it, the way she couldn’t look at me…it wasn’t nothing. It was unusual. The old Isaac would have dug his heels in until she told him what was going on. Except I didn’t know this Peyton. We weren’t the same people, and if she had secrets, well, that was her right.
“Peyton Medina!” a voice cried.
I didn’t recognize the brunette heading toward Peyton. She looked like she belonged on a runway rather than in Lubbock, Texas. Her hair had that shiny gloss and huge waves that I knew from growing up with a sister were only achievable from a salon. Her face was a mask of porcelain and ruby-red lips, and she wore a skintight dress on her thin frame and red-lacquered heels—and I was well aware of how expensive they were. It had been Abby’s dream to own a pair of Louboutins.
“Oh my God, Katherine?” Peyton said, dazed by her appearance. “What are you doing here?”
“Camden and I came down to see my brother. David married into the Wrights.”
Peyton blinked. “Wait, Sutton’s husband is your brother?”
“Small world, right?” Katherine said with a laugh.
They chatted back and forth rapidly as Katherine’s husband appeared beside her. He held his hand out, and I tried not to be intimidated as I shook, but this guy looked like a cross between a duke and a mob boss. His suit probably cost more than my entire wardrobe.
“Camden Percy,” he said.
Percy. Shit. I knew that name. He owned the Percy Tower hotel chain. Jesus Christ. Were these the kind of people that Peyton hung out with back in New York?
“Isaac Donoghue,” I offered.
“Oh, sorry,” Peyton said breathlessly. “Isaac, this is my friend Katherine. We go to the same trainer in the city.”
Katherine looked me over once and then nodded at Peyton, as if giving her approval. “Rodrigo is the best, isn’t he?”
“Truly. No one compares,” Peyton agreed.
Camden stuffed his hands into his pockets and looked put out. “If I have to hear about him one more time…”
The girls burst into giggles. Apparently, this was a common joke.
“Well, we’ll be here for another week or two. Give me a call if you do anything fun,” Katherine told her. “I still have no idea what to do here. And we’ll be at opening night, of course.”
“I’ll text you,” Peyton agreed easily.
Katherine waved at her one more time before tugging her husband away from us. I just stood, dumbfounded. The couple days that Peyton had been home, I had thought that she was mostly the same girl that I’d known before. But…how could I even understand what living in New York had been like for her?
“Wow. That was…Camden Percy,” was all I managed to get out.
Peyton giggled, something short of hysterical. “I know. Isn’t it so weird? When Katherine first started coming for training with Rodrigo, I thought she was the world’s biggest bitch, but she’s grown so much in the last year. It’s kind of incredible that I’m even friends with someone like that.”
It was.
She shook her head. “I never would have expected them to be here. They don’t exactly fit, do they?”
“They definitely stand out like a sore thumb.”
“They’re probably used to galas and Fashion Week and clubbing on top of skyscrapers,” she said wistfully.
“And you aren’t?”
Her eyes finally snapped to mine. “What? No! Are you joking, Isaac? Do I look like the kind of person who goes to those sorts of things?”
Something in me relaxed at her easy laughter and disbelief. I was overreacting. I’d been worrying that she was too far out of my reach again, but no, she was right here. And she fit in just fine in Lubbock.
I hadn’t realized how much stock I’d been putting in having her back until that moment. Until I thought that I had lost her to a glamorous life in the city. But all Peyton had ever cared about was dance. She wasn’t mine to have again. Not yet at least. And I knew that if I lost her to anything, it would be ballet and not some rich socialites.
I laughed with her. “I mean, I guess I didn’t really know. It didn’t sound like the Peyton I knew, but it has been years.”
She shrugged. “I think I’m pretty much the same person as I was. Just more dance.”
“And who even knew more dance was possible?”
“Always possible.” She touched my arm and gestured for us to keep moving. “We should probably mingle.”
I nodded and let her lead the way through the crowd of donors of the Lubbock