The Space In Between (19 page)

So what did you say to your dead fiancé’s best friend?

Absolutely Nothing.

You just looked at each other and came to the realization
that words couldn’t bring much comfort, but the touch from an old friend could.

As the night continued, I grew comfortable. These people
were still my friends, and it felt good to be around them. During a break, I
slid down the wall and sat on the floor. Rachel walked up to me and handed me a
water bottle. Cooper was standing across the room, laughing with Eric and
Steve. I thanked her for the water and she sat down next to me. Her eyes
wandered over to Cooper. “He’s pretty sexy, eh? Do you know if he’s single? I
heard rumors about him and his wife, but that’s all I know…”

I rolled my eyes. Rachel thought everyone was sexy. I wanted
to tell her he was off limits, but I couldn’t.

Her head lowered and she took a long gulp from her water. “I
never got to talk to you at the funeral and…” She grew serious. Much more
serious than I was interested in her being. I glanced around the room for an
escape, but everyone else was enwrapped in mindless conversations. Crap. She
continued, “I mean, I know we were never really close but I wanted to say, I
mean. I just wanted to…” She started to stutter. It was as if she were
searching for the right words.

“What is it, Rachel?” Something was bothering
her—no,—something was eating away at her mind.

“I just. I mean. You’re a good person.” She became
teary-eyed. I remained silent. “And what happened to Derrick...”

“What are you two ladies chatting about?” Steve appeared
seemingly out of nowhere and joined us on the floor.

Rachel’s eyes locked with his. “Andrea and I were having a
talk.” She narrowed her eyes towards him and gave him the ‘get the hell out of
here’ look. He returned a stern look and I was confused out of my mind.

“What’s going on?”

Their look broke and they both smiled at me. Before Rachel
could speak, Steve opened his mouth. “Nothing. Rachel, that Cooper guy over
there was asking about you. Maybe you should go say hi.”

That perked her right up. And pissed me right off. She
excused herself to go chat with him and my eyes followed her the whole way.

“What’s her deal? She was acting all weird,” I asked Steve.
Steve smiled and stood up.

“You know Rachel.” He tapped the side of his head. “She’s
not all there at times.”

I chuckled, took the hand he extended to me, and stood up,
ready to continue dance rehearsal.

THE MOMENT I stepped onto the dance
floor, I forgot everything Ladasha had taught me the night prior. I tried my
best not to gawk, but Andrea looked so stunning that I couldn’t help it. Her
blue eyes really pierced me with her latest hairdo. My eyes traveled down her
body, studying every inch of her being. She had a loose cream sweater hanging
over her black dress. The dress hugged her in every place I have embraced
before. It was a perfect fit. She appeared taller today—she was wearing heels.
Nothing too high, but she was almost my height, so I noticed.

“Ouch!” I broke from my trance as I turned towards my cousin
and apologized for stepping on her toes. My mind was clearly somewhere else.

“It’s fine. Perhaps we should call it a night, everyone. I
have waters and some snacks in the back room if anyone wants to grab some
before we head out.” Michelle skipped over to the stereo system and turned off
the music.

“You weren’t half bad for a beginner.” I turned to be
greeted by a cheerful girl who was nudging me in the side. Rachel was quite a
sight to look at. Her long brown locks of hair had been curled prior to her
arrival, and they bounced against her shoulders.

I smirked. “I was terrible.”

She stepped closer to me and leaned against the bar attached
to the wall full of mirrors. She informed me that the ‘bar’ was actually called
a barre and she had taken ballet since the age of three. I guess she wanted me
to be aware of how flexible she was. Hell, I really didn’t care. I glanced
through the mirror and saw Andrea in the back corner. She was sipping on a
water bottle and staring at me and Rachel. If I didn’t know any better…

She looked jealous. Holy shit, she
was
jealous. The
flaring of her nostrils and the narrowing of her eyes were all the conformation
I needed. I couldn’t help but feel a little excited by that fact. That meant
that somewhere, deep down inside, she had some type of feelings for me. Before
I could express that there was nothing to be jealous about, Rachel placed her
hand against my chest and said something. I’m not sure what it was, but it was
enough to make Andrea roll her eyes and walk away

“I’m sorry, what?” I asked Rachel, who was extra friendly.

“I said we were all planning on going out for a few beers
tonight. You should join us.” Her sexy grin almost pulled me in, but my mind
was imagining how this must have looked to Andrea. My eyes took a trip around
the room—where did she go?

“Yeah. Yeah, that could be fun…” There she was. She was
putting on her coat, ready to make her departure. I took the hand Rachel still
had placed upon my chest and removed it. I didn’t want to offend or embarrass
the poor girl, so I gave her my largest smile. “I’m so sorry. If you can excuse
me again.” That was the second time I had excused myself from Rachel’s presence
to go chase after Andrea, but hell, I had priorities. Well, I had one priority.
And her name was Andrea. I grabbed my jacket, tossed it on, and headed out of
the building.

“You have a way of disappearing,” I somewhat shouted to her
as she was walking down the street. Andrea turned and stared at me. The snow
had started up again and was falling against my eyelashes, forcing me to blink
nonstop.

“Coop, aren’t you sick of chasing me?”

“Never.”

She ran her hands through her short hair and wiggled her
nose as she met me halfway. The streetlights had turned on; each one dressed
with wreaths and white Christmas lights. Down the way, I could see a large tree
in the center of the park dressed up with a large star placed on the top.

I could tell they took their holidays seriously in this
town, and I would be lying if I said it wasn’t a nice treat. I couldn’t
remember the last time I had a Christmas tree—or a holiday at that. Iris and I
were always working, making money instead of making memories.

“Where are you heading?” I wondered out loud. She couldn’t
have been on her way back to my cousin’s place. That was way too far to walk.
Especially in this weather.

“I told my mom I would stop by for dinner.”

“You two doing all right?”

She delivered a short smile and ran her hand over her
eyebrow. “Better than yesterday. Did you know Eric and Michelle are engaged?”

I nodded. I’d congratulated them yesterday. “Yeah, I saw the
ring right away.”

She grumbled to herself and cussed out loud. “How did I miss
that?”

“To be fair, you were getting your ass chewed out by your
mother.”

“True fact.” She shifted her body and removed her eyes from
me. “It looked like Rachel and you were getting along great.”

“Jealous, are we?” I joked. She looked to me and raised an
eyebrow.

“Rachel McLean has slept with every guy on the high school
football team at least four times around. And I’m sure she did the same when
she went to college. So if that’s what you’re into, go for it.”

Her cheeks were turning red, and I doubted it was due to the
chill. “Do you have her number?” I laughed as I saw her mouth drop open from
shock, and she punched me in the arm. Not a light little tap. No, she fucking
slugged me.

“Cooper Michael, I swear if you—” she started to scold me
and I gracefully changed the subject.

“Let me give you a ride,” I offered. I had the rental car
from the airport and didn’t feel comfortable with her walking alone at night.
Sure, this place wasn’t New York City, but who knew what kind of small town
creeps there were around?

“It’s right down the way.”

“Andie, come on. Don’t let our friendship suffer like this,”
I whimpered. She giggled and nodded as she joined me on the walk to the car.
“You really look amazing,” I kept telling her.

Rolling her eyes, she bit her lip. “I’m not going to sleep
with you again, so you can stop trying so hard.”

“I’m not looking for sex.”

She paused from walking and faced me. Her petite body was
being sprinkled with snowflakes. I took her hand in mine and spun her around in
the winter wonderland. It was a gorgeous night and I was pretty damn lucky to
be spending this moment with her. After I spun her around, I took her in my
arms and dipped her before pulling her in close to me. So close our lips were
almost touching. I could see her breath as she tried to control her nerves. She
didn’t dare look away, and we held onto the connection for as long as we could.
And she spoke softly. “If you’re not looking for sex, what are you looking
for?”

I ran my finger across her cheek and let go of her, allowing
her to move back if she wished, but she remained close to me. I leaned in
closer and whispered into her ear. “You.”

I stepped away from her and continued on to the car. For a
moment, I wasn’t sure she was going to follow me. The sounds of her high heels
were not heard, but I had to trust my gut. I had to trust Andrea that she would
join me in my offer to drive her to her parents.

It took her awhile—her steps were so soft I hardly heard her
approaching—but when I opened the passenger’s door and turned around, she was
patiently waiting to enter the vehicle.

“DO YOU WANT some more stuffing?”
Betty asked as she picked up my plate that had been cleared after round two and
headed to the kitchen. I watched Andrea pick around at her food—she was still
on her first plate. I could see Betty wanting to say something, but she kept it
to herself. A big improvement from the previous night, but I assume she didn’t
want her daughter to storm off again. You live and you learn.

I patted my stomach and sat back in my chair. Even if I
wanted more stuffing, there was no way it would be able to fit in my gut. Mrs.
Evans knew how to cook. I hadn’t had such a wonderful tasting Thanksgiving meal
since my mom…

“No, thank you. I am stuffed with stuffing.”

Betty reentered the dining room with a huff and puff holding
a chocolate cake. No, not just a chocolate cake. A triple layer, chocolate
chip, dark fudge chocolate cake.

I couldn’t be positive, but I was pretty damn sure I
drooled.

“Are you sure, honey? There’s cake! I made it this
afternoon.”

I rubbed my hand across my face, narrowed my eyes, and poked
my bottom lip out, making it look as if I were really thinking of not having
the delicious dessert. Hell, I didn’t even have to taste the cake to know it was
outstanding. There was no way I wasn’t going to have any of it. But I smirked
and nodded. “You know what, Betty? I think I’ll have a small slice.”

She smiled, quite pleased with my reply, and went to get
plates. I looked over to the stunning girl sitting across from me and winked at
her. Her rosy cheeks which followed my wink made my night.

I looked over to Andrea’s dad, who was reading a car manual.
During dinner he told me how he had planned to learn how to fix cars. Andrea
informed me that he was Mr. Fix-It. Walter only grinned and informed me that he
was Mr. Try-It-Break-It-Throw-It-And-Then-Sometimes-Fix-It.

She loved her dad.

He loved her just as much.

Nothing wrong with a good father figure.

As Betty reentered with the plates and sliced us each a piece
I began to devour the hell out of dessert.

I smiled as I watched Andrea ever so nonchalantly rub her
finger against her plate pick up the remains of cake crumbs, and eat them.
Betty’s eyes sparkled with excitement when she saw this, and she watched as
Andrea reached for another piece. In that moment, Andrea made her mama really
happy. After they finished, Andrea helped her mom clean off the table and they
left us two men to ourselves.

“Walter, your wife really has a way with cooking. This was
probably the best meal I’ve had in a long time,” I praised.

Walter sat back in his chair and removed his glasses,
placing them on the table. “I lucked out. A perfect wife.” Walter wiggled his
nose towards Betty, who was smiling towards him from the kitchen.

“How long have you two been married now?”

“Thirty-six years.” He grinned. He was proud to call her
his. And she was equally proud to call him hers. I couldn’t imagine. Iris and I
were only married for four years and damaged to the core.

“What are your secrets?”

He thought for a moment. He rubbed the bridge of his nose
and narrowed his eyes. His voice lowered to a whisper and I waited for the
wisdom. “Whiskey.”

I laughed out loud as he smirked and continued. “But really.
The secret is to listen to what she doesn’t say, see what she doesn’t do, and
hold her when she doesn’t cry.”

Solid advice.

“And, each night, two shots of whiskey.” I chuckled again at
his joke. But I was quick to notice his stern look and I knew the shots of
whiskey truly were the key to his successful marriage. If I were to ever get
married again, I would need to discover my own secrets to success that didn’t
involve drinking.

I saw Betty head back into the room and Andrea walk off down
the hallway with her cell phone glued to her ear. Walter raised a brow,
nonverbally asking where his daughter was going.