “Maybe, but nothing fancy. The skirt is too long for any flips.”
The current song ended. The tempo of the next song was faster. “Did you manage to sneak a salsa beat into their playlist?”
“Maybe.” Candace started the basic step, encouraging Colin.
“You know I need to work on this one.”
“One, two, three, five, six, seven.” She counted out the beats, skipping four and eight, where the dancer’s feet remained in place.
Colin laughed. “Not that much help. Just practice. You should come to Chicago, and we could find a place to dance.”
His neck reddened as it had more often of late. Candace wasn’t sure how to answer. He had been hinting about a date for months, never getting closer than a vague “maybe we could.”
“There is a new studio opening this weekend. Come up next week, and we can try it out.” Colin maneuvered a turn.
Candace spun away from him, not sure how to answer. “I hate crashing at Mandy’s. Maybe some other time.”
“Why crash at the Crawford’s? You can use the VIP apartment Abbie lived in.”
So much for that excuse. “That apartment has eyes in the walls.” The security features had been enhanced during Abbie’s stay, giving new meaning to Big Brother as all four of Abbie’s brothers had taken their turn monitoring their sister’s undercover activities.
“Hastings security removed all of their equipment when Abbie got married. It is back to normal. Just the security pad on the door and standard alarm system. No cameras, no microphones.”
The song ended.
“I’ll check my calendar. Would you mind getting me some water?” Candace sat down at a table, hoping to come up with a way out of going to Chicago. Dancing, yes. Dating, no.
Colin met Nick on a similar errand.
“Ogilvie, I had no idea you could dance like that. Next time I get one of those invitations to be on Dancing with Divas, I’ll refer them to you.”
National television. There could not be a worse nightmare. “Please, no. I only can dance with Candace.”
“Is everything all right?”
This was not the place to explain. “Just tired of the friend zone.”
“Candace?” asked Nick.
Colin accepted two water glasses from the wait staff. “Who else? I was hoping now that she will be roommate-less I could get her to come to Chicago more, but she is more averse to change than anyone I have ever met.”
“I thought Zoe lived with her. Wait—she is the one with the internship, right? Doesn’t Candace have other roommates?”
“Candace hasn’t been replacing her roommates these past few months.”
The waiter handed Nick the lemon water he’d requested. Nick took a napkin as well.
Colin ventured a question to change the subject. “What’s up with you and Zoe? Watching you laugh in the carriage on the way over, I thought you had a connection with her, but she has pulled one of her disappearing acts.”
“You were watching us?”
“Candace was. It looked more than friendly to me.” Surprising was a better word, but he could be wrong.
“I am not sure we are even at friendly. She is keeping to herself.”
“She is a Wilson woman. Runs in the family. Good luck.” Colin raised one of the water glasses before walking in the direction of the tables.
Not sure whether to be buoyed up or downhearted in discovering that Nick also had difficulties with women, Colin took the long way around the room back to Candace. Perhaps he should ask her on a date outright, but it was not anything he had ever done before. Where was one to seek such advice? For the last six months, his usual mode of learning had failed him. The advice he found online was either aimed toward seduction or sounded as if it came out of a cheap romance novel. Unlike programing, there were no reliable message boards with expert advice. Using multiple search engines and query strings hadn’t helped.
How had Daniel, Kyle, Preston, and Sean all managed to get the women they loved to marry them? And in less than six months? There must be some formula he was missing. After all, some of the singles sites claimed to match couples based on algorithms, so there must be a formula for falling in love too.
When he wasn’t dancing, he spent the rest of the reception studying various couples, trying to figure out what elusive concept he’d missed.
After the bouquet and garter toss, he danced the last few dances with Candace, who managed to duck catching the bouquet entirely. As they waltzed along the edge of the floor in the shadows of the room, every once in a while, Colin would notice a couple other than the bride and groom kissing on the dance floor or wandering out of the main gallery. What would Candace do if he tried to kiss her? It hadn’t been the first time he had wondered about the effects of a kiss on their relationship. Frankly, it was impossible to dance the tango with this woman and not wonder. Not that he ever dared find out.
Colin worked to steer Candace toward a column that partially blocked the view of the north alcove from the dance floor. When he was only three yards away, the song ended, and someone took the mike and announced it was time to see the bride and groom off.
“That is me.” Candace gathered her skirts and nodded before crossing the floor.
Colin looked longingly at the column. The entirety of their relationship could be summed in the remaining nine feet. So close . . .
Guests filtered out of the museum after the departure of the bride and groom. The bridesmaids left in the limo headed back to the Blue Pines Inn. Candace and Zoe offered Colin a seat, but he had no desire to be caught in the middle of a bunch of giggling girls.
Nick joined him. “Are you staying at the inn?”
“I didn’t want to stay in the city.” There were not any other options in the tiny town of Blue Pines.
“Come out to the family house with me. There is plenty of room, and the remainder of the wedding party isn’t on the floor above you.”
“That sounds like a deal I can’t pass up.” The women weren’t bad, but they tended to talk too much, and being the only single guy was as awkward as the time he’d impulsively corrected his advanced calculus teacher in front of the class.
Nick pulled out his keys. “My car is around back. Let’s get your things.”
The short drive from the museum to the edge of Blue Pines passed in a blur. Nick barely slowed down as the gate at the end of his drive rolled back to let them enter.
Colin gave a low whistle as Nick rounded the curve of the drive and the nineteenth-century mansion came into view. “My mother would kill for a place like this. She is forever complaining our place is too modern for her.”
“Welcome to the Cottage.” Nick indicated that Colin should leave his suitcase with the butler who greeted them. “He’ll get that up to your room. Do you want the grand tour or the shortest way to my man cave?”
A yawn proceeded Colin’s answer. “I think the man cave sounds good for now.”
“So, how long have you been dating Candace?”
“You mean how long have I been trying to date Candace? That woman has more tricks for keeping a relationship in the friend zone than the Pentagon has to keep hackers out. The Pentagon is easier to hack.”
Nick gave Colin a sideways glance. “I am not sure I want to know about that.”
“I was only twelve. Thanks to Dad’s money, they didn’t make a big deal of the break-in other than making me create a fix for the hack I exposed. Why are women so difficult?”
“I have no idea.” Nick shook his head. He turned the conversation back to Colin. “How long have you been interested in Candace?
“Since I first saw her spiky pink hair on my computer screen over a year ago. 512 days.”
Nick whistled and shook his headt date you?
s Eve and came up s dated like ’know her at all. She doesn’t let them see anything beyond her rotating wig collection before she moves on.
“That explains a lot. I thought I saw her the other day down on the square, but since her hair was different, I thought I was mistaken.”
“My favorite wig she has is this blonde, with green ends. Ombre or something, but it’s soft and sassy just like her. “
“Oh, you have it bad. What are you going to do?”
“I need a new idea. Maybe you can help.” Colin took a breath and dove in. “Nothing is keeping her in Indiana. If I could find a way to get her to come to Chicago, maybe we could spend more time together. When she does come up, we are always with Mandy and Daniel. If she lived there, we could spend more one-on-one time together. From the articles I have read, that is important.”
“You read articles about dating?”
Colin hated the fact that his face heated up. “While you and Daniel were flirting with girls, I was programming. I may have missed out on some social milestones.”
Nick kept a straight face.
Colin defended himself. “They wouldn’t write the articles unless there were other guys like me who needed them.”
“Maybe they are for you. After all, you were the only one without a photo in Forbes last year, and the word most linked with you is reclusive.” This time Nick did laugh.
“On the bright side, I can walk down the street without a bodyguard, especially if I wear my contacts. I don’t think there is a single photo out there of me without a pair of thick glasses.”
“That’s what is different. I don’t think I have seen you without your glasses often.”
“One of the articles said that nerds needed to go for the contacts and improve their image.”
Nick squinted at him. “I don’t think Candace is one of those women who judges much by the cover.”
“I know, but 512 days.” Colin looked at his watch. “Make that 513. I need something to change.” The poor squished game frog had a better chance at crossing the road than he did.
“What does Candace do?”
“She is an amazing artist.”
“Probably can’t try the old hire-her-as-your-secretary routine, then.”
“I’ve thought of hiring her to do a mural in one of my buildings, but she would say it was a pity job. She hasn’t had too many commissions lately.” There was one building that did need a mural, but it was in South Bend, Indiana, closer to Art House than to him.
“I think I have an idea. A couple of years ago I purchased a two-story turn-of-the-century carousel. My thought was to fix it up and donate it to, well . . . that doesn’t matter, but I still have the carousel packed away in a warehouse. It needs a lot of work. If it had the right artist . . .”
“I have a new warehouse—nice and clean, state-of-the-art ventilation. It’s never been used and is just the place to undertake the major refurbishment of an antique.”
“Now if you only knew an artist. Maybe one with spiky pink hair. Then I would be happy to send the carousel out to Chicago and hire her.”
Colin grinned. That might just work. “Nick Do-Gooder Gooding, you are a genius!”
“Now, do you have any ideas about how to break the ice with her cousin?”
“Sorry, but if I come up with anything, I’ll let you know.” Colin yawned. “Do you mind pointing me in the direction of my room?”
The bedroom had enough plugs for all his devices, including USB plugs—not what he expected in an older building. Colin turned Nick’s idea over in his mind. He could offer to put Candace up in one of his apartment buildings, specifically his. Then they could easily spend more real time, not screen time, talking, and then . . . As Colin worked through potential scenarios, the emotional fatigue of keeping his feelings bottled up and from the events of the day kicked in. Even his computers and apps weren’t enough to keep him going. Day 513 ended like it had started, thinking of Candace. He had read that was how you knew you were in love—when you fell asleep and wake up thinking about one person.