Page 37 of Tumbleweed Temptation
He disappeared into the crowd.
She dismissed a couple of offers to dance, not here to meet anyone new.
“Why’d you come along if you aren’t going to drink or dance?” Javi teased.
“I just—I need to warm up a little.”
“A beer would do that.”
She waved her hand at the bottle he offered her. “I’m driving.”
“One won’t matter if you sweat it out.”
“Ha. That sounds sexy.”
Austin slid a heavy glass mug onto the table in front of her. “Free drinks for designated drivers is apparently not a thing here. Five bucks for that.”
“Ah, thanks?” Ginny said, pulling it in front of her.
“In Waco, a lot of the places give soda out for free, since it’s usually for the one person in the group not drinking.”
“Waco’s a long drive for a free drink,” Ginny said.
“Come dance with me. No point brining our own guys if they’re not going to dance.” Poppy pulled at Austin’s arm. He glanced in Ginny’s direction a moment before he followed Poppy onto the dance floor.
Ginny knew Poppy could dance. Austin was the surprise, though. The boy had moves. He curved his hand around Poppy’s waist and guided her in a two-step around the floor, delighting Poppy when he turned her under his arm and pulled her back to him without missing a step. And they even appeared to be holding a conversation. Ginny watched, fascinated.
So she admitted to herself she was a little jealous of Poppy, who kept Austin out on the floor for another song, while Sofia and Javi headed to the bar.
Ginny sipped her drink, which was cold, but too sweet.
Sofia and Javi came back with their drinks, eyes bright. “Why don’t we do this more often?” Sofia asked.
“Because no one wanted to be the designated driver.”
“We could take turns, and that would mean we could come out more often, and think how fun that would be.”
“We have The Wheel House, and that’s pretty fun, and we can play games there.”
“But there’s no dancing, and it’s always the same people,” Sofia was hanging on Javi’s arm, and her voice was loud, verging on a whine.
“We could talk to Hailey about having bands more often, or maybe a DJ,” Javi said. “I mean, we drive to Kimmel to come here. Why wouldn’t people from Kimmel come to The Wheel House?”
Honestly, Ginny didn’t want them to. She liked seeing the same people all the time. She didn’t want other people intruding on their town.
“You should go dance.” Sofia pushed Javi in Ginny’s direction.
Ginny liked Javi. He was fun, and funny, and she’d known him as long as she’d lived here. She wanted to protest that she didn’t want to dance, but the song was a good one, so she let him lead her onto the dance floor.
Javi was a decent dancer, too, but she couldn’t stop her gaze from drifting to Austin and Poppy. Of course she’d known Poppy had been looking forward to Austin’s return. Austin hadn’t exactly been Mr. Popularity in high school, since he was so focused on school, but there also hadn’t been a lot of guys to choose from, and Poppy had had a crush on him. The way she was looking at him now, maybe she still did.
Ginny didn’t know why that gave her a twinge.
Javi must have noticed her looking because he danced them over near Austin and Poppy.
“Hey, we haven’t danced together yet,” he said to Poppy, releasing Ginny and turning to their friend.
Poppy looked startled, but she stepped back from Austin and lifted her arms to Javi’s shoulders. “I hope you can keep up with me,” she said.
