Page 4 of The Cannon
“Don’t confuse a good dance partner with something more,” she says in all seriousness.
“I didn’t say a word. I’m too afraid you’re going to put me in the corner. Or spank me.”
That one gets a smile. She tilts her head and sizes me up before she speaks. It almost looks like she’s enjoying the banter.
“I’m not sure you’re afraid of anything.”
“Oh, you’d be wrong. I’m afraid of all kinds of things.”
“Name one.”
It doesn’t take more than a second to come up with my answer. The memory of one of my foster brothers putting one in my bed still haunts me.
“Snakes. They give me the willies.”
I spin her around in a smooth movement, and she doesn’t miss a beat. We look like we’ve done this a hundred times before.
“My brother Atticus mentioned you the other day at my parents’ home. Said you had an interesting journey to the Mavericks.”
“Did you find it interesting?”
“As soon as they started talking baseball, I went in the other room to watch TV.”
My surprise is obvious. She grins with the telling.
“I’m sure your glorious rise to fame is fascinating, and your family must be so proud of their golden boy. But I’m just not a sports lover.”
Hope I’m not showing the gut-wrenching twist in my stomach.
“My family finds my tastes appalling too. You’re in good company,” she adds.
“You don’t like any sport?”
“Bowling. I’m a decent bowler.”
“Well, so am I. And you couldn’t be more wrong about me.”
“Maybe. I’ve been accused of jumping to conclusions. Let’s just have a nice dance Sawyer, and then I’m headed home.”
I consider asking about the absent boyfriend, but why bring him up? Instead I give my conversational skills another shot.
“You’re a good dancer.”
“Thank you.”
“I read an article that said the stages of a woman’s cycle affect her abilities on the dance floor.”
She squints her eyes, brings her eyebrows together and shakes her head in disbelief that I just brought up her menstrual cycle.
“It’s true. Your fertile stages express themselves in dance. I read it,” I explain. “It’s all about hip movement.”
“Where did you read that?Ridiculous Scientific Theories Magazine?”
“No. I’m a big reader. It was inPsychology Today Magazine. Don’t you think it’s interesting? We all could learn more about our bodies.”
Blue eyes look to the heavens and her hand waves my statement off.
As the music changes, she lets me know our time together is at an end.
