question be a trick? Would they think she wasn’t driven enough as a dancer if she shared either of those things?
“I prefer to focus on my dancing,” she said. When the trio exchanged glances, she hurried to add, “I also spend time with my dad in his garden. I enjoy seeing things grow.”
“Thank you,” the male told her. “We’ll notify you of our decision when we contact everyone after auditions conclude.”
Jasmine sensed that her interview answers—particularly the one about her outside interests—hadn’t been what the interviewers were looking for. It weighed on her as she gathered her things and headed to her car.
What had she said to turn the interviewers off? Did they want her more well-rounded? Should she take up crocheting? Donate her time to a local charity?
Or, ironically, would mentioning her teaching have helped her get the job?
As she sat in her car, her phone dinged. She picked it up and scanned the screen.
You going to be home tomorrow?
The text was from Will. He had just returned from a three-day road trip. Though they hadn’t seen each other since the charity event, she’d had a lesson with Katie the day before. They were working on something different when he couldn’t participate in the lessons so he didn’t miss anything.
She stared at the text until the screen went blank. Then she put the phone down and started the car. She wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone, she told herself.
And she definitely was not avoiding Will Campbell and how he made her feel.
* * *
The next day, he showed up on her doorstep.
She was doing yoga with May on one of her sister’s rare afternoons off. They had the place to themselves since the guys were out. They were in the middle of their video when the doorbell rang.
“Your turn.”
May issued the directive from the depths of her King Pigeon pose. Because her face was practically touching the floor between her feet, her voice was muffled.
Jasmine huffed and unwound herself from the same pose to answer the door. Her cat, Dido, who had been watching them with her emerald green eyes from her spot on a nearby windowsill, leaped down and headed for the stairs. She had no patience for visitors.
The cat’s response mirrored Jasmine’s own. Her irritation led the way to the front door. When she looked through the peephole and saw Will standing there holding a bag full of tools, that irritation latched onto the latent feelings she’d been denying for five days and propelled her right into outrage.
“Seriously?” she greeted him when she opened the door. The sight of his smile falling from his face did nothing to ease her sudden surge of emotion. “I would have thought you’d take the hint when I didn’t respond to your texts. Why are you insisting on talking to me when I obviously don’t want to?”
He took a moment to study her in silence, making her hyper-aware of the loose tendrils of hair that had escaped her hasty braid and the fact that she hadn’t bothered to put on any makeup that morning. That just upset her even more.
“I’m actually here for May,” he said before she blew up again. “Is she home?”
The heated words she’d been prepared to hurl at him vaporized in confusion. When she processed what he’d said, her chin lifted.
“May?” she called over her shoulder.
“Yeah,” her sister responded from the family room.
“You have a visitor,” Jasmine said stiffly, turning from the front door and returning to her yoga mat.
She knew she was acting like a bitchy idiot. Will was there to take care of the repairs he had promised May he would handle. When he had texted to ask if she would be home that day, it was probably to make sure he didn’t waste his time showing up to an empty house.
Of course he’s not here to see you, she thought as she returned to her mat and cued the video back up. You made yourself pretty damn clear, didn’t you? And you’re right to keep that line drawn. The more involved you get with him and Katie, the harder it’ll be to return to dancing.
She struggled to ignore the painful lump in her throat. She must be PMSing or something.
“It’s so nice of you to take the time to come out here,” May told Will as they crossed the room to the kitchen. “I was able to find the make and model of the oven, and I put together a little list