Page 34 of Dance with Me on New Year's Eve

His eyebrows rose ever so slightly as I realized what I’d just said. I’d just admitted to noticing his beautiful eye color.

“Um, Hazel, our boss …” I trailed off, trying to think of something. “I just remembered she—she’s going to be out of town tomorrow. Going to meet with Sofia. That’s her literary agent in Minneapolis.”

Jeff crossed his arms again over his chest, which was far too close and too … wide. Firm. How had I never noticed—

“I know, Roxanne. She emailed us both yesterday.”

I couldn’t read his expression, so I simply nodded. “Oh, OK. I just wanted to make sure.”

He eyed me in a peculiar way. “You—”

“Daddy, stop monopolizing Roxy!” cried an impatient girl standing in my office doorway, making me chuckle.

Jeff shrugged. “OK, sweetie. She’s all yours.” Then he turned to me with a serious expression. “If she needs me, please just come get me and shout across the hall.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine,” I said before pivoting toward the office, not looking back to see if he was watching. Then again, why would he be? I shook my head briefly to shake off the weird thought.

“Sorry for the delay, Lila,” I said, smiling warmly at her. “Come on in.”

She had a skip in her step as she entered the office and dashed around the space, looking at everything, which wasn’t much. My desk was currently a folding table with a desk chair, and there was a small bookcase, a plain floor lamp, and one of those motivational posters on the only wall that wasn’t covered in 1970s-style flowery wallpaper.

“Well, this is fun. It needs some decorating, right? But I love a good project!” She laughed and waved her hands around.

“It needs a ton of work, yes. It’s just my temp workspace until we get the interior designers in here. They were meantto come last month, but we had some scheduling conflicts …” I noticed her eyes glazing over and then shifting to the lone window, so I stopped. Of course, she’s eight and probably didn’t care about such details. “Anyway, what brings you to the office today? No school?” I asked brightly.

“Summer break, duh.” She plopped down on my desk chair and spun around. The desk chair was the only thing in the room that was nice … so far. I couldn’t work in a terrible chair, I’d told Jeff, and he’d surprisingly relented when I asked to purchase a chair before the other furniture came in.

“This chair isfun,” she said, dragging out the last word as she spun ever faster and then suddenly stopped, making a goofy face and giggling.

“I bet you’re dizzy now,” I observed with a grin.

“Last night, my mom had a ‘hot date,’ so she dropped me off at Dad’s to sleep over,” she said, while I tried not to wince when hearing “hot date” coming from a child’s mouth. “It was so fun, Roxy! We played board games until way later than my usual bedtime.”

“Really? With your dad?”

“Oh yeah, he’s great at games. I think he loves playing even more than me.” She laughed. “And I think he lets me win occasionally.”

My head bobbed up and down as I tried to think of anything to say to that. I could hardly believe that Jeff liked to have fun, much less the idea that he and I shared a hobby in common. It was shocking. But in the best way.

“You look shocked. Are you surprised he’d let me win?”

“What—no. I mean, maybe.”

“Heisreally competitive. But he’s also the best daddy ever, so …” She shrugged.

I tried but failed to keep the shock from my face. I wouldn’t have thought he was a terrible father, but I also wouldn’t have expected such a warm, loving one—probably because I’d never seen a hint of that side of him before.

Lila grinned, showing several missing teeth. “What, hardto believe Daddy’s competitive?”

I choked on a laugh. “No, it’s … I can believe that.” I bit my tongue lightly and then forced the words. “I’m sure he’s also a good father.”

This was enough for Lila, apparently, because she just nodded and started humming.

“What song are you humming?” I asked.

I didn’t hear her answer because I was suddenly struck by the realization that I was actually carrying on a normal, pleasant conversation with someonein person. Sure, she was a child, but I’d had many awkward moments with children in the past. They were a little easier than adults; at least the nice ones were.

I shook my head, focusing again on Lila because she’d started walking toward the open door. She turned back to me. “I have to go,” she said with obvious regret on her face.

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