by Amber Lynn
“Any of you who know Casey knows she doesn’t show that fear. Some would say she’s too much like me to do that, but I know it’s there, just like she knows it’s there for me. I’ve been in situations where I didn’t know if I was going to survive the day, but that’s nothing like wondering if your daughter is going to wake up one morning and feel a lump.
“We’re just one family going through these worries. I’m going to turn this over to the head of the Elizabeth Holcomb Foundation to get us on with the show, because I’m sure everyone wishes the speeches were over so we could skip right to the dancing, but this really is an important issue that touches so many people.”
Holcomb waved to the wings of the stage where Casey’s other aunt waited. Anne was her mother’s sister, who at fifty-five had never been diagnosed with cancer. In a way she was the reason Casey hadn’t had her breasts removed preventively. There had been hope. Casey should’ve probably talked to Anne about her diagnosis, but she was afraid word would get back to her dad.
Holcomb escorted Casey off stage as Anne started into the program. There were two other speakers who were supposed to keep things short, so the dinner program lasted less than an hour. Once the speeches were done, Casey usually mingled around the edges of the dance floor, fending off unwanted requests to dance and working donors. The dancing and kind of party atmosphere tended to only last an hour, and then people took the party elsewhere.
She hated to admit that having a date could change her usual habits. Dancing wasn’t her thing, but with Dylan around, the night was a little unpredictable.
“You hate speaking to a crowd, don’t you?” Dylan whispered as he stood and pulled out her chair.
“Was it that obvious? There’s a reason why I’m not a motivational speaker.”
Dylan wrapped an arm behind her chair and leaned into her, trying to make their public conversation as private as he could.
“You did great. I just figured the only reason you were staring at me was because you needed to picture someone naked.”
“Thank god you were here. Can you imagine what I would’ve had to go through if I had to picture Stan naked? Either him or Julie usually sits in the center seat, and even though we’re a pretty liberal family, I don’t think we’re that close.”
The rest of the room was half listening to the presentation and half talking quietly amongst themselves. Casey picked up her fork and looked down at her salad. Seeing that Dylan had opted for the steak wasn’t unexpected. It was surprising that he’d had it sitting in front of him and he hadn’t eaten a bite. Looking around the table, everyone else had started.
“That’s a joke, right? About you picturing him naked and that he’s family.”
“Yes, to the first, no to the second.”
Casey waited to speak until after she had her first bite of lettuce in her mouth. The ranch dressing drowning the salad had enough extra zip to it that she didn’t feel the need to complain about the death of the lettuce. Usually she liked her dressing sparingly.
Seeing that she’d started, Dylan picked up a knife and got to work on his own plate. Evidently he’d been waiting for her, which was kind of cute.
“Care to explain the relation?”
“Sure, Julie’s my dad’s sister. Did you really wait until I got done to start eating? Aren’t you a growing boy who needs his protein?”
“Of course I waited. I remember you telling me I wouldn’t have time to eat, so I wanted to make sure the food wasn’t just decoration.”
Casey laughed, forgetting that she’d told him that. “I was still trying to scare you away. Did everyone behave themselves? I kind of left you to the sharks.”
She didn’t know Wendy, but she’d spent plenty of time with the rest of the people at the table. Craig and Tracie weren’t family. They showed up for barbecues Holcomb threw over the summer, though, and that had given Casey ample opportunities to get to know them.
“If I would’ve known there were family members sitting around me, I would’ve done more than sit back and listen to them.”
“I suppose I’m grateful that news isn’t broadcast. I keep all my best secrets from them, so you wouldn’t have gotten much.”
Casey was over halfway done with her salad when Dylan offered her a bite of his steak. She’d ordered the salad because she didn’t like eating something heavy while her chest was being crushed by a dress, not because she was vegetarian. Not thinking anything of it, and because the medium rare steak looked delicious, she bit down to take the bite off his fork before turning back to her salad.
“Good, I was joking about learning more about you from them. I want you to be the one who tells me all those secrets.”
“You’re going to find I’m not as interesting as you think.” Dylan was still pushing for a relationship that couldn’t exist, so making it clear Casey was as dull as they come was a new way to deter him.
“But you just got a whole lot more interesting. You do know he’s been eating off that fork, don’t you? And you admitted to be related to me. Does he have some kind of spell on you?”
Casey didn’t like Stan’s interruption, and she let him know it with one of her deadlier glares.
“I figured I needed to warn him about the fact that you’re my uncle, because I was sure I’d have to apologize for something you did by the time the night is over.”
“Usually you don’t care how embarrassing I am.”
“And I still don’t, but that doesn’t stop me from apologizing for you, Stan. Why don’t you quit listening to my conversation and listen to what’s being said onstage.”
Casey looked up to verify she hadn’t talked the program away. She was usually one of the people glued to what the speakers were saying, but it was a little too close to home this year. The third speaker was already on the stage, which meant more time had gone by than she’d thought.
“Believe me, there is nothing more interesting in the world right now than this dynamic. How long have you two known each other? He doesn’t exactly seem like your type.”
“And what exactly is her type?” Dylan became interested in the banter, when he should’ve just continued eating.
“If I had to guess, I’d say the fact that you’re breathing puts you out of the running.”
Applause around them brought the table’s attention to the stage. Anne was wrapping things up, thankfully, so escaping Stan wasn’t going to require her patented need to use the bathroom excuse. Dylan’s hand moved from behind her back as he clapped. Cutting his steak one-handed had provided a hidden talent. The bite she’d taken had melted on her tongue like butter, but she’d thought that was partially because of how hungry she was.
“Does that mean it’s time to dance?”
“I think it does. Casey usually runs to corner whoever she thinks has the most disposable income in the room about now, but I can handle that. I’m sure if she thought about it, she’d realize you’re probably up there in the list and worth a few minutes of her time.”
“Now if you’d only sent me to dance lessons instead of martial arts, this plan could work, Dad.” Casey didn’t hide the annoyance in her voice.
“I could just pick you up and twirl you around the dance floor the rest of the night.”
“That’s a great idea, Dylan. You kids run off and have some fun. I couldn’t tell you what song the band’s playing if my life depended on it.”
Casey moved to get up before her dad could suggest more ideas for what they could do. Even with no rhythm or clue how to dance, she’d pretend she knew the song and let Dylan figure out the rest.
“If you need me, I guess you’ll know where to find me.”
Before they made it out of the room, Casey spotted her doctor making a beeline in her direction. Katherine was sometimes hard to read, so Casey didn’t know what the smile meant.
“I think we should run in the other direction.” It was the safest suggestion Casey could come up with.
“Why? I’m pretty sure Nelson and St
eph left, so I don’t think we’ll have any other attacks.”
Dylan pulled her closer as he looked around for the threat. It took him a second to find her, but eventually he noticed the woman walking their way. It only took him until she was five feet in front of them.
“Well, there goes one grand escape plan blown. Next time I say run, you’ve got to act immediately.”
“If you would’ve pointed out the threat, and told me exactly what it was, maybe I would have.”
“Since you didn’t, this is Dr. Katherine Hayes, and I’m sure she’s going to make fun of me like everyone else you’ve met tonight. I’m starting to think my dad hates me for having us show up together. I really thought I’d be too busy dealing with the event to deal with the torture.”
“I’ll do my best not to torture you. It’s good to see you out with someone, especially someone as handsome as Dylan Jones. It’s nice to meet you in the flesh, Dylan.”
Dylan glanced at Casey and then back at Katherine. “It’s nice to meet you too, I think. I tend to stay away from doctors as much as I can, because it usually means I’m off the ice for a while if I finally hurt enough to get something looked at.”
“I’ve seen you play, so I imagine you end up with lots of cuts and bruises. That’s not exactly my department. There’s quite a few doctors in the audience tonight, and as you can imagine, most of us are oncologists.”
He looked over at Casey again, and she had a better idea about what his face was trying to ask without actually asking it. Casey quickly viewed their surroundings as discreetly as she could before nodding. Most people had moved to the dance floor, leaving a couple dozen milling around the tables. She didn’t see her father anywhere, and that was who she was most concerned about.
“Yes, she’s my doctor.”
“You can tell how much she loves my company by how much disgust she put in her words. I won’t take up anymore of your time, but I had to come say hi. I don’t know exactly why you’re glued to her side. I just know I like seeing that smile on her face.”
“Wait,” Dylan said as Katherine turned to leave. “Are you the doctor she’s seeing next week?”
Katherine slowly turned back around and furrowed her eyebrows as she looked to Casey for direction.
“You told me someone should know, and I picked him. I figured a hockey player who’d been hit dozens of times in the head wouldn’t be quite as observant or caring as he seems to be.”
“Hey, that’s not fair, and it didn’t answer the question.”
Dylan played fake appalled well. If the hockey thing didn’t work out for him, he had a decent chance of making it in Hollywood. His good looks were probably enough to get him in the door, having a little talent couldn’t hurt.
“It didn’t, but I think I’ll make the answer to that count as one of your three questions.”
“But I asked her the question, not you.” Dylan didn’t whine, like most guys Casey dealt with would have when saying those words.
“Right, but she can’t answer the question because of doctor-patient privilege. So, if you want to know, you have to give up one of the questions.”
“I’ll let you two talk that out and get back to my husband. Like I said, it’s good to see you smiling, Casey. You should take my advice more often.”
Dylan didn’t say anything as they watched Katherine sashay away. Casey hadn’t had a chance to tell her that she was the only person she knew who could pull off the hot pink ball gown.
“Why did you want to know if she was that doctor?”
“I wanted to gauge her competency if she was, and whether I needed to send her links to some of my fights. I was hoping you said no because of that last bit. It would work better if it was a guy.”
“Wow, we really need to talk about your obsession with me. I thought I saw it in your eyes earlier today, but I didn’t understand just how crazy you are.”
Casey let that crazy person lead her out to the dance floor, where he proceeded to show her she was in over her head when it came to him. In a weird way Dylan reminded her of her father. Something about the way he presented himself made it hard for her to tell him no, a fact she was quickly going to have to resolve.
Chapter Eleven
“How long do we have to stay here?”
Dylan had seen people heading for the doors, and the more people left, the more he wanted to follow them. They hadn’t danced the whole night, as Casey did eventually walk around and make sure to speak with everyone, but they spent more time than most on the dance floor. It was somewhere they could be a little private, yet in front of everyone.
Casey remained guarded, but Dylan found it was easy to get her talking if he teased her about something. His goal became making her laugh as the night went on. She wasn’t a fan of the college humor he was used to around the locker room, so it took some getting used to being around someone who didn’t laugh about fart jokes, not that he’d told any.
“You can leave any time. I have to stay until the last person is gone to make sure our deposit doesn’t disappear because someone’s had too much to drink. As the night’s gone on, I’ve heard a lot more slurring, especially from your group of friends.”
“If you mean the handful of players who were here earlier, I managed to tell them to get lost in the five seconds you disappeared to use the bathroom.” Those few moments were just as nerve-racking for Dylan as when Casey had to go up on stage and he’d lost sight of her.
“I noticed they’d disappeared a while ago. The friends I’m talking about is the group of wallflowers behind me who’ve been trying to catch your eye all night.”
“At least none of them tried to cut in like the five guys I’ve had to tell to get lost. Do you think anyone cares that we’ve stopped worrying about what song is playing and have been slow dancing for the last twenty minutes?”
Dylan hadn’t paid attention to anyone not right in front of him, so whoever Casey pointed out hadn’t made it to his radar. He barely registered the pop song playing through the multiple speakers set up in the room. When he thought about a ball, he generally thought of an orchestra of sorts playing, but a DJ kept the music flowing.
“Does it matter what anyone else has to say? I’ve heard we make the cutest couple at least a hundred times tonight. We might as well act like we’re in our own little world.”
“That’s music to my ears, Casey. Earlier today you said you’d let me show up as your date, but after tonight things were going to go back to how they were. I’m hoping, especially after what you told me in my dressing room, that you’ll rethink those words.”
“You were supposed to get scared away when I told you that, yet you’ve barely left my side all night, and actually wanted to threaten my doctor. It’s not a good time for me to start a relationship. My Steph roadblock seems to probably be blown out of the water, but the fact remains, I’m not girlfriend material.”
After keeping the conversation light all night, learning what he could without going too deep, it was time to talk about the future. He’d wanted to do that away from the glitz and glam of the ball, but she wasn’t leaving anytime soon.
“Obviously I don’t agree with that, but I think what you need right now is just someone to be there for you. Who’s going to be there during the surgery and to help you after? It’s not a minor procedure, and you’re going to need help.”
“You can’t honestly be signing up to provide that help. Sure, we’ve been dancing around all night, telling each other bits and pieces of our lives, but we don’t know each other to the level where you give up your time to help me unscrew my medicine bottles when I’m in pain. Plus, you have games and practices, and a life, that will keep you busy.”
Dylan reached down and tilted Casey’s chin up, away from his chest, which she was snuggled against. He bent down and kissed her forehead before making sure her beautiful green eyes were locked on his.
“You’ve already told me you aren’t telling anyone else, so that doesn’t give me a
lot of options. If I knew your dad or one of your aunts would be there, it’d be another story. I don’t want you going through this alone. You shouldn’t have to.”
“Do you think I should tell him?”
It was a simple question with no simple answer. Dylan thought she should have someone she’d known for more than a day by her side, but he understood her dilemma.
“I think he’s going to put you over his knee and spank you when he finds out after the fact, but it’s your decision, and I can understand why you made it. As long as you allow me to be there for you, I won’t cause you any trouble on that front.”
Dylan had let go of her chin, so she laid her head back down and settled into his chest. His arms were around her waist as they swayed back and forth, not really moving their feet at all. The torturous shoes she’d been wearing were hanging from her fingers behind his neck. With over half the guests gone, and the clock indicating it was nine o’clock, they’d really stopped caring about what anybody thought.
“I should’ve kept my mouth shut. You were supposed to be a way for me to get it off my chest without someone freaking out.”
“You really shouldn’t have told someone who’s had dreams about you before even meeting you.”
“Yeah, well, I wasn’t aware of how crazy you were. You’re a lot different than I expected you’d be.”
“And you’re everything I dreamed you’d be. I don’t think I’ve used my three questions up. Are you up for answering them now?”
There had been only one time when she’d said an answer would count against him, and he hadn’t pushed after he was pretty sure he answered the question himself. Dr. Hayes wasn’t the one who would perform the surgery, but Dylan was hoping to eventually meet the person who would. Chances were one of the twenty doctors he’d met was involved, but Casey had been smart enough to not give any clues.