Page 5 of Under Pressure
She cleared her throat and set the thermos that she’d practically been cuddling for warmth down before picking up their marketing plan. “I was looking over our notes. We really don’t have much else to do.”
He followed her gaze and nodded. If she wanted to change the subject, he’d let her. “Let’s go over how we want to present it to the class.”
“Okay.”
He glanced at her bag where she’d dropped it on the floor—a few CDs had spilled out. Curiosity got the better of him, and he snagged them. She was such a closed book about most everything, he couldn’t resist.
The top album was The Killers—excellent choice—second down was Maroon 5—not bad—and the final band was . . . “You like The Venturists?” He blinked at her, feeling slightly like he was in the twilight zone or something. His brother’s band had just reached notoriety for the first time in the last year or so. Of course, he’d heard Axel’s songs on the radio, but he’d never met a fan. Or at least, he didn’t know if he was meeting fans. Maybe he’d met lots and was oblivious to Axel’s fame. Shoot. Thatwouldn’t do. He had to be aware so he could make sure it didn’t get to Axel’s head.
“I love them! Axel’s an incredibly talented songwriter. His songCheated and Cheated Onis one of my favorites.” Her shoulders fell. “I tried to snag tickets to their concert in Orlando tomorrow, but they sold out months ago.”
He had tickets. Axel had reserved seats for the whole family. Sean had been vacillating on whether he’d be going or not. He had so many things he was supposed to do tomorrow. He was taking Nonna shopping in the morning, then he had a shift at work, and he also promised some of Nonna’s neighbors he’d start pulling weeds for them too.
Their Tampa neighborhood consisted of a lot of older folks who had trouble spending hours hunched over their flower beds.
Mrs. Brundidge, Nonna and Grandpa’s 90-year-old next-door neighbor, had nearly fallen in her flower bed last month. Sean had practically dived over the hedges in his haste to catch her. Of course, Grandpa and Nonna were right behind. Grandpa had her left arm only seconds after Sean had grabbed her right. He was fast for an old goat.
Sean’d immediately volunteered to help her, and she offered him cookies in exchange. It was a good deal. After that, he’d somehow gotten himself roped into helping a bunch of other older folks in the neighborhood with different things. He wasn’t sure what it was about pink and purple cotton-candy-colored, curly-haired old women smiling up at him that made him want to bend over backward to help them, but one look at their delicate, papery skin, and eyes starting to fog over with age, and Sean became a ball of mush. Malleable mush, theirs for the molding.
He’d promised to clean out a pool, fertilize a lawn, water house plants for another neighbor who was going to see her granddaughter for the weekend, and walk a dog. He’d wanted togo to the concert, but his schedule was packed. Now, however, his mind seemed to be going into overdrive. This. This was the perfect opportunity to create a window.
Could he do all the stuff he’d promised to do, and still take Blue to the concert?
Maybe if he fertilized the lawn before work? Who needs lunch anyway? And if he got up at five tomorrow and skipped his morning swim. Yeah, he could do it.
Sean turned to Blue. “I have tickets.”
“Really?” Her eyes widened. “You’re a fan too?”
He shrugged. “Sort of, I guess.” His brother’s music was good, but his brother was also the biggest nerd on the planet.
She furrowed her brows as her full lips tilted up on one side. “The cheapest tickets they had available were fifty bucks.”
Sean didn’t know how much the tickets Axel gave the family were, but considering they were right at the front of the stage, he would bet they were a heck of a lot more expensive than fifty dollars. “Want to go?”
“I wish; you’re so lucky.”
This was another one of those moments where he wasn’t sure if she’d gotten his meaning or was deliberately misunderstanding him. “I meant do you want to go with me?”
Blue couldn’t pretend now.
Her gaze shot to him, then to The Venturist CD he held in his hands. She bit her lip, and Sean had to hold back a groan. “I . . . I don’t know.”
She wanted to go. He could see that she did in her longing look. And suddenly, he desperately wanted her to say yes. “I don’t really—”
“Go to concerts with friends? Or on dates?” he offered. “There’s a first time for everything.”
Her shoulders rounded, and she glanced at their assignment. “Let me think about it.” She didn’t sound happy.
He didn’t get it. Didn’t get her. Why was she so worried; so reserved? Why did she force herself into the shadows when it was clear that wasn’t where she wanted to be? “Okay . . .” he whispered. He didn’t want to push her. His pride—though large for an average man—could still be wounded. He glanced at their individual business plans.
Hers was much more detailed than his. When they’d first started the project, which was to identify what it was they wanted to do, and come up with a business plan, all he could think was the ocean. He wanted a job working in the ocean. He’d gone with Marine Engineer, but that still wasn’t quite right.
Blue, she knew exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to design clothes. Had hundreds of drawings of different outfits—all ones that were intended to make a person stand out—not that she ever wore anything like that. Though, she had confided in him yesterday that she’d already made several of them.
“What was it that got you so interested in making clothes?”
She glanced down at a couple of her sketches—white paper covered in light pencil lines. “The control.”
