“That’s true,” Jaden said happily.
“Oh! I did hear about that!” Kelsey said. She stared at Liam. She had been so caught up in her own situation, she had forgotten that she had seen their names online, and one night on the news. Sean O’Hara and the Becketts had gotten involved with a film crew, recreating the situation in which two people had been brutally murdered on an uninhabited island. A documentary would air sometime the following year.
“And it’s over,” Vanessa said with a shudder. “Next week, I’m filming dolphins for a public-service feature. I’m much happier!”
“That sounds great,” Kelsey said.
“Okay, we’re really out of here,” Jaden said. “It’s wonderful to meet you,” she told Kelsey. “And thanks for letting us get in the place on Saturday.”
“My pleasure. If anyone is allergic to dust, they’re in trouble,” Kelsey warned as Ted and Jaden left.
It was a warm group, and she was apparently accepted.
Sean and Vanessa decided to brave the bouncing coeds and dance; Liam looked at Kelsey. “Want to try it?”
Dance. He was asking her to dance. Just dance. And yet…
“Do you remember grade school? Mrs. Miller insisted we have something like a cotillion!” she said, grinning.
“We can probably still manage.”
Clarinda was busy taking drink orders at another table; Jonas and David were deep in conversation. She still hesitated.
It was a dance, just a dance. She wasn’t being sucked back into this actually being her home.
“Sure,” she said with a shrug.
By the time they reached the floor, however, Katie was singing at the request of the coeds—she was doing a Shakira number, and Liam told her, “Salsa!”
“Oh, Lord!” she said.
“You’ve been gone too long. We have a major-league Cuban influence down here—everybody salsas. You’ll be fine!”
Oddly enough, it all kicked in. Maybe it was like riding a bike.
Liam knew what he doing. She remembered in ballroom dance, her job was to follow. He led well. And it was fun, exhilarating. She didn’t remember the last time she had been out like this.
By the end of the number, they had the floor. The bouncing coeds came over and hugged them enthusiastically, then decided to drip their inebriated adoration on Katie.
It was too easy to have too much fun. To feel his hands on hers, and his arms around her, and feel as if time had evaporated. They’d never taken a step past friendship, but then, they’d still been so young….
“This has been wonderful,” she said. “I think, though, Liam, if you don’t mind, I should get back home.”
“Hey, I can take you,” Jonas said. “I’m a stone’s throw from you.”
“Clarinda is still working,” David pointed out.
“I’m fine taking Kelsey home,” Liam said. “I want to walk around the place a bit, too.”
“The new locks are on, right?” David asked.
“Yes. I just want to take a walk around the place,” Liam repeated.
“Sure, but, Kelsey, don’t forget—the Salvage Inn, right across from you. Clarinda and I are in room one—it’s the left half of the house. Our breakfast chef and server are in at five-thirty in the morning, and we have a bartender at the tiki bar until two a.m., so if you’re ever nervous at all, someone is there. And, of course, don’t hesitate to wake us up!” He rose.
“Thanks,” Kelsey said. “That’s really nice. Especially since I was such a pain in the ass as a kid!”
He laughed. “Hey, David, tell Clarinda I’ll be back. I’m just going to go home and check on the B and B for a few minutes. Make sure we don’t have any calamities going on.”
“Will do,” David said.
When they walked out to Liam’s car, the coeds decided that they were all best friends, too. Kelsey endured a round of hugs from the cheerful cheerleaders and their bruiser dates.
At the cars, they waved good-night to Jonas.
Liam turned down Simonton rather than Duval, knowing that Duval would be filled with jaywalkers. It was seldom an easy street to traverse—except maybe at five in the morning.
But the backstreets could be quiet and pretty. There were so many fine Victorian houses, since the great age for Key West—when the city had boasted one of the highest per-capita incomes in the country during the age of wreckers—had occurred when building had been seen as artistry. There were bungalows, shotgun houses and many a grand dame in Old Town.
“Have you missed the place?” Liam asked her. He had apparently been watching her as she surveyed their surroundings.
“Of course, I’ve missed it. I mean, I think—unless a place were absolutely terrible—you’d miss it if you’d basically grown up there,” Kelsey told him.
“But you like where you live now,” he said.
“Yes.”
“And you’re in Hollywood,” he said.