All I Ever Wanted(13)
He would probably never know.
CHAPTER FOUR
CAKE BY THE OCEAN
Arabella's hands trembled so much that she had to squeeze the steering wheel or risk wrecking the rental car. Her stomach churned and her fight-or-flight instinct kicked in. Flight was winning with flying colors, so she did a U-turn, not caring if she received a traffic ticket. Siri became seriously pissed and demanded that she make another, legal U-turn this time. "No!" Arabella shouted at her cell phone, but Siri persisted in that damned calm tone of hers.
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After several angry horn honks at her helter-skelter driving, Arabella pulled over to the side of the road. She sat there, hands still on the wheel, trying to keep from having an anxiety attack. Heart thumping, light-headed, she cursed herself for not stopping for lunch. "Why again am I doing this?" she whispered. "Right, I'm broke. Maxine is a nightmare. So here I sit. Ugh."
The decision to come to Sea Breeze, Florida, to do the choreography for the Heartbeat reunion had taken a full week of weighing pros and cons. But when the persistent Oliver Heart upped the already generous offer, Arabella knew she had to take the job or kick herself in the butt forever. Plus, leaving LA meant she could sublet her apartment that was too expensive anyway due to her current lack of cash flow. Free accommodations in a gorgeous house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean for nearly three months and being able to hold off Maxine's involvement with Hip, Hop, Health tipped the scales. Arabella's small corporate staff could oversee the ten fitness studios, and she'd let them know she could be reached day or night for any reason. Plus, her trusted friend Jenna Clark was more than capable of running the show. While Arabella loved the creative end of the business, Jenna was a wiz with the numbers, and she'd been especially helpful after Arabella's blunder in growing the business too fast.
In a perfect world, she'd ultimately planned to leave the business side to her staff anyway, giving her the time to choreograph more fun, innovative dance routines, do some traveling, and create time to enjoy a social life.
But the cons sucked.
Arabella rested her forehead atop the steering wheel and tried to hold herself together. She hated confrontation . . . and this one was going to take the damned cake. Working with the man who had broken her heart and wrecked her life wasn't going to be easy. When she'd asked Oliver if Grady knew she was being offered the job, Oliver had dodged the question by saying, "We talked at length about your involvement. We need you to modify the old routines. We're all in pretty good shape but we can't quite cut some of the more complicated moves." To Arabella, Oliver's statement translated to: We argued and never came to an agreement.
They had to be desperate. Unfortunately, so was she.
When she'd walked in on Grady and the groupie over thirteen years ago, her world had stopped spinning. Trust wasn't something she gave easily, and the betrayal had hurt her to the core. She couldn't even begin to take his calls or even listen to voice messages, and so she deleted each one. Blocked him on social media. Cut her ties completely.
"Oh boy . . ." Being able to work with Grady was going to test her professionalism to the limit. But another reason she'd taken the job was to raise money for the Susan Heart Lupus Foundation. Arabella had adored Susan, who was such a mother hen but could enjoy a good laugh with her kids too. Arabella had been on a job in London when she'd heard the horrible news of Susan's passing and she'd been regrettably unable to attend the funeral. She still couldn't quite wrap her brain around the realization that lovely, vibrant Susan was gone and couldn't imagine the pain the Hearts had suffered. She'd sent her condolences and made a generous donation to the foundation, but she'd wanted to call Grady so badly-if only she could have done it without opening that closed door.
Swallowing hard, she thought of her own mother's simple request that she come home for the holidays and felt a sudden longing for her mom's hug. Grady's betrayal had put a wall around her heart that had her shutting people out, but how could she get past something that still hurt so much? Maybe if she went back to her roots she'd find the missing piece to the puzzle of her life. She knew one thing. She wasn't about to let her grandmother's house be sold to a stranger.
Great, add that one to my growing impossible-to-do list. Why does everything require money?
"Okay. Enough." After releasing her death grip on the steering wheel, Arabella inhaled a deep breath and blew it out. Leaning back against the cool leather seat, she sat there, motionless except for the tremble of her cold fingers. "Stop it," she said to her hands, and mustered up the courage to pull back onto the road. After a few more miles her heart rate slowed a little bit. She knew she had to walk up to Grady's front door and ring the bell with confidence, and, according to her pissed-off Siri, she was nearly there. "Great," she muttered as she slowed her speed to the point where a turtle could have passed her. Horns honked again.