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“I can’t,” he said, and added quickly, “I mean, I like it here.”
I didn’t miss the sudden tensing of his shoulders. Nibbling my lower lip, I peeked at him again. “You can’t?”
He didn’t say anything as he reached forward, turning the station back to country music. Someone started singing about a tear in their beer, but I was hardly paying attention. What could he have meant by him not being able to leave? Nothing was holding him here. He seriously could go anywhere, especially if he did get in with the Department of Interior.
Running a hand through his messy mop of hair, he glanced over at me. “What about you?”
“Me?” He was so trying to change the subject.
“Yeah. You. Are you going to stay around here?” The derision in his voice caused me to stiffen. “Teaching?”
Indignation rose at his tone. “What is that supposed to mean?”
He laughed, but for some reason, it sounded dry and harsh. “Come on, Tess, teaching a bunch of elementary-school kids? Seriously?”
Twisting toward him, I crossed my arms. “Okay. I don’t get it. You acted like teaching was a good idea and I—”
“It is a good idea, but it’s not . . .”
“What?” I demanded, getting all kinds of defensive. “It’s not what?”
“You.” He glanced at me as he turned right onto Queen Street. “It’s not you.”
I stared at him and then barked out a laugh. “That’s dumb. How do you know what’s me and what’s not?” Anger flared in me, and I didn’t dare look too closely at why. “You barely know me, Jase.”
“I know you.”
I scoffed. “No, you don’t.”
That infuriating half grin appeared. “Oh, Tess . . .”
“Don’t ‘oh, Tess’ me. I want to know why you’re so convinced that I’d make a horrible teacher.”
“I didn’t say you’d make a horrible teacher.” Amusement danced over his face, and I wanted to know what the hell was so funny. “You’d make a great teacher. Kids would probably love you and maybe you’ll be happy with that, but that’s not what you want.”
“In fact, I like being around kids. Back at the studio, I volunteered to help out with the younger classes.” Staring out the window, I watched the shopping centers and apartments quickly give way to trees and then open fields. “So whatever.”
“Okay. You’re not getting what I’m saying.”
“Obviously not,” I replied tartly.
He sighed. “You’d make a great teacher, Tess, but you’re a . . . you’re a performer. That’s what you’ve always wanted.”
I squeezed my eyes tight, as if doing so somehow blocked out the truth. “That’s not what I’ve always wanted to do.”
“No?”
“No.”
“I don’t believe you,” he said. “And here’s why. You’ve been dancing since you could walk. You’re just here until you can start dancing again, right? The whole teaching shit is a backup plan just in case you can’t dance. It’s not what you really want to do. You already admitted that to me.”
My mouth opened and I planned on telling him he was wrong, but dear Lord that was not what came tumbling out of my mouth. “A year ago I didn’t think I’d be sitting here, enrolled in college. It hadn’t even crossed my mind. And you’re right. When Dr. Morgan tells me next month that I’m okay to start dancing in three months or whatever, that’s what I will do, because that’s what I loved to do. What’s so wrong with that? I won’t be here, where it feels like I don’t understand anything.”
Jase was quiet for a few moments. “Nothing is wrong with that.”
Feeling like I stripped bare and did a naked jig for no reason, I threw my hands up in frustration. “Then what’s the point of this conversation?”
He smiled and shrugged one shoulder. “I don’t know. You started it.”
