Page 49 of Better Watch Out
She looked over at him, a curve to her lips. “Won’t that be weird?”
Andrew shrugged. “Only if you’re embarrassed to admit you dated an ogre.”
Frannie laughed out loud and covered her lips when a few people looked over at her. “Calvin wasn’t—isn’t—an ogre.” She sighed and Andrew watched her slip back to memories that had his insides churning with unfounded envy. “He just recognized what I couldn’t see, or maybe refused to see, before I did.”
“I get that. I mean, not in a relationship-type scenario.” He settled against the seat. “I hurt my shoulder early in my career and ignored the surgeons and physical therapists when they told me I was pushing too hard, too fast. I refused to accept their warnings that if I didn’t allow it to heal properly I risked permanent injury that could take me out of the game forever. I didn’t want to see a future outside of hockey until that last game forced me to.” He looked at her. “Maybe that isn’t such a great analogy.”
“No, it is, actually.” Frannie leaned into his shoulder. “Just a different kind of heartbreak.”
The idea that Calvin possessed enough of Frannie’s heart to break it left a bad taste in his mouth. It was probably just what he needed to rein in his feelings. He’d likely misinterpreted whatever he thought he saw reflecting in her eyes and she most likely wasn’t looking to put her heart out there again.
The momentum of the train slowed and the floor beneath their feet rumbled as they pulled to a stop at Grand Central Terminal. Andrew extended his hand to help Frannie up and earned a wink from the older gentleman as he helped his wife up.
With her hand in his, Andrew led Frannie up the stairs into New York’s famous train station. Her lips parted, eyes wide as she took in the barrel ceiling and elegant marble-and-stone structure that even inspired him.
“It’s just how I imagined it.”
The low gong of a bell rang out overhead, silencing the passengers inside the terminal and stopping them as they looked for the reason behind the chiming tone. A group of people dressed like Frannie walked to the center of the floor. A second later, a song played overhead and the couples began dancing.
“Oh, it’s the Christmas waltz!” Frannie squeezed her hands beneath her chin.
Next to them the guy in the top hat led the woman he was with to the floor, and they began dancing. The older couple whodidn’t need mistletoesat on a bench nearby. The woman caught his attention with a tip of her head, sending him a message he understood clearly.
Andrew pivoted to Frannie and held his hand out. “Would you care to dance?”
Her eyes rounded. “I don’t know how to do what they’re doing.”
Picking up her hand, he smiled. “It’s called dancing and you just need to follow my lead.” With a quick stop by the older couple, Andrew received enthusiastic consent to leave Frannie’s shopping bags with them before walking her to where the group of dancers was continuing to grow.
Frannie’s grip tightened on his. “I’m apologizing right now for stepping on your toes. Possibly tripping you. Maybe even causing severe bodily injury.”
He laughed. “The waltz is a simple dance. Just remember step, side, slide.” As he positioned his hand on her waist, a smile broke free on his face at the feel of her close to him again. “Let me move your body.”
She blushed before shifting her gaze to her feet. “Step. Side. Slide.”
Andrew waited a beat and then took his first step, leading Frannie back a step and then to the side before his feet came together, her foot landing on his toe. She looked up at him apologetically but he gave her an encouraging nod and repeated the step.
“Just relax.” He squeezed her hand and after a few more missteps, Frannie’s movements synced with his.
“I’m dancing the Christmas waltz. In Grand Central. In New York.”
He could feel the flex of her back muscles as she moved in time with him. “Was this on your bucket list?”
Frannie looked up beneath dark lashes. “No.”
His heart pounded in delight at her answer and an idea came to mind. “Do you mind if I take control of your bucket list for the rest of the night?”
Her lips parted into a smile, eyes sparkling. “Not at all.”
ChapterTwenty
Frannie had no idea what to expect when Andrew asked to take over her bucket list, but going to a two-hundred-year-old church in Lower Manhattan was not even close to being on her radar.
The Uber dropped them off in front of the gray stone structure, and with its stained-glass windows and large arched doorway, all decorated with boughs of holly and ribbon, it felt like she’d stepped onto the set of a Christmas movie.
“What are we doing here?” she whispered when Andrew opened the door for her.
“I know you wanted to tour St. Patrick’s but I thought you might enjoy St. Augustine’s.”
