Page 122 of Loving the Liar

Celia runs to them, jumping into Jake’s arms before jumping into Rose’s. Olivia is next, running to her uncle. It’s weird seeing two people I grew up with and who used to cause chaos at our high school now holding their nieces. The little girls look exactly like Rose. Black hair I’m assuming they get from Nate’s wife, and midnight eyes that run in the White family.

“You brought Rose and Jake?” I laugh, looking at Chris again.

“Hey, we needed ten people.”

A minute later, Jake’s fiancée, Jamie Williams, rushes into the room. “Sorry,” she says hastily. “I had to run from the med school building.”

“Chris.” I hide my face in my hands. “This is ridiculous.”

He wraps two hands around my waist, forcing me to face him. “Please, let me do this. The last thing I want is for you to lose the one thing you love. I know you want to teach, and I bet those girls want their lesson. Plus, maybe I want to learn ballet. You don’t know.”

I look around, counting. Chris, Jake, Jamie, Rose, Celia, Olivia, Nyx, Achilles.

“Even if I consider Nate a student, we’re still one short.”

Olivia pulls at her sister’s sleeve, but Celia shakes her head. “No, Livie. Mommy is busy today.” She puts a finger on her mouth. “I know! Uncle Caden can learn ballet too!”

I look at Nate, and his phone is already out. “This is my worst nightmare,” he deadpans. But it doesn’t stop him from texting Uncle Caden, I guess.

And said uncle comes so fast I wonder if he was waiting outside all along.

“You better be fucking joking,” Caden growls as he enters the room.

“Daddy, Uncle Caden said a bad word. It’s a bad word,” Celia says. “Don’t listen to him, Livie.”

“Which one of you troublemakers begged your dad for a dance lesson that wasn’t meant to exist in the first place?”

Celia points at Olivia, and the other girl’s eyes widen before she points back at her sister.

“Ten of us,” Chris exclaims, clapping his hands together. He kisses the top of my head. “You’re up, teacher.”

I look around the room of adults and the two kids.

Nate crosses his arms over the shirt of his suit. “Try to tell me you can’t do your lesson now.”

That earns him the darkest look I’ve ever seen from my ex. “If you have a problem with her, you take it up with me.” He smiles, pretending to be having a polite conversation as he lowers his voice. “Your girls are young. Let’s not take their dad away from them so soon.” Tapping Nate’s shoulder, he settles against the bar at the back of the room.

My mouth drops open, eyes widening, but Nate chuckles to himself. He turns to his own sister instead, Rose. “That friend of yours has always been on my shit list.”

She shrugs. “You’re on his too, don’t you worry.”

“Erm…I guess this is happening, then. Let’s warm up.”

“Wait!” Celia screams. “The tiaras.” She starts running around the room, giving everyone a tiara.

Rose and Jake burst out laughing the second Nate puts his on his head. And I can’t help the smile spreading on my face when Chris does the same. He grins brightly and nods toward me.

I take a few more seconds to drag strength from him and turn on the music.

Olivia runs to the front of the room to stand right in front of me. Her face is hard to read, but her movements are eager when I throw my arms in the air to start stretching to “Espresso” by Sabrina Carpenter.

A few minutes later, the door opens, and I dart my eyes to the admin officer whose mouth drops open. He counts all of us and shrugs, writing down the number on a clipboard before leaving.

Technically, they could all stop dancing now, but I’m having too much fun to let them know. Watching grown men with tattoos or the old kings of my high school wearing tiaras and doing demi pliés with two little girls is bringing a smile to my face. They’re all focusing hard when I put Disney songs on and start showing them more positions at the bar, and before I know it, my phone rings, signaling the end of the session.

Olivia quietly jogs to me and hugs my legs before looking up at me, grinning with all her teeth.

“Daddy,” Celia calls sternly. “Livie said she wants to come back. We have to come back next week, Daddy.”

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