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58- Dalton
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FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 59- Raeanne
The next week was a whirlwind. My head was a mess, but not a bad mess. Kind of a cozy little mess, like the kind you make on your couch over a rainy weekend when you just snuggle in with pillows and blankets and decide not to worry about the cracker crumbs or books strewn everywhere for a couple days.And my mess? It had Dalton Cunningham smack in the center of it. Well, him and also about thirty-five new students. I’d never gained thirty new students over the course of two weeks before, and I was willing to bet that even the illustrious Ned Eclair hadn’t seen numbers like that.It was kind of a miracle. A TikTok miracle. I lay in bed late at night and scrolled through our videos. Part of it was because I couldn’t quite believe these silly dancing videos had actually resulted in tangible business, but I could admit that a bigger part of it was to see Dalton, to watch him when he couldn’t see me watching him. To get the chance to really admire him. He was handsome in a ridiculously app
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 60- Dalton
“Everybody has to eat, especially overworked dance instructors.” I held up the brown paper-wrapped sandwich from the place in Solano Creek us boys frequented at least twice a week. They stacked homemade bread with so many layers of sandwich goodness, your mouth would water just thinking about the combination possibilities.Rae and I had been sneaking in moments here and there all week whenever she was free, which wasn’t often. I hadn’t considered the reality of growing her business when we started the TikToks together. I’d been so focused on winning my bet, I hadn't realized how overworked she might become when her business took off.She bit her lip and swiped at a lock of hair that had fallen out of her bun to get stuck in her eyelashes. “You’re lucky you brought pastrami. I’d do illegal things for pastrami.”I grinned. “My pride would be smarting over you not taking a break just for your boyfriend, but I’m too intrigued by the illegal things. Can you be more specific?”Rae held her
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 61- Raeanne
I didn’t actually plan to sleep with Dalton so soon. Then again, as I raised my bleary head from the soft pillow on his bed and turned to find him sound asleep at my side, I didn’t regret it. Dalton made my heart happy. Waking up next to him—even when we hadn’t really done anything, made me smile. Also, I was fully clothed and as I sat up to stretch, realized I must have completely passed out while he gave me another of his killer scalp massages and played with my hair.Dalton’s room was neat and tidy, and his bed was basically a cloud that he’d somehow wrangled through the door and tied down in here. Fluffy white duvet, soft pillows that were just the right amount of firm, and a thread count that had to be in the gazillions based on the buttery feel of these sheets. The combo of bed plus Dalton was way better than any sleeping pill; no wonder I zonked.A little grumble came from beside me and I turned to look at Dalton’s handsome face. Asleep, he looked much younger than the man I kn
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 62- Dalton
“So the idea in golf is that you want the ball to go in the hole, not in the wooded areas,” Boston said with a smirk that made me want to punch him in the nose. But I couldn’t do that to El. She’d have a fit if her groom had a black eye and swollen nose in the wedding pictures.“Well, crap.” I faked disappointment. “I better call it quits and meet you boys back at the clubhouse.”I went to put the driver back in my golf bag. I’d be happy to skip the last of the eighteen holes and cool off in the air conditioned clubhouse with a craft beer. It was an unusually hot day for spring. Besides, Boston and I were rubbing each other the wrong way as per usual. The last thing he needed at his subdued bachelor party was a grumpy kid brother.“Oh no you don’t.” Dillon grabbed me by the shoulders and steered me away from my golf cart. Under his breath so no one could hear, he muttered, “If I have to stay for this, you do too.”I was happy for Boston, I really was. I loved El and I loved that they
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 63- Raeanne
Sunday morning I was back at The Cunning Ham winery, sitting at a big round table with a glass of sparkling wine and orange juice in front of me, listening to Hannah explain how we were going to make the fancy centerpieces she’d designed for El.“The roses go like this,” she was saying, holding up the little bouquet of pink and white roses, “and then the ribbon knot is super easy. Just in, under, around and….voila!” Somehow the flowers and ribbon in Hannah’s hands had miraculously turned into the most impressive tiny bouquet I’d ever seen. “And then just drop it into the little vase and tuck the greens around it, pulling the ribbon through.”“This reeks of a craft,” Robin said. “I’m no good at crafts. What if I just focus on keeping all the glasses full?”“Mom,” El moaned. “Just do your best.”“You know I’m no good with crafts,” she said, lifting a few roses and somehow mangling them with the ribbon until each one had only a few petals left. “Remember the crochet incident of 2006? Or
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 64 - Dalton
I adjusted the fancy tie around my neck for maybe the hundredth time that morning, unsure if my nerves were for Boston and El, the best man’s speech I’d need to give at the reception, or because I intended to man up and tell Rae exactly how I felt about her today. So many times over the last week, it had been right there on the tip of my tongue. The three little words that seemed so inadequate for what was going on inside my chest whenever I was around her, or thought of her, or caught a sweet jasmine scent that reminded me of her body lotion I was obsessed with. I hadn’t been looking for her, but she’d danced her way into my heart nonetheless.Was it too early to tell her I loved her? I mean, we’d only been dating for just shy of a month, but it wasn’t so much the time, it was the depth of what we’d shared. We were working on a shared goal, each of us supporting the other. To her, I wasn’t just the funny guy. Everything about us together was just plain nice. Maybe the word nice wasn’
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 65- Raeanne
I’d never been the sappy type, not really. Sure, I could get a little choked up listening to music or when the corner bakery got the devil’s food exactly right. But this was different. As the Cunningham brothers proceeded down the center aisle with El’s bridesmaids on their arms, a little knot of emotion formed in my throat.Lincoln and Hannah went first, then Dillon and El’s friend Ashley. Dalton appeared next at the end of that long aisle, and my heart expanded inside my chest. He walked El’s friend Gigi down the aisle, but his eyes found mine in the crowd, and held fast nearly the entire time. When he took his place at the front, near the arch of white flowers, I realized I’d been holding my breath, and I let it go just in time to turn back to see El stepping out from the back and to the head of the aisle, her mother Robin at her side. El looked gorgeous—glowing and bright, her hair curled and shiny, and her dress was a satin sheath clearly made just for her. She gazed around, but
FALLING IN LOVE WHEN YOU'RE TEXTING 66- Dalton
The rollercoaster of emotions over the last twenty-four hours had me up at dawn, energy crackling in my veins when I should have been sleeping in and enjoying my weekend. After we got Rae’s studio cleaned up last night, she’d gone home to her place, stating she was incredibly tired and needed rest. She’d been so busy with teaching and hiring, and now the added stress of a break-in, I didn’t push her to stay at my place. Plus, her parents were standing right there and I didn’t think that would make the best first impression. But her parents were on my mind now.I’d had an epiphany somewhere around three in the morning as I lay in bed trying to sleep. I’d gotten Rae into this mess by choosing her videos to duet to win my bet. I needed to get her out of this mess. The guilt of being the impetus for all of this would eat me alive if I didn’t make things right. I couldn’t undo what had been done. I couldn’t make her suddenly less TikTok famous. The only thing I could do was protect her goi
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