Page 72 of Dancing in the Rain

“Iloveshrimp,” she told him.

“Well then, you will have shrimp.”

It was a bit of a drive, which they spent talking about school and her friends. She told him about the research she’d been doing into dress codes at school. “There was a Supreme Court case in 1965,” she told him. “It decided that schools were allowed to use guidelines about discipline and students’ rights. But you know what that case was about?”

“I have no idea,” he murmured, mind blown.

“The kids wanted to wear black armbands to protest the Vietnam War. So it was really more about free speech and politics than how they dressed. So I think that telling kids they can’t wear certain clothes is different than that.”

“Did you talk to your mom about this?”

“Yes! She was a lot of help.”

“Well, of course she was. She’s a lawyer.” He paused. “You think you might want to be a lawyer when you grow up?”

“Maybe. I’m kind of interested in civil rights.”

Christ Jesus. This kid was smarter than he was. “So…in that 1965 case…the school didn’t want them to wear black armbands because it was distracting?”

“Yes!”

“And how is that different from other clothing being distracting?”

She frowned at him.

“Just playing devil’s advocate,” he said. “If you’re going to use that as a basis to convince your school to change, they’ll probably ask that question.”

“Yeah. I guess.” She pursed her lips. “I guess the difference is that the black armbands were a political statement and it could be distracting to people who disagreed, and maybe arguments could have started about that. But other clothing, like what I wore the other day, they say is distracting because it makes boys notice us forotherreasons.”

Pride burned in his chest. “Right.”

“And like you said, boys need to learn how to behave appropriately no matter how a girl is dressed.”

“Smart cookie.”

She grinned.

They ate lunch and had no shortage of topics of conversation. Then Chloe startled him by asking, “Do you really not remember my mom?”

He took his time figuring out a response to that. “I do remember her,” he said. “But we didn’t spend much time together, so I don’t remember a lot.”

“What do you remember?” She gazed at him with big, beseeching eyes.

He tipped his head back. “I remember that she was really pretty. Long blond hair, blue eyes, and a sweet smile. I remember she made me laugh.” The night had honestly been forgettable…one more hookup in a string of them for him. But he wasn’t going to tell Chloe that. “But we created something beautiful and lasting, even though at the time we had no idea.” He smiled at her.

Something beautiful and lasting out of such an unremarkable night. It was both sad and lovely.

She nodded and looked down at the giant platter of shrimp in front of her.

“Do you think if you knew about me sooner…if you and Mom met up again before this…that you would have gotten married?”

Drew felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs. “There’s no way to answer that, Chloe,” he said quietly. “But I want to be honest with you. So, no, probably not.”

Was that answer too harsh? Was she going to be hurt? But he didn’t want her growing up thinking that kind of “what-if.” They had too many “what-ifs” and “if-onlys” already.

“Things happen for a reason,” he continued. “Even if we don’t know what the reasons are at the time. Sometimes it takes a long time for us to see why something happened.”

“Like Mom dying?”

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