With a nod, he rested his arm on the back of her seat. “It’s nice to see you again,” he said before looking in Juliette’s direction. “Sandy used to teach at Dance Dynamics with Candace. Now they do classes through the parks and rec department together.”
This was Candace’s friend Sandy. The one who used to teach acro. She’d heard a lot about her from Tiegan. If she went ahead with her plan to open a dance studio in town, Sandy might be someone she’d want teaching there. She already planned to ask Candace to join her, but the two of them couldn’t teach all the classes.
“Sandy, Noella, this is my—” Aaron paused for a split second before he finished his sentence. “—friend Juliette.”
Evidently, he didn’t know where they stood either. Before the evening ended, she’d wanted that cleared up between them.
Juliette held her breath while Sandy’s eyes searched her face as if suddenly the answer to why she looked familiar would appear written on her skin. “I know I’ve seen you somewhere, Juliette. I just can’t put my finger on where.” Finally, she nudged her companion with her elbow. “We should go, Noella. Dennis and Vince are probably wondering what happened to us. I’ll see you later, Aaron. Juliette, it was nice meeting you.”
She watched the two women walk away. “I can’t take you anywhere without running into people who know you,” she said teasingly.
“Hey, they came over here because you looked familiar, not to say hello to me.”
“I’m not sure that’s the only reason they came over. Sandy couldn’t take her eyes off you once you sat down.” She didn’t know if Sandy was married or not, but she had a thing for Aaron.
“Candace and Sandy have known each other since they were about Tiegan’s age. They both danced at Dance Dynamics long before they worked there. And more than once, Candace has attempted to set us up.”
She’d fixed her cousin Alec up with Holly, and they’d gone out and had some fun together, but she’d never tried to get her brother together with one of her friends. While she adored her friends, she’d always known they were all wrong for Scott.
“But I made the mistake of going out with one of my sister’s friends when we were in high school. Even if Sandy was my type, which she isn’t, I wouldn’t get involved with her, because she and Candace are so close.”
She respected his decision. Not that her brother knew it, but one of his friends had approached her last year. Although she liked him as a person and found him handsome, she’d turned him down rather than risk hurting her brother’s friendship.
“She might call my sister later and ask about you. If she does, Candace will tell her you’re a guest at the campground. You don’t have anything to worry about.”
She hadn’t known the Wrights long, but she trusted them. “I’m not worried. And if Sandy realizes why I look familiar, oh well. There’s not much I can do about it.”
They hadn’t been keeping score, but they had been keeping track of how many frames they played, and they were about to start their tenth. “If we leave after this frame, you can come down to the cottage and have a drink or two and still be home by midnight.” After venturing into Gorham’s Shop and Save earlier in the day to restock her kitchen, she’d popped into the liquor store next door and purchased a few bottles of both red and white wine.
“I’ll do whatever you want tonight.”
Chapter 12
Aaron followed Juliette into the cottage and immediately noticed the bright orange sacks of firewood near the woodstove. Either she’d gone to the supermarket today, or Mrs. Lambert had made another delivery because Gorham’s Shop and Save was the only place in town that sold those cords of wood. And usually, only tourists bought them, because per piece it was far more expensive than what Valley Landscaping sold.
“I don’t
think you need to worry about another power outage.” He gestured toward the wood while removing his jacket and putting it on the back of a chair. “What happened over the weekend isn’t common.”
She hung her jacket on a kitchen chair before getting two wineglasses from a cabinet—glasses she must have either purchased or brought with her because while the kitchen came equipped with a lot of items, wineglasses were not among them. “I want to be prepared just in case. And if I don’t use it in here, I thought we could use it in the firepit outside. We could roast marshmallows and make s’mores. I don’t even remember the last time I did that.”
She’d said we could use it, not I can use it. Aaron liked the sound of that. He also liked the fact he’d at least popped into her thoughts today. Especially since thoughts of her had distracted him so much.
“I was going to open the merlot, but if you’d rather, I have a bottle of pinot grigio.”
When it came to red wine, he’d never been a fan of merlot. He much preferred zinfandel. “I’m more in the mood for white wine, but if you want merlot, I’ll drink it.”
Juliette returned the red wine glasses to the cabinet and took out some intended for white wine. At least when it came to wine, no one would say she wasn’t prepared. “Nope. I’m happy with the pinot.”
He watched her leave the glasses on the counter and move to the refrigerator. Although perhaps move didn’t do justice to her body in motion. Every one of her movements had a graceful element to it, making her a walking piece of art. Even if she hadn’t told him she’d danced most of her life, he would’ve guessed it.
“Do you want a snack? I picked up all kinds of fruit today and some cheeses.” She filled the two glasses as she spoke. Even while she did that, she’d had an elegance about her he’d never seen before.
He’d been hungry for the past forty minutes. If he’d been at home, he would have either raided the refrigerator for any leftovers or rummaged through the cabinets for something quick and easy. “Only if you’re having something.”
Rather than join him, she set about preparing them a snack. “Sometime soon, we should check out the indoor skydiving place Tiegan mentioned. It sounds like an interesting place.”
He’d learned to scuba dive, although he only managed to do it once or twice a year, and he often went mountain climbing. But he’d never tried skydiving. Even when his buddy Robby tried it a few years ago and invited him along, he’d passed. No doubt, indoor skydiving was worlds apart from the jumping out of an airplane type. “I’m willing to give it a try. Tiegan didn’t stop talking about it after she went to the party there.”