Page 34 of Single Dad's Second Chance

I wish.I really, truly wished I had the bravery to make such a move on him and go for what I wanted, work policies be damned.

“BBQ, or just burgers?” he asked.

“You pick.”

He steered me toward the burgers, and we both said hi to people as we walked by. Once we were in line, he turned to face me, not forward. “What was that all about last week, anyway?”

I lowered my eyes. He had to be a lot more specific than that.

“With Ann, and Jason crying about boarding school. When I asked the next day, when he’d calmed down, he said she told him that she wanted him gone and away.”

“Yeah. Laura had to pick up her meds, and I offered to watch him at work until you came back to take him out to lunch. He was running around a bit.” I shrugged. “Nothing crazy, justall that energy little kids have, and she seemed annoyed. He accidentally bumped into her a couple of times and she threw out that ridiculous crap about his belonging at a boarding school.”

He shook his head. His lips were pressed tightly in a firm line of disapproval at my testimony. While I knew he’d be angry about what she said, I didn’t want him to be mad. I wanted the happy Henry back. It was so seldom that we could have fun in a setting like this that I wanted to be selfish and enjoy every second.

“I put her in her place and told her off. But dammit, the second he started crying, my heart broke to pieces. He doesn’t deserve hearing someone say he’s not wanted or doesn’t belong there, that he should be sent away for just being a rambunctious kid.”

“Thank you.” He looked me in the eye, letting me see the full sincerity and honesty of his words. “I can always count on you to stand up for him.”

I tipped my chin up, indicating that he should move up in line. He did, backpedaling so he could still face me.

“I’m hoping my father will give up on her hanging around. I’ve made myself clear. I’ve given her no indication that I’m interested,” he said.

“I can tell.”

He studied me, slowly smiling with a wicked look in his eyes. “Yeah? How so?”

“You don’t encourage her. You tell her that she’s not a priority.” I laughed lightly. “For any other woman who’s not a gold digger hellbent on snagging a man, those are pretty strong hints.”

“You don’t think her seeing me kissing you wouldn’t give her a clue?”

I looked around, checking who was in line. My cheeks warmed up as a blush stole over my face.

“I haven’t forgotten about that,” he said, cupping my elbow as I stepped forward in line. His touch kept us close, moving as one.

“I haven’t either.” I drew in a deep breath for courage to ask, “Why did you? Why did you kiss me?”

“Because I couldn’t think of a good reason not to.” He grinned, amused. “Why’d you kiss me back?”

I swallowed, my mouth suddenly so dry. “Same. My brain blanked on why not.”

His chuckle was low and naughty, but he didn’t push me here. We got our food and ate near the music. Talking about missing arcade night prompted us to launch into another kindly debate about who’d beat whose record. Before long, we were finished with our food. I crumpled up the wrappers and glanced at the people on the dance floor.

“I don’t know about you, but I’m not in a rush to go back to that bar booth.”

I shook my head and lost the fight with a smile. “Me neither.”

“Want to go by the pie booth and see how it’s going there?”

I stood, tossing our trash in the garbage can nearby. “No.” I tilted my head toward the music. “I want to dance.”

He stood, following me there, and we found a corner where we could dance to the live band. It wasn’t anything like the kind of music I worked to, the melodies and songs I had to learn to dance to at Danger. But it was music. I felt the beat, and it tempted me to let loose and just be. To enjoy and embrace the rhythm flowing toward me. Henry was no slouch. He wasn’t a great dancer by any means, but he didn’t shrink away from dancing with me. The only breaks in his focus came when someone approached to say hi.

Eventually, the songs changed. A more upbeat and newer song played, and while it wasn’t accurate to how the original artist wrote it or performed it, the band didn’t butcher it, either.

“Damn.” Henry smiled, watching me and moving less. We stayed together, but I gave in to the lure to really move, to welcome my body to follow the beat and keep up with the tempo. More of the moves that I had to use at Danger came into play, but I was just freestyling, letting the music control me like it used to when I was younger.

When I was a kid, I took dance classes. As I grew older, I stuck with it, on dance teams in high school and cheerleading as well. I’d always enjoyed dancing. It wasn’t just a job to me, and like those moments when I was on stage, I rejoiced in the thrill of moving to the music and letting go of all my thoughts and worries.

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