Page 73 of Why Not Forever?
There’s a collective sigh of relief from my friends at the table, making me look up.
Spencer leans forward, placing a hand over mine. “We didn’t want you to take over Sterling, Vic. But we also weren’t going to stand in your way if that’s what you wanted to do. You belong here, with us.”
“Are you going to tell Tanner?” Adalie asks.
The question alone makes my heart race with anxiety. “I can’t do that.”
“Why not?” Derek looks entirely perplexed.
“If I tell him I don’t want Sterling, what reason doIhave to stay married to him? The whole point of the marriage is we’re both getting something out of it.”
No one speaks for a moment. They look at each other and I can tell no one understands my point. I take a breath and try again.
“If I don’t want Sterling, the only reason for me to stay married to him is because Iwantto stay married to him.”
“Which you do,” Adalie says slowly.
“Yes.”
She looks more confused than before. “So, what’s the problem?”
“I can’t let himknowI want to stay married to him. Not yet. We just decided we would start dating. I can’t jump right intolet’s stay married forever.”
“Forever?” Spencer says.
Fuck. I hadn’t meant to use the F word. Sure, I had used it hypothetically when we’d been in Whistler, but that was hypothetical. I press my lips together, straightening my shoulders. “I don’t know yet.”
Spencer looks like he’s about to laugh at me, but he holds it in. My unaffected air is lost on all my friends by this point, but on Spencer, especially. You can’t fool a person who has known you since before you knew how to read.
“He’s coming tonight,” I tell them now. “To the dance lesson.”
“You’re going to dance?” Derek asks, his eyebrows shooting up.
“Yes, I am. Now, get back to work.”
Spencer does laugh now as he stands and pats my shoulder before he leads the way out of the meeting room.
It’s hard to concentrate on my tasks for the day as I wait for Tanner to arrive for the dance lesson. I don’t know if I’m more nervous about the fact that I’m going to be dancing in front of a bunch of strangers and could potentially make a gigantic fool of myself, or that this is my and Tanner’s first date away from the solitude of Whistler.
I’ve been working on some spreadsheets, getting ahead on some work, finally focused, when someone comes into my office and sits in the chair on the other side of my desk.
“I made you something,” Tanner says, setting an origami penguin on my desk next to the paper crane.
I look at him, eyebrows raised. “A penguin?”
“Happy Feet.”
I bite my lip to keep from laughing, but he can see the smile I can’t contain.
“Are you ready to learn how to waltz?” he asks, leaning back in his chair.
I pick up the penguin and set it on the edge of my desk so I can bring it home tonight. The frog he gave me before is on the shelf behind me, but I don’t like a cluttered office.
“I guess so. How was work?”
He shrugs. “Another day. Another meeting. Glad the week is over. What time does everything get started?”
I blink at him slowly. “You showed up and didn’t even know what time to be here?”
