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“That was amazing,” she said. “Turning it on and off like that. I work on stage, and I’m not sure I’ve seen anyone that good.”
“I like them,” he said. “I don’t like you.”
“Sure you do.” She picked up a cocktail napkin, tracing lines into that damn lion with her fingernail. “So. Your name is Nick, and you sing.”
“Yes.”
“Professionally?”
“No.”
I could get up and leave,he thought. The walker was behind Hayley’s side of the booth, which meant he’d have to carefully navigate his way past her to get to it, using the booth and the table as questionable handholds along the way. But he wasn’tgoing to let Hayley see that process. He wasn’t going to let her help him with it. And he sure as hell wasn’t going to risk falling into her.
“And you know a lot about music,” Hayley continued. “Or maybe Liv Tyler.”
“Both,” he said. “Where’s your boyfriend?”
Hayley glanced over her shoulder. “Still out smoking, looks like.” She laughed. “He told me he had to take a call. We play this game where we pretend he actually quit when I told him to.”
Hilarious. “So what’s he going to think when he comes back from his secret smoke to find you talking to me?”
“He’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want to start a fight.”
Her amused smile said a fight was unlikely. “He won’t hurt you or anything.”
“No,” Nick said wearily. “I don’t want you and your boyfriend to fight because you got drunk and thought you’d teach him a lesson.”
“I amtipsy,” she said triumphantly. “Drunk is a few drinks away. And I’m teachingyoua lesson. You liked our dance.”
“I …” He was embarrassed. “I was watching. Everybody was watching.”
Hayley shook her head. “It didn’t speak to everybody. It spoke to you.” She watched him patiently.
“You’re right,” he said finally.
They sat with that for a while.
“You know how the universe comes together?” Hayley asked.
Nick considered this. “Not sure I do.”
“Like, there are good times, right? And there are bad times, and there are times when the universecomes together. Like everything up until now has just been puzzle pieces creeping closer and closer, and then everything fits.”
“And you’re having one of those moments.”
“Yes!” She leaned forward so fast she sloshed her drink. “Things were bad. Like, really bad. And now here we are, dancing in a bar in Ohio, and the universe fits, finally. And when I get to be this happy, I’ve gotta help other people get there, too.”
Nick’s neck tingled with approaching dread. “Hayley, I’m not the sort of—”
“I saw it on your face,” she pressed on. “Your heart was there in your eyes, and then you turned back to that poor girl, and you just shut down. You’re looking for your joy in the wrong place.”
“Okay,” he allowed. “Kacey wasn’t a good idea. But I don’t—”
“You should dance!” she blurted.
Nick felt sick. “Dance.”
