Page 36 of Substitute for Love

He nodded. “Naturally.”

They pulled into the school. So far, the only cars in the lot were in staff parking.

“Have you ever chaperoned a school dance?” Avery asked.

“Uh, no. I never even went to prom.”

“Oh. That’s too bad. Why?”

“We were usually moving again. But I did go to one very memorable hoe-down when we lived in Texas.”

Avery chuckled. “I’m going to need to see those dance moves.”

“What about you? I assume you went to prom?”

She nodded. “With my best friend’s brother. We dated off and on for a long time. Officially, we were together for the last three years.” She paused for a few moments. “I finally broke up with him a few months ago and moved back here to help my mom.”

Gabe was shocked that Avery had confided in him and she had been with someone for so long.

“I would have married him, but he never asked.”

Oh dang. It was quite serious, then. What had happened between them? Gabe opened the front door of the school, let her pass, then followed her inside. “Well, he missed out.”

The gym was decorated in a fall theme with fake colorful leaves and fake hay bales and a scarecrow.

“So, they’re doing a Fall Fling, even though it’s still technically August and it’s a billion degrees?” Avery asked.

He elbowed her playfully. “They should call it the Cactus Dance instead.”

“The Scorpion Dance.”

“The Heat Wave.”

They both giggled.

“The Cactus Heat Wave Scorpion Dance of Love!” Gabe raised his arms and pulled out his dance moves, swaying his hips and biting his bottom lip.

Avery’s eyebrows arched and she shook her head, a smile trying to escape. The goofier he acted, the more Avery responded. What was she, some kind of dream girl?

Another teacher waved them over to a table and put them to work, handing them boxes of snacks and drinks. “So glad you’re here. Can you two set these out, please?” A few other teachers were rushing around with drinks and such. Gabe and Avery took the boxes of snacks and started setting them out.

The lights in the gym went down a bit, and music started playing. A steady stream of students came through the doors.

Avery and Gabe handed the boxes back to the teacher, who set them under a table. “I think that’s it for now, but if you two could be in charge of the drinks and snacks tables, that would be great,” she instructed.

Gabe saluted. “We’re on it. The students will stay hydrated and full of snacks at all times.”

Avery shook her head. “And we’ll make sure nobody spikes it.”

“Oh yeah. Heh.” He snickered. “I definitely never did anything like that.”

The teacher in charge narrowed her eyes at him, then walked away.

Avery leaned over and whispered, “You definitely did, and you’re going to tell me everything.”

Gabe snorted in laughter. “Guilty. But I’ll only promise to tell you the story if we go to dessert after.”

Avery turned her head towards him and put her hand on her hip. “Seems like a date to me.”

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