“Um, well, not much of anything.”
“Okay, then.”
“We could go for a ride, listen to some music…”
“Sure, that sounds good.”
“What kind of music do you like?”
“Anything I can dance to.”
He handed her his phone, which was paired with the Bluetooth in his Coast Guard SUV. “Lady’s choice.”
Monique scrolled through the music app until she found what she wanted and put on a song he’d never heard before, but the beat had him tapping his fingers on the wheel as he drove toward the bluffs.
“What is this?”
“‘I Don’t Wanna Wait’ by OneRepublic and David Guetta. One of my favorites.”
“I like it.”
“I love to dance. It’s my favorite thing.”
“How do you feel about dancing with someone who’s been told he has two left feet?”
She laughed. “I can work with that. I used to teach dance when I was younger. That was my favorite job ever.”
“Why’d you stop teaching?”
“I needed to pay my bills and get health insurance and other adult things.”
“I hate when that happens.”
“Me, too!”
“It’s never too late to go back to doing what you love, you know.”
“Oh, I don’t know. In my case, it might be. Owning a dance studio won’t set me up for a plush retirement.”
“And you need your retirement to be plush?”
“I don’t want to be working when I’m seventy-five.”
“You should think about it anyway. There used to be a dance studio here when I first arrived. Tiffany Taylor ran it. She closed it down when she opened her Naughty & Nice store, but I think the space is still set up like a studio.”
“And just that quickly, I’m intrigued.”
“Have you met Tiffany?”
“I don’t think so.”
“I could introduce you, if you’d like. You could take a look and see what you think.”
“You’re the devil.”
“Haha. But if you wanted to meet her, I could make that happen. She had her third child today, so it might be a week or two before she’s up for it, but the studio is right at her house.”
“So tempting, but I’m afraid if I even look, I’ll be hooked, and then what do I do?”
