Page 32 of A Place for Daydreams

“What if one of them is gone before you decide?”

Samantha shook her head, grinning. “No, Mom, they’re all online.”

“Oh. Right.” Hazel nodded as Samantha got her cell phone out of her pocket and started to pull up pictures of dresses.Mother and daughter leaned in close together to look at the phone screen and admire the dresses.

All four of the dresses were pink, and two of them had fluffy tulle skirts. Hazel found herself captivated by the sight of the dresses, and she remembered how fun it had been to look for fancy dresses like that—although she had done all her shopping in person.

“Oh, those are all so cute. Honestly. I don’t know how you’re going to pick one.”

“I know!” Samantha sighed happily. “A good problem to have, I guess. Which one would you pick, if you had to decide between all four?”

“Oh, gosh.” Hazel leaned in toward Samantha’s phone, looking at the pictures as Samantha scrolled back and forth between them. “I think… if I absolutely had to decide…”

Samantha realized that her mother was pausing for dramatic effect and laughed. “Come on, Mom! Which one?”

“I think this one.” Hazel tapped the dress that Samantha had on the screen at that moment. “I love the tulle skirt with the glitter in it. Not a lot of social engagements allow for you to show up looking sparkly, so I say go for it.”

“I’m going to get glitter everywhere though, aren’t I?”

“Well, of course. That’s because you’re magical.” Hazel booped Samantha’s nose gently with her fingertip. “And I don’t mind you getting a little glitter in our house—and I’m sure there will be plenty of glitter at that dance anyway. I’m so excited for you! You’re going to have such a great time going with Willow.”

Samantha smiled, but Hazel could see right away that her daughter was about to throw a plot twist her way. Samantha’s eyes were suddenly dancing with excitement. She hesitated for a moment and then spoke slowly.

“Well, actually, even though Willow and I are planning our outfits around each other, I’m hoping to go with someone else. You know, like officially go with someone.”

There were a few seconds of silence as Hazel started to process her daughter’s words. “You mean… as in, you want to go with a boy?”

Samantha’s giggles confirmed that before the almost-teenager spoke. “Yeah. I mean, I don’t know if he’s going to ask me or not, but I’ve been really hoping.”

Hazel felt her heart rate pick up. Of all the things connected to Samantha growing up that made her nervous, this was by far the most nerve-wracking one. She immediately felt a flush of worry, and her mind began to race, wondering how old this boy was and if he was a good person or someone selfish and inconsiderate.

She tried to remain calm as she cleared her throat. “A boy, huh? What’s his name?”

“His name is Austin,” Samantha said, and it was clear from her swooning tone that she had more than just a little crush on him. “He’s so cute, Mom. I’ve had a crush on him ever since the first time I saw him in literature class. He’s got this wavy blond hair. He kind of looks like a movie star. And he’s got the best laugh. Like, he’ll be talking with his friends and then all of a sudden everyone in the room can hear this amazing laugh. Usually it’s kind of obnoxious when people laugh really loudly, but it isn’t when he does it. His laugh sounds really nice. He just kind of brightens up the whole room.”

“He sounds like a nice guy.” Hazel did her best to smile. “Is he? I mean, does he seem like a nice person?”

“Oh, so nice. He’s got a dog and he’s been training it really carefully. I’ve heard him telling his friends about it. And he’s got a little sister who he babysits. Sometimes I’ve seen her run out of the car to hug him when we’re all getting picked up at school.”

“That’s great.” Hazel cleared her throat again, still trying to get her heart rate to go back down. “He sounds nice.”

“Oh, he’s more than nice. He’s wonderful.”

For a few moments, neither of them said anything. Samantha looked as though she was lost in some kind of happy daydream, and Hazel felt as though she was having a bad dream. She’d known that Samantha would start to like boys and want to go on dates at some point, but she’d never heard her daughter mention boys before. She hadn’t had any idea that Samantha was starting to feel those kinds of things already.

It’ll be fine,Hazel told herself firmly.This is just a part of life. He seems like a nice boy. But?—

Her heart twisted as she imagined Samantha having to watch as Austin developed a crush on some other girl and started dating her instead. Then she shook herself. They were still too young to date, she didn’t need to worry about that. But she could tell that Samantha had really gotten her hopes up about the dance.

There were a lot of girls in Samantha’s school, and it was more than possible that Austin wouldn’t ask Samantha to the dance. He might not ask anyone at all, or he very well could ask another girl and Samantha would get hurt.

“Tell me about when you went to your first dance, Mom,” Samantha said, turning to her mother with a grin. “Was it fun? Who did you go with?”

“Oh my,” Hazel tried to shake the cobwebs of worry from her brain. “Yes, I remember it being very fun. I went dress shopping with my sisters and they helped me pick out a dress. It was pale blue with a skirt that spun out amazingly when I twirled. I put it on a whole hour before the dance started so that I could stand in the living room and just twirl around.” She laughed a little at the memory.

“Did you go with somebody?”

“Did I? I don’t even remember—I don’t think we were really going with people at that age.”

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