THE CHAMBER
Two weeks and two lunches later, Winn's arm had been twisted. It was the first week of November and she had apprehensively chosen to actually leave work on time to attend a dinner for Chamber of Commerce members. Patrick had suggested maybe showing up together, but she had politely shot that down. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea. He was a nice guy, and they got along, but she didn't really feel connected to him that way. Nor did she want to.
It didn't help that her mind seemed to drift to Taylor more often than not. She hadn't seen him since their little impromptu coffee stroll that random Saturday morning. She wouldn't have minded having coffee with him again. However she just couldn't work up the nerve to--well, she couldn't call him anyway. He had taken her business card but never gave her any way to communicate with him. This cleared her conscience just a little. If she hadn't seen or heard from him, then that was ultimately his fault, not hers. Still, though. She replayed that morning in her head constantly, wondering what she could have possibly said or done to drive him away all of a sudden.
She didn't like thinking about it. She didn't want to think about it. In the short month she had been in town, her office was actually showing some potential, and it had happened without the constant distraction of a man--well, without the distraction of Taylor Hanson, that was. She wanted to keep up the momentum.
Also, Taylor was a self-proclaimed workaholic. And to hear him tell it, he took it to extremes way beyond her own. So maybe he'd been busy. That was understandable. She couldn't fault him for that.
Winn smoothed over her outfit one last time before she walked into the ballroom of the downtown Hyatt Regency hotel. She couldn't deny that her nerves were getting the best of her and she still wasn't sure if she was under or over dressed. She wore a black, slender pantsuit with a fitted blazer. Her white shirt exposed ruffles down her chest. She chose to spice it up with a pair of red stilettos that barely peeked out from underneath her long pants.
When she stepped in the room and looked around, she was surprised at the assortment of cocktail dresses she saw. She even saw a couple of men in jeans. It was one of the most motley of crews she had ever seen. And it was her understanding that this was one of the bigger dinners of the year. Suddenly, her pantsuit didn't seem like a bad idea after all.
However, she had no idea where to go from there. Glancing around, she saw a table by the inside of the door, so she ventured over, assuming the ladies sitting behind it could help her. She wasn't disappointed. "Hi," she said to them. "Um, I've never actually been to one of these before. What am I supposed to do?"
The woman who helped her was nice. She asked for her name and handed Winn a nametag. It said Winifred. Winn resisted the urge to curl her nose up in disgust and she was instructed that she could find her name card at table 14. Table 14? Just how big was Tulsa, anyway?
She made her way to the nearly empty table and had a seat, looking around. Everyone seemed to know each other. Hardly anyone was sitting, as most of them were lined up at the bar or milling around, talking to each other. She knew she should probably be following suit and introducing herself a little--after all, this was a networking function. But what was she going to do, share insider secrets with the competition? Really, what could any of these people do to help her business? She found herself questioning her presence for the millionth time that night.
She glanced around the table she sat at, unable to read any of the name cards. Not that it mattered anyway, she wouldn't know any of them. At least she assumed she wouldn't--until she heard her own name. "Winn?"
Turning her head around, Taylor walked up to the table, a beer in his hand. He smiled at her as she looked back at him in shock. She didn't know why she was surprised, she figured he would be there. Though judging by his recent disappearing act, she'd had her doubts. "Uh, Taylor. Hi."
He smiled at her. "Gotta admit, I'm surprised to see you here."
"Likewise," she said, feeling suddenly bitter. He was going to disappear off the face of the planet for two weeks and then act like nothing had happened? Unacceptable.
She watched him glance at the table at the name cards before setting his beer down beside her. Swiftly, he switched his name card with one two seats away from her and helped himself to the chair beside her. "Want a beer?" He asked her.
Winn shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm, uh, not really a beer drinker."
"That'll change."
"Do what?"
Taylor blushed and shook his head. "Nothing, I just--you know, my band has a beer..."
"I'm aware..."
"And I just, I figure if you hang around long enough you might develop a taste for it. You know..."
"Oh," she nodded, knowingly. "Like if I ever had a way to contact you, we could hang out and have a beer sometime."
Taylor grinned. "Yeah. Exactly."
"Except that I don't."
His smile faded and his brow furrowed. "What?"
"I don't have a way to contact you. You never gave me any of your contact information. You have my office number and you have yet to utilize it, so I assumed that any kind of hanging out or beer drinking was certainly NOT in our future."
His expression fell blank and he blinked at her. She had obviously rendered him speechless and she was beginning to find that she sometimes preferred him that way. To her surprise, he retorted, "Maybe I was staying out of the way so you could be free to spend your lunches courting businessmen."
Her eyes widened, her temper flaring. This was NOT the same Taylor Hanson she had met just several weeks ago. Who the hell was THIS one? "Excuse me?"
He turned up his beer, his eyes never leaving hers. "Well, you never would go with me, so I can only assume--"
"You never asked me."
Taylor fell silent again, the blood rising in his face. He put his beer down and he glanced down the table in shame. "I've, uh, I've made an ass of myself here, haven't I?"
Winn nodded. "Little bit, yeah."
"Look, I'm sorry. I've had--I've had a shitty couple of days. I'm already on my third beer. This isn't really me. I'm not normally an asshole like this-"
"You just needed a punching bag."
"It's not like that--"
"No, I get it. I do. I go off on random people sometimes, too. If I didn't understand your working habits, I'd be a little more offended. The truth is, however, that I'm a little simpler of a person than you might think. If you want something from me, all you have to do is ask for it. Simple as that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the bar to get myself a drink and to greet my friend who has just arrived. I suppose I'll be seeing you when dinner is served, then?"
As she stood up, Taylor merely nodded at her as she made her exit. She took a deep breath to help stave off the nerves that had taken over her entire body. She felt better, having felt like she'd had her own revenge for his absence. However, she hated how she constantly thought about these things.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Taylor watched Winn walk away and immediately noticed the familiar suit he'd seen her hanging around with. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and dropped his head, disgusted with himself. What the hell had just happened? Why the hell was he such a damn jerk all of a sudden?
Not in the mood to socialize with anyone at the moment, he got his phone out and texted Zac. "I blew it," he texted him.
Seconds later, Zac responded. "Blew it how?"
"Had a few beers. Let my mouth get the best of me."
"How bad was it?"
"She left me here to talk to another man."
"Ouch. Did you at least ask her out yet?"
"Nope. I was too busy being an asshole."
"I can't believe you even went to that thing. How did you know she was even going to be there?"
"Call it intuition. She looks great, too."
"This isn't good for you, man."
"What's not good for me? Trying to get a date? On my own? Without Ike taking pity on me and setting me up on one?"
"If you would just make a move already, you wouldn't strike out all the time."
"Sue me if I like to get to know them first."
"And you see where that gets you."
Taylor scowled into his phone. "What do you know?" He texted back. "You're married."
"Exactly that. I'm married and you're not. How do you think that came to be?"
"Ike's not married."
"But he's getting laid."
Taylor sighed and shoved his phone back into his pocket. Once upon a time, Zac was someone he could confide in. Now he was getting to be just as bad as Isaac, their older brother.
He looked over his shoulder and spied Winn laughing with the suit, a glass of white wine in her hand. He wished he didn't have a crush on her. What was more, he wished he hadn't confided the crush in Zac. Some things were just better kept to yourself.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Winn tried hard to keep herself from glancing over at her table. Taylor looked fantastic tonight in tan chinos and a blue button-down. She felt like a hypocrite, trying to emotionally distance herself from him, yet standing here laughing it up and going on lunch dates with Patrick. However, what she'd said to Taylor was true--if he'd have asked her to lunch or something, she probably would have accepted. Except that he didn't. And she couldn't help that she was a little old-fashioned.
She had no idea what Patrick was even talking about in that moment. After the first lunch date with him, she noticed that a lot of what he said didn't interest her and it went in one ear and out the other. He liked to hear himself talk. A lot. And as long as she nodded and smiled and acted like she was paying attention, he could talk even more. It was no wonder he was single. It seemed he could be perfectly happy just keeping himself company.
However, when he wasn't interested in the sound of his own voice, he was very charming. He'd paid the tab every time, held the door open for her, walked her to her office. He was at least a gentleman, if anything. That much she could respect.
When it appeared that dinner was soon to be served, they made their ways to their respective tables--hers at 14 and his at 17. He'd expressed regret that they couldn't sit together and she couldn't help but compare him to Taylor in that moment. Hell, Taylor had at least taken the initiative to make the seating arrangement convenient for him. There was no reason Patrick couldn't do the same. On the other hand, she opted not to put the idea in his head. It wasn't that she disliked him, it was just that, even though she was still a little pissed at Taylor, she knew that sitting by him, at least she wouldn't be bored.
Winn was disappointed that the chair next to her that he had once occupied was empty. On a positive note, Taylor's place card was still there, so surely he didn't intend on changing his seating once again. She had glanced around the room to see if she could find him when she was suddenly distracted by the plates of food being placed in front of her and the others that had begun to fill the table. She glanced around and the table was quiet as everyone began to dig in to their plates. She felt a little weird, since she was used to an entire table being seated before she started eating, but she guessed it worked out since her appetite was barely there anyway. So much for introducing herself to her dinner companions and breaking the ice, huh?
A moment later, Taylor approached the table and sat down, placing a glass of wine in front of her. "I, uh, thought you might need a refill. To have with dinner."
In spite of herself, she melted, as a smile crept across her face. "Thank you. That's nice of you."
"It's a peace offering. For the way I acted earlier."
"Well I appreciate it. But I said it was okay."
"Except that it wasn't. I was crude and I was out of line and I apologize."
She sipped her wine and looked at him. "Apology accepted."
He smiled at her. "Thank you."
Her appetite suddenly making another appearance, she began to poke around at the chicken on her plate. "So, what happens at these things anyway?"
Taylor swallowed the bite in his mouth and sipped his water. "It's the end of the year dinner, everybody's gearing up for the holidays. They wine and dine us, give us a couple of motivational speeches and then send us home. And there's a raffle. The money goes to help different organizations for the holidays. Coats for the homeless, toys for kids, that sort of thing."
Winn smiled. "Well that's nice."
"I donated a guitar this year."
Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "That's very nice."
He shrugged as he took another bite of his dinner. "It's the least I could do."
She narrowed her eyes at him. She knew better. "Except it isn't even the half of what you're doing. Or what you've been doing."
He glanced at her and then back at his plate. "I don't really like to publicly display my personal donations."
She couldn't stop her smile. "You sneak."
"Not trying to be sneaky. I just--I like to help. Don't really feel the need to shout it from the rooftops, you know? It's personal for me."
Winn nodded in understanding, deciding to drop the subject. "Okay. I get it." She poked around her plate in silence for another moment before she spoke again. "You know, they might raise more money by auctioning the stuff off rather than selling dinky raffle tickets. Or maybe have a five ticket minimum or something. If people are just buying tickets to win stuff, they're not really getting anything done."
Taylor smiled over at her. "Maybe you should suggest that. I'd be on board with it."
She shook her head. "I don't know. I only came here tonight to see what this was all about."
"Well, I love the idea. And if I ever end up stealing it from you, don't say I didn't warn you."
Winn smiled back at him. Now it was finally feeling like it did when they first met. This was the Taylor she wanted to get to know.
**********************
This was also the Taylor who couldn't quite seem to get it right. As he walked her to her car that night, their coats tight around their bodies, they stood outside and talked for a good while more. Winn found it easy to talk to him and they never seemed to run out of topics to discuss. She could have talked to him all night had she not needed to head back home and get ready for work the next morning.
"Maybe next time they should consider having this on the weekend so people can actually enjoy their evenings."
"Maybe you should suggest that, too."
"Maybe I should just run the entire damn Chamber," she retorted as they both laughed.
As Taylor's laugh subsided, he shoved his hands in his pockets. "So did you not enjoy your evening?"
Winn looked at him for a moment before she smiled and nodded. "I enjoyed it some, yeah. You?"
"It was nice having someone to talk to. I wish you'd consider doing this again. I come to almost every meeting."
She narrowed her eyes, curiosity getting the best of her. "So, why exactly ARE you here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you go to the meetings? You have a record label. It's not like there's any networking for you to get done or any motivational speech that's gonna ramp up business for you. You know?"
Taylor blushed and ran his hand through his hair. "I, um, I don't get out much. I spend the majority of my time holed up in a studio. And when I do get out, it's almost always work-related, collaborating on songs or socializing with fans or something. At least here, it's kind of work-related, but I get to kinda step out of my box a little bit and get a bit of fresh air. So, I come to Chamber meetings."
"Hm. Okay. I can respect that. Listen, thank you for being...enjoyable company tonight. And thank you for the wine again, that was very thoughtful of you."
"No problem, anytime," he answered. "I better hit the road myself. I have an early day tomorrow. And so do you."
She smiled at the sentiment and moments later, he was walking away and she was stepping into her own car. Alone. And he still hadn't asked her out nor volunteered his phone number. It was obvious that he just wasn't interested.
Letting out a sigh of defeat, Winn stepped on the gas and took herself home.
Two weeks and two lunches later, Winn's arm had been twisted. It was the first week of November and she had apprehensively chosen to actually leave work on time to attend a dinner for Chamber of Commerce members. Patrick had suggested maybe showing up together, but she had politely shot that down. She didn't want him to get the wrong idea. He was a nice guy, and they got along, but she didn't really feel connected to him that way. Nor did she want to.
It didn't help that her mind seemed to drift to Taylor more often than not. She hadn't seen him since their little impromptu coffee stroll that random Saturday morning. She wouldn't have minded having coffee with him again. However she just couldn't work up the nerve to--well, she couldn't call him anyway. He had taken her business card but never gave her any way to communicate with him. This cleared her conscience just a little. If she hadn't seen or heard from him, then that was ultimately his fault, not hers. Still, though. She replayed that morning in her head constantly, wondering what she could have possibly said or done to drive him away all of a sudden.
She didn't like thinking about it. She didn't want to think about it. In the short month she had been in town, her office was actually showing some potential, and it had happened without the constant distraction of a man--well, without the distraction of Taylor Hanson, that was. She wanted to keep up the momentum.
Also, Taylor was a self-proclaimed workaholic. And to hear him tell it, he took it to extremes way beyond her own. So maybe he'd been busy. That was understandable. She couldn't fault him for that.
Winn smoothed over her outfit one last time before she walked into the ballroom of the downtown Hyatt Regency hotel. She couldn't deny that her nerves were getting the best of her and she still wasn't sure if she was under or over dressed. She wore a black, slender pantsuit with a fitted blazer. Her white shirt exposed ruffles down her chest. She chose to spice it up with a pair of red stilettos that barely peeked out from underneath her long pants.
When she stepped in the room and looked around, she was surprised at the assortment of cocktail dresses she saw. She even saw a couple of men in jeans. It was one of the most motley of crews she had ever seen. And it was her understanding that this was one of the bigger dinners of the year. Suddenly, her pantsuit didn't seem like a bad idea after all.
However, she had no idea where to go from there. Glancing around, she saw a table by the inside of the door, so she ventured over, assuming the ladies sitting behind it could help her. She wasn't disappointed. "Hi," she said to them. "Um, I've never actually been to one of these before. What am I supposed to do?"
The woman who helped her was nice. She asked for her name and handed Winn a nametag. It said Winifred. Winn resisted the urge to curl her nose up in disgust and she was instructed that she could find her name card at table 14. Table 14? Just how big was Tulsa, anyway?
She made her way to the nearly empty table and had a seat, looking around. Everyone seemed to know each other. Hardly anyone was sitting, as most of them were lined up at the bar or milling around, talking to each other. She knew she should probably be following suit and introducing herself a little--after all, this was a networking function. But what was she going to do, share insider secrets with the competition? Really, what could any of these people do to help her business? She found herself questioning her presence for the millionth time that night.
She glanced around the table she sat at, unable to read any of the name cards. Not that it mattered anyway, she wouldn't know any of them. At least she assumed she wouldn't--until she heard her own name. "Winn?"
Turning her head around, Taylor walked up to the table, a beer in his hand. He smiled at her as she looked back at him in shock. She didn't know why she was surprised, she figured he would be there. Though judging by his recent disappearing act, she'd had her doubts. "Uh, Taylor. Hi."
He smiled at her. "Gotta admit, I'm surprised to see you here."
"Likewise," she said, feeling suddenly bitter. He was going to disappear off the face of the planet for two weeks and then act like nothing had happened? Unacceptable.
She watched him glance at the table at the name cards before setting his beer down beside her. Swiftly, he switched his name card with one two seats away from her and helped himself to the chair beside her. "Want a beer?" He asked her.
Winn shook her head. "No, thank you. I'm, uh, not really a beer drinker."
"That'll change."
"Do what?"
Taylor blushed and shook his head. "Nothing, I just--you know, my band has a beer..."
"I'm aware..."
"And I just, I figure if you hang around long enough you might develop a taste for it. You know..."
"Oh," she nodded, knowingly. "Like if I ever had a way to contact you, we could hang out and have a beer sometime."
Taylor grinned. "Yeah. Exactly."
"Except that I don't."
His smile faded and his brow furrowed. "What?"
"I don't have a way to contact you. You never gave me any of your contact information. You have my office number and you have yet to utilize it, so I assumed that any kind of hanging out or beer drinking was certainly NOT in our future."
His expression fell blank and he blinked at her. She had obviously rendered him speechless and she was beginning to find that she sometimes preferred him that way. To her surprise, he retorted, "Maybe I was staying out of the way so you could be free to spend your lunches courting businessmen."
Her eyes widened, her temper flaring. This was NOT the same Taylor Hanson she had met just several weeks ago. Who the hell was THIS one? "Excuse me?"
He turned up his beer, his eyes never leaving hers. "Well, you never would go with me, so I can only assume--"
"You never asked me."
Taylor fell silent again, the blood rising in his face. He put his beer down and he glanced down the table in shame. "I've, uh, I've made an ass of myself here, haven't I?"
Winn nodded. "Little bit, yeah."
"Look, I'm sorry. I've had--I've had a shitty couple of days. I'm already on my third beer. This isn't really me. I'm not normally an asshole like this-"
"You just needed a punching bag."
"It's not like that--"
"No, I get it. I do. I go off on random people sometimes, too. If I didn't understand your working habits, I'd be a little more offended. The truth is, however, that I'm a little simpler of a person than you might think. If you want something from me, all you have to do is ask for it. Simple as that. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the bar to get myself a drink and to greet my friend who has just arrived. I suppose I'll be seeing you when dinner is served, then?"
As she stood up, Taylor merely nodded at her as she made her exit. She took a deep breath to help stave off the nerves that had taken over her entire body. She felt better, having felt like she'd had her own revenge for his absence. However, she hated how she constantly thought about these things.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Taylor watched Winn walk away and immediately noticed the familiar suit he'd seen her hanging around with. He sighed and ran a hand through his hair and dropped his head, disgusted with himself. What the hell had just happened? Why the hell was he such a damn jerk all of a sudden?
Not in the mood to socialize with anyone at the moment, he got his phone out and texted Zac. "I blew it," he texted him.
Seconds later, Zac responded. "Blew it how?"
"Had a few beers. Let my mouth get the best of me."
"How bad was it?"
"She left me here to talk to another man."
"Ouch. Did you at least ask her out yet?"
"Nope. I was too busy being an asshole."
"I can't believe you even went to that thing. How did you know she was even going to be there?"
"Call it intuition. She looks great, too."
"This isn't good for you, man."
"What's not good for me? Trying to get a date? On my own? Without Ike taking pity on me and setting me up on one?"
"If you would just make a move already, you wouldn't strike out all the time."
"Sue me if I like to get to know them first."
"And you see where that gets you."
Taylor scowled into his phone. "What do you know?" He texted back. "You're married."
"Exactly that. I'm married and you're not. How do you think that came to be?"
"Ike's not married."
"But he's getting laid."
Taylor sighed and shoved his phone back into his pocket. Once upon a time, Zac was someone he could confide in. Now he was getting to be just as bad as Isaac, their older brother.
He looked over his shoulder and spied Winn laughing with the suit, a glass of white wine in her hand. He wished he didn't have a crush on her. What was more, he wished he hadn't confided the crush in Zac. Some things were just better kept to yourself.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Winn tried hard to keep herself from glancing over at her table. Taylor looked fantastic tonight in tan chinos and a blue button-down. She felt like a hypocrite, trying to emotionally distance herself from him, yet standing here laughing it up and going on lunch dates with Patrick. However, what she'd said to Taylor was true--if he'd have asked her to lunch or something, she probably would have accepted. Except that he didn't. And she couldn't help that she was a little old-fashioned.
She had no idea what Patrick was even talking about in that moment. After the first lunch date with him, she noticed that a lot of what he said didn't interest her and it went in one ear and out the other. He liked to hear himself talk. A lot. And as long as she nodded and smiled and acted like she was paying attention, he could talk even more. It was no wonder he was single. It seemed he could be perfectly happy just keeping himself company.
However, when he wasn't interested in the sound of his own voice, he was very charming. He'd paid the tab every time, held the door open for her, walked her to her office. He was at least a gentleman, if anything. That much she could respect.
When it appeared that dinner was soon to be served, they made their ways to their respective tables--hers at 14 and his at 17. He'd expressed regret that they couldn't sit together and she couldn't help but compare him to Taylor in that moment. Hell, Taylor had at least taken the initiative to make the seating arrangement convenient for him. There was no reason Patrick couldn't do the same. On the other hand, she opted not to put the idea in his head. It wasn't that she disliked him, it was just that, even though she was still a little pissed at Taylor, she knew that sitting by him, at least she wouldn't be bored.
Winn was disappointed that the chair next to her that he had once occupied was empty. On a positive note, Taylor's place card was still there, so surely he didn't intend on changing his seating once again. She had glanced around the room to see if she could find him when she was suddenly distracted by the plates of food being placed in front of her and the others that had begun to fill the table. She glanced around and the table was quiet as everyone began to dig in to their plates. She felt a little weird, since she was used to an entire table being seated before she started eating, but she guessed it worked out since her appetite was barely there anyway. So much for introducing herself to her dinner companions and breaking the ice, huh?
A moment later, Taylor approached the table and sat down, placing a glass of wine in front of her. "I, uh, thought you might need a refill. To have with dinner."
In spite of herself, she melted, as a smile crept across her face. "Thank you. That's nice of you."
"It's a peace offering. For the way I acted earlier."
"Well I appreciate it. But I said it was okay."
"Except that it wasn't. I was crude and I was out of line and I apologize."
She sipped her wine and looked at him. "Apology accepted."
He smiled at her. "Thank you."
Her appetite suddenly making another appearance, she began to poke around at the chicken on her plate. "So, what happens at these things anyway?"
Taylor swallowed the bite in his mouth and sipped his water. "It's the end of the year dinner, everybody's gearing up for the holidays. They wine and dine us, give us a couple of motivational speeches and then send us home. And there's a raffle. The money goes to help different organizations for the holidays. Coats for the homeless, toys for kids, that sort of thing."
Winn smiled. "Well that's nice."
"I donated a guitar this year."
Her eyes widened in pleasant surprise. "That's very nice."
He shrugged as he took another bite of his dinner. "It's the least I could do."
She narrowed her eyes at him. She knew better. "Except it isn't even the half of what you're doing. Or what you've been doing."
He glanced at her and then back at his plate. "I don't really like to publicly display my personal donations."
She couldn't stop her smile. "You sneak."
"Not trying to be sneaky. I just--I like to help. Don't really feel the need to shout it from the rooftops, you know? It's personal for me."
Winn nodded in understanding, deciding to drop the subject. "Okay. I get it." She poked around her plate in silence for another moment before she spoke again. "You know, they might raise more money by auctioning the stuff off rather than selling dinky raffle tickets. Or maybe have a five ticket minimum or something. If people are just buying tickets to win stuff, they're not really getting anything done."
Taylor smiled over at her. "Maybe you should suggest that. I'd be on board with it."
She shook her head. "I don't know. I only came here tonight to see what this was all about."
"Well, I love the idea. And if I ever end up stealing it from you, don't say I didn't warn you."
Winn smiled back at him. Now it was finally feeling like it did when they first met. This was the Taylor she wanted to get to know.
**********************
This was also the Taylor who couldn't quite seem to get it right. As he walked her to her car that night, their coats tight around their bodies, they stood outside and talked for a good while more. Winn found it easy to talk to him and they never seemed to run out of topics to discuss. She could have talked to him all night had she not needed to head back home and get ready for work the next morning.
"Maybe next time they should consider having this on the weekend so people can actually enjoy their evenings."
"Maybe you should suggest that, too."
"Maybe I should just run the entire damn Chamber," she retorted as they both laughed.
As Taylor's laugh subsided, he shoved his hands in his pockets. "So did you not enjoy your evening?"
Winn looked at him for a moment before she smiled and nodded. "I enjoyed it some, yeah. You?"
"It was nice having someone to talk to. I wish you'd consider doing this again. I come to almost every meeting."
She narrowed her eyes, curiosity getting the best of her. "So, why exactly ARE you here?"
"What do you mean?"
"Why do you go to the meetings? You have a record label. It's not like there's any networking for you to get done or any motivational speech that's gonna ramp up business for you. You know?"
Taylor blushed and ran his hand through his hair. "I, um, I don't get out much. I spend the majority of my time holed up in a studio. And when I do get out, it's almost always work-related, collaborating on songs or socializing with fans or something. At least here, it's kind of work-related, but I get to kinda step out of my box a little bit and get a bit of fresh air. So, I come to Chamber meetings."
"Hm. Okay. I can respect that. Listen, thank you for being...enjoyable company tonight. And thank you for the wine again, that was very thoughtful of you."
"No problem, anytime," he answered. "I better hit the road myself. I have an early day tomorrow. And so do you."
She smiled at the sentiment and moments later, he was walking away and she was stepping into her own car. Alone. And he still hadn't asked her out nor volunteered his phone number. It was obvious that he just wasn't interested.
Letting out a sigh of defeat, Winn stepped on the gas and took herself home.