Free Blurring the Lines by Mia Josephs

color, and…”
    “Crayons are cheaper than plane tickets, Chris.” She didn’t know how she meant it, which meant he probably didn’t know how to take it.
    Chris grimaced. “ You know, I can help. With whatever.”
    “From what I can tell from Max, you heat up scones for food.” Again, she didn’t know how the words came out because she didn’t know how she meant them.
    Chris gathered the remaining papers and stacked them on the coffee table.
    “Christian,” she said softly. “We’re good. I’m just…”
    He turned to face her, less panicked and more sorry. “Private. And I ruined that.”
    It wasn’t just that she was private. It was that being around Chris made her realize how much she’d missed actually living instead of just getting by. The realization slammed into her hard. She’d been just getting by . “It’s not ruined.”
    Just compromised.
     
    There was a part of Chris that knew he should walk out and never look back, but the other part of him looked at the stack of papers of his writing. His lyrics. His songs. And he wasn’t ready to give it up. He’d have given Corinne any amount of money she asked for to let him stay.
    Salsa music turned on in the kitchen after Corinne slid the pizza in the oven and Chris watched her dance with Jonah. Where was the kid’s mom? His dad? Was Jonah here full time? She was practically his mother if that was the case. Hell, he didn’t even know what she did for work during the day. No wait...yoga. Ha! She taught yoga. He watched her body move. Remembered her strength, flexibility… Yes, the yoga had done very, very nice things to her.
    He should have cared more that she didn’t want him to know about her life, should have had more respect for that. And Chris wasn’t about to dig, but he did want to find ways to get closer to her. Maybe starting now. He stepped around a worn chair and past the tiny table into the opening of the kitchen.
    Jonah giggled as he and Corinne did an awkward salsa.
    “Can I cut in?” Chris asked.
    Corinne paused. “You dance.”
    He nodded once. “Mom taught ballroom.”
    She shook her head. “Well, then you’ll put me to shame.”
    Chris wanted to be close enough to her to dance with her. Close enough to maybe break down some walls. Close enough to make fresh memories of how their bodies fit together.
    “Yes!” Jonah clapped his hands, and she relented, stepping into Chris’ arms, which were positioned at the ready.
    His fingers clasped hers, and his hand rested just over her hip, in that perfect dent made firm by her toned muscles.
    In seconds she moved with him easily and he watched her face as she concentrated on their feet, but as the music continued and their movements continued she began to relax and a smile spread across her face that was more real than maybe any emotion he’d seen from her.
    “I’m going to spin you,” he warned just before twirling her around, keeping his hand on her waist and pulling her body against his at the end of the turn.
    He expected her to laugh him off or shrug him away, but she kept moving with him, her hand tightening its grip and him breathing in the smell of her again. He was thinking a lot less about the feel of her dancing in the kitchen than about their night together. About what it would be like to have a lot of nights together. Her bare shoulders, breasts, legs… He mis-stepped, and she paused with her wide-eyes on him. His breath caught, and the timer on the oven went off breaking the moment.
    She spun away from him, her dark hair flying. “I gotta get that.”
    But the idea of her had been planted, and he watched her pull the pizza from the oven and Jonah’s small hands clapping in excitement as he hopped up and down. For the first time that Chris could remember, he actually wanted something more in his life that had nothing to do with music. Something...permanent.
    She had this kid here, and this life with a house that she loved… He could see it. Coming home to