get my life in gear.” The words were out before Thea knew she was going to say them.
And she swore everyone at the table stilled for an instant.
“Well, how about that?” Sabrina said finally. “You don’t take on the small stuff, do you?”
“So what does getting your life in gear mean?” That was Paige—figure out your goal and set about accomplishing it.
“I don’t know,” Thea confessed. “I just want something…different.”
The table erupted in conversation. “Different is great.” Cilla stared at her with a broad grin. Had it been that obvious that she’d been going through the motions, Thea wondered.
“You could go back to school, finish your degree,” Trish suggested.
“Do you want to get into film?” Sabrina asked. “I have an opening for a production assistant.”
Paige nodded. “Or you could start your own business.”
“Why would she need the headaches?” Delaney took a sip of her Cosmopolitan. “She’s got all the money she could want socked away in the bank. You ask me, she should only do what she wants to do.”
“And what is that?” Sabrina asked.
If she only knew, Thea thought. “Right now, it’s having cake.” For the rest, she had time. She leaned in to blow out the candles.
“Don’t forget to make your wish,” Kelly reminded her.
Just to be happy, finally. It was time, Thea thought, looking around the table of glowing faces. Things had changed for her friends in more than the career department. All of them were in love. All of them, save unrepentantly single Delaney, had found their soul mates.
Not that Thea was looking for that. When it came to men, she didn’t trust her judgment a lick. She didn’t trust the whole breed, for that matter, though her Supper Club friends seemed happy with their husbands and lovers so far. She needed to take it slowly, start with getting her life rolling again.
She took a breath and blew.
THEA AND TRISH STOOD at the valet stand, the last two wait ing for their cars.
“So how are things?” Thea asked her. “You look happy.”
“I am.” A smile bloomed across her face, slow and beautiful. “I never realized I could be, not like this. I know that sounds goofy but it’s true. I keep thinking it’s all a dream and I’m going to wake up but I think it’s real.”
Thea admired her, the luminous skin that glowed against the red hair, the loveliness that Trish had hidden for so long. Until she’d met Ty. “It doesn’t sound goofy. It sounds nice.”
“I wish I could bottle it and give some to everyone I know.” Trish paused. “I wish I could give some to you.”
“I’m all right,” Thea said.
“Are you?”
“Better every day.”
Trish looked at her and nodded. “I almost believe that. You seem different tonight. I don’t know how, but different.”
“Spring fever.”
“Not spring anymore,” Trish corrected. “We’re in June. New season, new life.”
“We’ll see.” The valet drove up with Trish’s car, a sporty convertible. She traded tip for key and leaned in to hug Thea. “Happy birthday, sweetie. Here’s hoping this is your year.”
“My year for what?”
“For getting it all.”
She got in and drove away with a wave, while Thea watched. Here’s hoping this is your year.
Thea’s cell phone rang as the valet pulled up with her Prius. She flipped open the handset. “Hello?”
“I need your moves,” said the person on the other end.
Thea blinked. “Excuse me?”
“I need you, now.”
“Is this an obscene phone call?” she demanded.
“You wish,” answered a voice she recognized.
Thea handed the valet his tip. “You’re a sick woman, Waller.”
Robyn Waller, one of the few true friends Thea had made in New York. They’d met in a dance class Thea had taken to keep sharp. Since then Thea’s dance dreams had been channeled into amateur ballroom dancing and Robyn’s had been rescaled to owning a dance studio in her Portland, Oregon, hometown.
“So what’s going on? Why do you need my moves? Assuming I feel like giving any of them away, of course.” Tucking her tongue into her cheek, Thea got into her car and buckled on her seatbelt.
“Well, are you still working one of your McJobs, or do you actually have something you care about?”
When your retirement was already in the bank, earning enough for most of your income besides, a career became optional. “I’m working at a nursery.”
“Babies?”
Thea laughed. “Plants. Why, you want to come down for a visit?”
“Just the opposite. What would you say to coming up to Portland for a couple of months, teach in my studio?”
Thea snorted and pulled out into traffic. “I’d say it’s a long commute for a temp job.”
“I’m serious, Thea. I need you, if you can do it.”
There was something in Robyn’s voice, she realized. An urgency, an anxiety. “Robyn, I’m not qualified to teach,” she protested.
“Oh, come on, you know top level figures for all the Latin and smooth styles and you’re the best amateur Argentine tango dancer I know.”
“For the women’s parts, not the men’s. I’d need that to teach.”
“You can learn.”
“What happened? Why the panic?”
Robyn blew out an impatient breath. “My lead instructor’s husband got transferred to Chicago. She’s leaving in a week. I just found out today.”
“Ouch. There have got to be more qualified people up your way, though.”
“If there are, I haven’t had any luck finding them. And there’s a little thing called my vacation.”
Thea’s eyes widened. “Oh no! Australia.”
“Yeah, Australia. Everything’s already paid for. Three weeks Down Under. My cousin and I have been planning this
