“Think she’ll get there?”
“Eventually. I’m a patient man. I know how to play the long game.”
She went silent for several long moments. “Is that what this is with her? The long game?”
Tucker looked down at his friend. “That a problem?”
“Not if she makes you happy at the end of it.”
“Then yeah, this is the long game.”
~*~
Corinne wasn’t in the right mood for rehearsal tonight. But as they hadn’t been cut in Round 2, she still had an obligation to put her all into this competition. Not that spending one-on-one time with Tucker was an obligation. Far from it. But after the day she’d had, her brain wasn’t in any condition to absorb choreography. Still, she pasted on a smile as he pulled open the door to his apartment.
“Hey, Ginger.” His grin and obvious pleasure at seeing her went a little ways toward making up for her mood. He leaned in and bussed her cheek as she came inside.
Corinne scanned the apartment, noting the absence of her study buddy. “What? No Piper tonight?”
“Not tonight. Not for this dance. I need you paying attention for this one.” Tucker shut the door behind her. “And I get the sense you aren’t all here. What’s wrong?”
She frowned as she tossed down her purse, irritated at being read so well. “Nothing.”
He drew her in, already circling her to the music spilling out of his stereo. “Corinne.” In someone else, the tone might have been a warning. In Tucker, it was a simple acknowledgment that he knew something was wrong and he wanted to help.
She instinctively matched his easy rhythm and a few more knots unraveled. He was so good at this. Not just the dancing, but the uncomplicated caring. At making her feel like she could tell him anything. She blew out a breath.
“Okay, there’s nothing wrong. I’m having a bit of a moment, is all. Kurt started kindergarten today.”
“Ah. And how did that go?”
Because the whole thing wanted to spill out, she didn’t quite meet his eyes. “You don’t want to hear about this.”
“Sure I do.”
“Lance never did.”
“Lance was an asshole.” He kept his voice conversational and easy, as if remarking on the chances of the Bulldogs in the College World Series. “I thought we’d already well established that point. And the fact that I am not.”
Corinne did look at him then, analyzing with the part of her able to read moods and body language in an instant. He wasn’t angry with her for making assumptions again, though she recognized the low burn of temper and his desire to beat the shit out of Lance for how he’d treated her. And he didn’t know the full story.
“You’re right, Counselor. We did. I apologize to the court.”
The golden boy smile flashed. “So, how did it go?”
“For Kurt? Great. He was so excited. He actually tried to take his lightsaber to school.”
“Gotta establish yourself as one of the cool kids right off.”
His well duh tone made her smile. “Is that how it’s done?”
“It’s how I’d have done it if I could have.”
“Yeah, well, I managed to convince him that since it didn’t fit in his backpack, it wouldn’t fit in his cubby at school either and said he could maybe bring it for show and tell.”
“Good compromise.”
“Toddler and pre-school parenting is all about compromise. Anyway, when he got home, he was full of talk about his teacher and his classmates and the stuff they got to do. I thought maybe he’d be nervous for me to leave him with all the new people, but he was absolutely fearless.” And that had been a double-edged sword. She didn’t want her baby afraid of the world, so the fact that he’d jumped right in without problem made her proud. But couldn’t he have clung to her a little bit?