Working It Out (A Romantic Comedy)

by Rachael Anderson

  “Which is exactly why I’m not going to tell you.” Alec’s hands landed on the wheels of his chair as he maneuvered his way toward his room once again.

  Grace folded her arms and leaned against the counter, raising her voice so he could hear her. “Maybe I’ll just hang around until you leave then follow you the way I used to back in high-school.”

  Alec glanced over his shoulder and rolled his eyes. “You’re such a pain sometimes, you know that?”

  “Look who’s talking.” Grace pushed away from the counter and moved toward him. “Is it Lanna?” After their conversation the other day, it was the only thing that made sense.

  A look of surprise registered on Alec’s face. “How did you know?”

  Grace ignored the question. “Did you ask her out, or did she ask you?”

  “She did. Why?”

  Grace smiled. Good for Lanna. But at the same time, Grace experienced a pang of jealousy that Lanna had been able to do what she couldn’t. Sure, Grace had asked Seth to go jogging—as friends. How pathetic was that? For weeks, Seth had flirted, asked her out, and found ways to get her to meet him outside the clinic. And every time, Grace had shot him down. But now that the tables had turned, Grace couldn’t bring herself to do the same.

  If she had any guts, she’d walk over to Seth’s place right now and kiss him the way he’d kissed her.

  With a frown, Grace resumed unpacking the groceries. When Alec made no move to go back to his room, Grace looked up and caught him watching her with an expectant look on his face, as though waiting for her to say something. What had he asked her again? She couldn’t remember.

  Alec leveled her a look. “Are you going to tell me how you knew it was Lanna?”

  Oh, right—that question.

  “No,” Grace said, not wanting to betray Lanna’s confidence—not that Alec couldn’t piece it together on his own if he gave it much thought.

  She put the last of the groceries away, stuffed the plastic bags into a drawer, and picked up her keys. “I hope you have a great time tonight.”

  “Will do.”

  As Grace walked out into the fading afternoon light, she raised her face to the sun. Maybe it was time to follow Lanna’s lead and let Seth know that she wanted more than just a jogging friend. That she wanted to spend time with him, go out with him, coach with him, hold his hand, snuggle, and definitely experience more of his kisses.

  If Seth felt differently, Grace would deal with it then. But come Monday morning, she would leave no question in his mind that she wanted to be more than jogging friends.

  THE EARLY MORNING air felt chilly and humid—the perfect temperature for a jog. Seth breathed in the raw, earthy smell and took in the beautiful surroundings before his gaze settled on Grace, who stood about 100 feet away with her back facing him. Her arms swung forward and back as she warmed up her body with fluid, graceful motions. In tight spandex pants and a matching jacket, with the sunlight casting a halo around her trim and toned body, she looked beautiful. The fact that Seth was here because she’d invited him made it even better.

  Ever since he’d taken Lanna’s advice and tried to be just like any other patient, Seth’s progress with Grace had improved drastically. She’d flirted, looked at him differently, smiled and teased more, and now they were about to jog together outside of work—something he’d never expected to happen.

  But at what point could Seth start being himself again and not worry that he’d drive Grace away? Or was acting disinterested the only way to pique her interest? Seth had no idea. But he found himself really hating this game.

  Seth slowed his steps, wanting to admire Grace while she was still unaware of his presence. Every part of his body longed to wrap his arms around her and experience the thrill of kissing her again, but it was too soon. Even Seth knew that. Grace had invited him here as a friend, and that was that.

  When Grace turned and spotted him, Seth gave her a head nod, keeping his expression impassive. “Hey.”

  “Hey,” she returned. “You came.”

  “I told you I would.” Seth frowned. Since when had he not followed through with a promise? If Grace invited him to go shopping for shoes and he said he’d be there, he would. Seth was a man of his word.

  Grace shook her head in a flustered manner. “Yeah, I know. I didn’t mean to sound surprised. I’m just . . . glad you’re here.”

  Seth studied her, trying to read her expression. Most of the time, Grace was always so calm and collected—the type to never let anything ruffle her. But every now and then, she acted as though she felt out of her element, as though Seth made her nervous. Like now.

  “I’m glad I’m here too.” Seth eyed the extensive path around the park that circled a pond and wove through a forest of pines. “How many laps do you usually do?”

  “How’s your knee feeling today?” she asked, as if that would determine the number of laps they’d jog.

  Seth raised an eyebrow. “Don’t forget I’m here as your friend, not your patient.”

  “I’m asking as a friend.”

  Yeah right. A smile tugged at the corners of Seth’s mouth. “My knee’s fine, thanks.” He gestured to the trail. “Ready?”

  She hesitated and bit down on her lower lip. After a moment of awkward silence, she blurted, “Aren’t you going to warm up?”

  “No.” Normally, Seth would take the time to warm up, but after all of the times she’d played the therapist/patient card, Seth felt the need to put Grace firmly in her position as not his therapist. Not today, anyway.

  Her jaw clenched, working back and forth as she studied him. Finally she looked away and shrugged. “Fine, whatever.” But her stiff body language said something completely different.

  Seth held back a smile and started forward. “Coming?” he called over his shoulder.

  “You really aren’t going to warm up?” she yelled back.

  “Nope,” he said again.

  She caught up to him. “You really should warm up.”

  “That’s what I’m doing now.”

  “Seth, c’mon.”

  He shot her a sideways look. “Get over it, Grace. You’re going to have to stop being my therapist at some point. Think of this as practice.”

  “Fine,” she huffed. “If you want to risk re-injuring your knee, that’s your call.”

  “My point exactly.”

  She huffed again, making Seth bite back another smile. He didn’t know why he found it so fun to tease her, but he did. The way she always rose to the bait made it so easy and, well, funny. It was just one more thing he found endearing about her.

  Thinking it best to change the subject, Seth said, “I hear you’ve been helping out Lanna at the after-school program.”

  “Yeah,” Grace said. “Whenever I can sneak out of work early, I try to go over. I really like working with those kids, and I love what you’ve done with that space. It’s got a great vibe now, and I like being a part of it, you know?”

  Seth nodded. He knew exactly what she meant—something he owed to Grace for pushing him to go that first time. “It’s actually been really fun for me as well. The fact that Lanna’s letting me do more without putting up a fight makes it even better.”

  “How’s the coaching coming along?”

  “Great. The girls are really starting to catch on, and we’ve even won a couple of games.”

  “I’ll have to come sometime,” said Grace. “To, you know, see you in action.”

  First jogging outside of work and now she wanted to come to one of his soccer games? Yes, this was definite progress. Seth shot her a sideways smile. “Sure, you can be the water girl.”

  “Oh, I see. First I’m the ball girl at your basketball game and now the water girl? What’s next? Laundry duty?”

  Seth chuckled. “Hey, I offered you a job as assistant coach, and you turned me down flat. It’s your own fault.”

  “Can I take it back?” she asked.

  He shot her a sideways look and smiled. “Sur
e, you can be in charge of warm-ups since you like doing them so much.”

  “Very funny.”

  They rounded a bend in the trail, and Grace moved smoothly beside him with seemingly little effort. Seth, on the other hand, was beginning to feel a little winded. He blamed it on not being able to jog for three months.

  “Alec said you outfitted all the girls with new cleats and new pairs of tennis shoes,” Grace said. “That was really great of you.”

  She made it sound as though Seth had done something praiseworthy, but Seth didn’t feel comfortable being praised for something that needed to be done—especially when he could easily afford to do it. He only wished he would have gotten involved sooner.

  He shrugged. “They needed it, and I could afford it. No big deal,” he said.

  They rounded the far end of the lake, and Grace placed a hand on Seth’s arm, slowing him down to a walk. “But it is a big deal—to those kids and to me.” She pulled him to a stop and turned to face him. “You’re a good man, Seth Tuttle.”

  Seth’s arm burned where she touched him, and the way she looked up at him made him want to lean down and kiss her right then. Would she let him? Would she respond? Or would that only set him back again?

  Seth muttered a quick thanks then started forward once again, needing some time to sort through his feelings. He didn’t understand Grace. From the beginning, she’d made a point to keep her distance—to be his therapist and only his therapist. But now things were changing, and Seth didn’t know what to make of them. Had she changed her mind? Was she finally coming around? Or was this simply a game of tag, and she was currently it?

  A sort of nervous tension latched on to Seth, making him feel anxious. As nice as it was to be chased rather than do the chasing, he was sick of both roles. Did Grace care about him as more than a patient or not?

  Up ahead, a few steps led to a bridge that crossed over a small stream. As soon as Seth hit the first step, he purposefully let his knee buckle and fell to the ground, wincing and hugging a knee that felt perfectly fine. Seth wasn’t sure what prompted him to pull such a stunt—possibly the need to find out how much Grace really cared—but here he was, on the ground, faking an injury.

  “What happened? Are you okay?” Grace dropped beside him. Her hands deftly pushed his aside as she straightened his leg and moved her fingers over his skin. “Did you tear something? This is all my fault. I should have made you warm up. Why didn’t you warm up? You should have listened to me!”

  Her touch felt so good that Seth couldn’t resist laying back in the grass and closing his eyes. He even went so far as to grimace.

  “It’s not swelling anywhere that I can tell,” Grace said. “If you lean on me, can you walk? There’s an ER not far from here. We can get it x-rayed.”

  The worry in her voice had Seth grimacing for real this time. What had he been thinking? It was as if he were ten again, tugging on the pigtail of the cute girl in class in an attempt to get her attention. That had never ended well, and neither would this.

  “Maybe you should try kissing it better,” Seth said.

  “What?” Her fingers stilled on his leg. She sounded half worried, half confused, as if she had no idea whether he was talking rationally.

  Seth squinted up at her and issued a smile, praying she’d respond with one in return. “My knee’s fine, Grace. I was just messing with you.”

  The way her expression changed from worried confusion to something not nearly as positive made Seth mentally kick himself yet again.

  “How could you?” She gave his arm a shove. “I really thought you were hurt. Why would you do that to me?”

  Seth blamed his insecurity and immaturity, with a little bit of mischief thrown in. “You’re not laughing,” he said lamely.

  She glared at him as though she couldn’t believe he’d just said that. Which was completely understandable, because he shouldn’t have said it—or faked a stupid injury either. He should have apologized, or at the very least, asked for a do-over.

  Grace opened her mouth as though she wanted to say something then snapped it shut and looked away. Various emotions crossed her face as she shifted positions and sat back on the grass. When her eyes met his again, she didn’t look happy. “Do you have any idea what it feels like to see someone you care about get hurt and not be able to do anything to stop it or fix it? It’s the worst feeling in the world.”

  Seth felt like a complete heel, mostly because he knew exactly what that felt like and should have known better. He’d watched Mike’s life slowly get sucked away and couldn’t do a thing about it.

  Idiot.

  Seth scooted closer and reached for her hand. “I’m sorry. I really am. I only meant it as a joke and didn’t think how stupid it would be.”

  She peeked at him from the corner of her eyes. “It was pretty stupid.”

  “Dumbest joke ever,” Seth agreed.

  “You can say that again.”

  “Dumbest joke ever.”

  She nodded, saying nothing. After a moment, her lips twitched and a snicker sounded. She immediately covered her mouth with the back of her hand in a failed attempt to muffle another snicker. Or was that a snort?

  Seth leaned closer to make sure it really was laughter and not the pre-curser to tears. Sometimes he couldn’t tell the difference. “Are you laughing?” he asked.

  She nodded, her eyes bright with mirth.

  Seth rubbed the back of his neck then scratched his head, not understanding how they’d gotten from A to B—not that he was complaining—but she didn’t make sense.

  “I’m sorry.” Grace bit her lips together, trying to keep a straight face. “You must think I’m bipolar or something.”

  “The thought did cross my mind.”

  She laughed. “So if I just fell for the dumbest joke ever, what does that make me exactly?”

  An answering smile tugged on Seth’s mouth as he watched her continue to fight her laughter. “I’m going to plead the fifth on that one.”

  Grace reached over and slugged him. “That’s for making me fall for the dumbest joke ever.” Then her arms came around him in a quick hug. “And that’s for not being hurt.”

  Before Seth had time to react or return the hug, she hopped to her feet and started jogging away. He suddenly felt cheated out of a moment that might have turned into something more.

  “Wait up!” Seth leapt to his feet, realizing that he was once again doing the chasing.

  Grace drove away from the park and away from Seth feeling unsettled and frustrated. Other than the quick hug and telling him that he was a good guy, she’d done nothing. She hadn’t apologized for never returning his calls or asked him out. She hadn’t even set up another time to jog.

  By the time Grace pulled to a stop in front of her apartment, she felt like a complete failure. She frowned at her building. Dating and flirting used to come so much easier, didn’t it? It had been so long that she really couldn’t remember.

  Maybe she should just send him a text. In three short sentences, she could apologize and ask him out. All she’d have to do is hit send and wait. Done.

  But Grace couldn’t bring herself to do that, either. She would not resort to a text. She would not. Grace would grow up, act her age, and do it in person.

  Tomorrow.

  But as the day wore on, the unsettled feeling worsened to the point where Grace felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t eat or focus and even had to ask Cameron for help remembering a certain exercise.

  That was the final straw.

  As soon as her last patient before lunch left, Grace headed for her office and closed the door firmly behind her. Before she could second guess or talk herself out of it, she called Seth’s number. Her hand shook as she waited for the call to go through.

  “Hey, Grace,” he answered almost immediately. “This is a nice surprise.”

  “Hey,” she said.

  A short pause.

  “What’s up?” he asked.

  It’
s now or never. Now or never. Out with it! “Do-you-still-want-to-go-out-with-me?” Grace cringed at how fast the words came out.

  “What?”

  Her cringe deepened. Of course she’d have to repeat it. Of course. It was like her penance for being a wimp. “Do. You. Still. Want. To go out with me?”

  He chuckled and lowered his voice, as though he didn’t want to be overheard. “Of course I still want to go out with you. But I thought you weren’t interested.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “Wasn’t? As in past tense?”

  “As in past tense.” Weeks ago, in fact.

  “That’s good to know.”His voice sounded like a smile—the gleeful kind that appeared when things went exactly the way Seth wanted them to.

  Silence.

  More silence.

  Grace bit her lower lip, wondering what she should say next. She hadn’t exactly thought this conversation through very well. Was he waiting for her to ask him out or at least make a suggestion? She frantically tried to come up with something, but her mind drew one blank after another.

  The silence became almost painful.

  Finally, Seth said, “Let me get this straight. You called to tell me that you’re now willing to go out with me, right?”

  Grace felt lamer than ever. “Something like that.”

  “And you figured I’d have the perfect idea for a date off the top of my head?”

  Yes. No. Maybe. Argh. Grace didn’t know. “You never seemed to have a problem with ideas before.”

  Seth laughed. “You could always ask me out, you know.”

  She could. She should. That’s what she’d intended to do, but—oh, why was this so hard? “In case you couldn’t tell, I’m a little rusty at this.”

  Another chuckle sounded. “Let me put you out of your misery then. How about Friday night at 6:00? I’ll pick you up, and we’ll do dinner and something else. That work?”

  “Yes.”

  “You sure?”

  “I’m sure.”

  “Okay then. See you Friday.” His voice still sounded like a smile—an I’m-laughing-at-you sort of smile. Grace suddenly wanted to crawl into a dark hole and hide.