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"Nothing," he says with his best attempt at a breezy smile. "It's a nice day."
Colleen raises her eyebrows at him, obviously skeptical, but she lets it pass. "This guy seems ready to head home? I'll be shocked if he doesn't pass out on the ride home."
"Oh for sure. He's had way too much fun showing off for you today. He'll be out before we hit the end of the block."
Simon does fall asleep on the drive back out to Dustin's house, and Dustin almost fist pumps when he successfully gets him out of the car seat and into his crib without waking him. It's only sometimes a sure thing these days.
He finds Colleen on the couch, laptop resting on her knees, biting her lip as she reads whatever is on the screen.
Dustin sinks onto the cushions and waits for her to finish up. He's a little surprised she didn't pack up to head home, but he doesn't want her to leave if she doesn't want to.
"I just scheduled a call with the Dance Federation authorities. The coach emailed me, threatening me if I don't back off." She bites her thumb nervously as her eyes dart up to his. It's on his tongue to ask to read the email, but he knows it'd be a conflict of interest for her. She can only tell him who it is once it goes public. She looks so tired and a little scared, though, so he pulls her against his side and kisses her hair to give comfort.
"They're going to the police about all of this, right?" He asks if only to keep from asking the question he wants to know the answer to. In the past, situations like this have been bungled horrifically when federations felt they could handle it without involving the law.
"She doesn't want to, but if he's taken to threatening me..."
"Is she somewhere safe?" he asks, heart aching for the girl. This could all go perfectly well; no matter what, that girl will be left with so much trauma. And it's already not going perfectly well.
"They say she is," Colleen answers. It's been an exhausting week for her, and there's no relief.
"Talk to the legal counsel for the foundation before talking more to anyone else. Find out what you can do to nail the guy, at the very least, for what he's doing to you," he tells her.
"I should head home to take care of all of this," she murmurs against his chest.
"If you need to go home to do that, by all means, but don't leave on my account. That room is yours to use if you need privacy..." She's been reluctant to be alone all day, and nothing about her demeanor indicates she's any more ready to go home now than she was last night.
"I'd likely have to hole up in there."
"Then hole up. But if you're going to need someone," he stops short of saying, if you're going to need me, "After those calls, you should stay. Or, at least, go to Lisette's."
Colleen looks at him, searching again for answers in his face that he only hopes he has. Once again, she must find what she needs because she exhales in an audible whoosh and then sits back against the couch. "I don't want to leave."
So she leaves the next day when she has to head home to pack before a quick meeting with her lawyer before heading back to headquarters. There was enough written evidence from emails the asshole had sent the girl and two other dancers, in addition to Colleen, to arrest him. It hits the news almost immediately.
She isn't a high-profile coach, but Dustin has met him several times at events. He seemed like a nice guy.
Colleen is gone a lot in June, but every time she comes home, her first night back is spent in his living room, loving Simon, eating with Dustin, and sleeping in the guest room.
After the third time she comes to his home after a few days away, this time in Halifax, he tells her, jokingly, "I'm starting to think you must have ghosts in your house."
She barks out a laugh and then shakes her head. "The only ghost at my house is me."
It's such a short sentence, but the laughter in the beginning is gone by the last word, and the air is sucked from the room with the raw honesty he hears in her voice.
"What does that mean?"
"Yeah, that sounded morbid as hell, didn't it," she responds.
He looks at her with a severe face and doesn't let her wiggle out of the question. "Colleen."
"I don't feel at home there," she tells him.
"But you feel at home here?"
"Yeah. I do." She doesn't look at him when she answers. She had avoided his gaze for the first few months since moving back but hadn't been doing it nearly as much lately. So he takes a chance and gently hooks his fingers under her chin and guides her face up so he can look at her.
He sees that she's telling the truth, which blows him away. It shouldn't surprise him, given how comfortable she's gotten in his home and with him and even more so with Simon, but it still blows him away.
