Outmatched in October (Spring River Valley Book 10) (3 page)

“Sure. We can walk there. It’s a nice night.”

She led the way, and Owen made a point not to watch the sway of her hips as her long strides ate up the sidewalk in front of her. If he didn’t get his head on straight and catch up to her, he’d probably miss his opportunity to say anything important. The deli-café wasn’t exactly the best place for an intimate conversation, but at least at this hour it wouldn’t be too crowded.

“Hey, wait up.” He jogged a few steps until he was even with her. “What’s the rush?”

“I’m hungry. Aren’t you?”

“Yeah…uh, before we get there
, I want to ask you something.” He was two steps ahead of her before he realized she’d stopped walking.

“What?”

He turned back, suddenly self-conscious. Maybe it would be easier to talk to her if they were in motion. “Uh…the other night, you wanted to talk about something. I figured maybe you were mad at Taylor about something.”

“Why would I be mad at Taylor?”

“I dunno. You didn’t want to talk to both of us, just me. I thought maybe it had to do with him.”

“Not that it had to do with you?” She cocked one hip and pursed her lips. He’d come to know this was the posture that meant she was ready to get into it. Her fighting stance. He had to tread lightly.

“So you’re mad at
me
?”

“No more than usual.” She smirked, so he had to assume the statement was rhetorical.

“Okay, so what was it?”

She hesitated, as if weighing her options. She had a habit of starting conversations like this, and then in what he considered to be typical female fashion, she’d end up saying nothing was wrong, even though it was clear something was bothering her. If she did that this time he’d have to assume it was suit guy she didn’t want to talk about.

“I have to miss rehearsal on Tuesday.”

“That’s it? You could have texted me.”

“True, and not interfered with your flirting at the bar.”

Ugh. So she’d seen him with the women at Colette’s. And it bothered her? “I wasn’t flirting. I was talking.”

“I’ve seen you talk to a lot of people. They don’t usually cling to you while you do it.”

“So they were friendly.”

“Very friendly.”

“And you were pretty friendly yourself that night, weren’t you?”

She leaned back, hands on her hips. “I wasn’t the one who had to be peeled off you. I don’t recall gazing at you and sticking my chest in your face.”

He laughed halfheartedly. “I wish I recalled that. You must have been watching someone else flirt because no one stuck their chest in my face. But you certainly gave Mr. Armani something to look at, didn’t you?”

“Mr. Armani?”

“The guy who was hitting on you?”

“Oh. Jacob.”

“Oh
. Jacob,” he mimicked her tone, despite being well aware how childish it sounded. “How come you’re allowed to ‘talk’ to people, but when I do it, it’s a problem?”

“I never said it was a problem. I was just pointing out that I had asked if I could talk to you about something
, and you ended up in a threesome at the bar.”

“That was no threesome. And even if it was, why all the cloak and dagger? If you had something to tell me, why didn’t you just say it?”

“Because it was private.”

Owen gestured to the quiet street. “There’s no one else around now.”

“Fine. I was going to tell you that…uh…I have to miss practice on Tuesday because I have an interview.”

Owen’s racing thoughts swirled to a stop. He’d expected her to say she had a date with this Jacob character. This was a relief. “Oh. Okay. For another yoga class?”

“No…it’s not an interview per se. I guess it’s more like an audition. For a singing job.”

“A solo singing job?”

“Yes. At a club. In New York City. It would be full time.”

A tight band formed around Owen’s chest, but he ignored it. How often had he told himself she was too good for Colette’s, too good for a three-man amateur band
, and too much of a raw talent to waste her days teaching recreational yoga classes? He’d have told her how he felt, except part of him was afraid this would happen, that one day she’d realize it herself and she’d be headed for better things than could be found in their tiny little town.

“Oh. Wow. That guy…”

“Owns a club called Eclipse, and he needs a singer.”

“That’s great.” He hoped she hadn’t noticed his tone didn’t match his words. He thought he sounded more like someone who’d just been shot
in the gut than someone who was happy for his friend’s success. “It’s about time someone noticed you.”

“Apparently someone saw me at Colette’s and told Jacob. He came from the city to hear me sing.”

Of course he did.
“That’s phenomenal. I’ve always thought you deserved better than some sweaty classroom at the rec center.”

Her half smile dimmed. “What does that mean?”

“It’s a compliment. You know you’re wasting your talent teaching yoga. I mean, you’re good at what you do, but when you sing…that’s what you were meant to do, not…you know.”

“No, I don’t know.”

“Hop around on one foot telling people when to breathe.”

Her perfect brows shot up. “So that’s what you think I do?”

“You know what I mean.”

“Yeah. I know what you mean. You think I’m just fooling around teaching yoga. That it’s not important.”

“No, it’s—people love your classes, but you could be somebody really…famous. You’re…”
Beautiful, talented, sexy, hot…perfect.
He meant to say all of those things, but the words got stuck in his throat. The only one that came out was exactly the opposite of what he wanted to say. “Wilting.”

“I’m what?”

“You’re wilting here. You can’t just want to spend your life in some small town in the middle of north nowhere and teach classes at the recreation center. You belong in New York at some fancy club, singing for people who really appreciate music, people who could put you on Broadway or get you a record deal.” There, hopefully that confession would convey the heights to which he thought she could aspire.

Rather than seem flattered by his admission, she looked downcast. “So you think I’m just wasting myself here.”

“You can do so much better than this place. I know if you go to that audition you’ll get the job. That suit—I mean this guy Jacob—would be an idiot not to hire you on the spot.”

“Yeah. I guess you’re right. I can have a lot more than this, and I should want it.”

He nodded, numb from the neck up. What had he done? Did he just tell the woman he worshipped that she needed to get the hell out of town for her own good? By the look on her face, she hadn’t taken anything he’d said as a compliment. He had no idea why, but his own thinking was so muddled right now, he would never be able to figure it out.

She took a step back, then another. “I should go home.”

“What? Why? Aren’t you hungry?”

“No, not really
…after all. I guess I need to work on some songs for my audition.” She kept moving backward, putting more and more distance between them. Owen felt like the ground was opening up between them and sooner or later they’d be so far apart they wouldn’t even be on the same continent.

“What about the songs for James’s party?”

“Whatever you and Taylor want to sing is fine with me…if I’m around that is.” She turned and left, practically jogging back toward the rec center where her car was parked.

Owen stood and watched her go. He’d done this. He’d pushed her out of the nest
, and now she was going to fly away. And he had only himself to blame for it.

“I guess I’m completely out of my mind.” Claudia sank into the couch in her apartment and pulled a knitted blanket over her to ward off the
evening chill.

Lily adjusted the thermostat and settled into the loveseat opposite the couch with her own blanket. Two days of rain had dropped the already cool autumn temperatures to near freezing, leaving their tiny
second-floor walk-up frigid. “You’re not crazy. Two days ago we were wearing shorts, now we need parkas in the living room. Welcome to New York State.”

“I don’t mean the weather. I mean why aren’t I more excited about this audition?”

“I thought you
were
excited.”

“I was. I should be. I guess I am, but…it doesn’t feel like a good thing.”

“Did you Google Jacob Larsen like I told you?”

“Yes.” She had, and she’d been impressed. The interior shots of his club she’d found on the website were gorgeous. His Facebook page contained photos of him with dozens of celebrities who’d visited Eclipse, and there was an article about him recently in
Forbes
. The man was successful, handsome, smart, and apparently generous and socially conscious. He supported various charitable causes, regularly held benefits at the club, and dedicated a lot of his personal time to saving rain forests. If she worked for him, she wouldn’t just be singing in some club; she’d become an employee of a global corporation that seemed, at least on paper, to be doing some good in the world. “He’s all that and a bag of chips. It’s not him I’m worried about.”

“What
, then?”

“Owen thinks I should go and never look back.”

“Ah.” Lily shivered and pulled her blanket closer around her. “Do you smell the heat coming up? If the heat doesn’t come up in the next ten minutes, I’m calling the landlord… Let’s talk about Owen.”

“Wow, did you hurt yourself shifting gears that fast?”

“I’m just saying, one, it’s still too cold in here, and two, why do you think what Owen says matters to you?”

“Because I love him.”

“Because you love him.”

“But apparently he wants me out of town.”

“I don’t think that at all. I think he wants you to be happy. Of course he thinks this job will make you happy. It’s probably great money, in a gorgeous place, surrounded by important people. How should he know all that makes you uncomfortable? Oh, right, because you never told him.”

“No, he thinks I’m wasting away here, and part of me wonders if he might be right. There’s no career path at the rec center. It’s not like I can become Vice President of Yoga.”

“Not at the rec, but what about Green Solutions? You can advance there.”

“I teach two classes a week for them. I don’t think they’re inclined to promote me.”

“Not as a part timer, but if you asked for full-time hours, you could advance. They’re a national company.”

“And I’m a singer.” There, she’d said it. She’d been practicing saying it since she’d met Jacob because he’d corrected her immediately when she’d told him she was a yoga teacher.
No you’re not,
he’d said.
You’re a singer. With a voice like yours, that’s all you’ll ever need to be.

“Are you? Is that how you feel?”

“Should I feel differently?”

“I don’t know what Owen really wants, but I know I don’t want you to move away. That being said, I’ll help you pack and drive you to the city if it’s what you really want to do.”

Claudia sighed and pulled the blanket up over her head. Nothing had hurt as much as the realization that Owen thought she should leave Spring River Valley and pursue a singing career. It wasn’t like she’d never thought about it. She’d fantasized since she was a teenager about getting a record deal and walking across a huge stage to thunderous applause somewhere, maybe touring the world, writing her own songs—but all that was just a pipe dream. Sure it would be fun, but was it a life she really wanted? She’d done her best to remain grounded in reality all her life, working for a living, saving her money, not getting caught up in the fruitless quest for fame. She loved to sing, and all her life she’d been told she had talent, but having a good voice and having what it took to make a career in the entertainment business were two different things. Claudia Galvin was a small-town girl who could sing. She’d never felt trapped here or like she was wilting. The only part of her life that wasn’t fulfilling was her relationship with Owen, and now she had to wonder if that would ever blossom into what she wanted it to be. Maybe she wasn’t wasting her time teaching yoga as much as she was wasting her time thinking the man of her dreams was standing on the other side of the microphone from her three nights a week. “I don’t know what I really want to do.”

“Go to the audition, and see how it is. What if you love it?”

That thought scared her. Could she love anything more than she loved Owen? “I’m going to go. There’s still a chance they won’t hire me. It isn’t just Jacob’s decision, so if his partners don’t like me—”

“They will. You’re amazing, and you know it.”

“If they don’t, then the decision is made.”

“Should I keep my fingers crossed that you
don’t
get it?” Lily met her gaze, a challenge in her voice. “Don’t sabotage yourself. The decision to go or not go should be yours, and it should be because it’s what you want more than anything. Don’t say no just because you’re afraid to say yes.”