Page 69 of Baby Blue
“But that means you won’t either,” he reminded her.
“Yeah, but I can wait. It’s no big deal.” There was a look in her eyes that told him she wasn’t kidding. She didn’t want her friend to feel left out, and he was immensely proud of her for that.
Blue glanced around quickly, then grinned. “Hang on. I’ll be right back.” Before she could ask what he was doing, he took off toward a guy standing near the door who was wearing an ID badge. “Hey. Are you a teacher here?”
The young man turned toward him. “Yeah. American history.”
“We’ve got a girl over here who doesn’t have a dad. She came with me and my girl, but I can’t dance with them both at the same time. Would you mind…”
“Of course not! Sure thing! Lindsey, can you watch the door for a few minutes?” the man called to a woman at the table.
In three seconds, Blue came back to Polly with the fellow in tow. “Where’s Crystal?”
“She’s right there,” a stunned-looking Polly said and pointed to her friend.
“Okay, Mr.… What did you say your name is?”
“Mr.Cox. I’m the American history teacher,” the guy said and smiled at Polly.
“Mr.Cox is going to dance with Crystal, if that’s okay.”
Polly nodded. “Sure. I bet she’d like that.” Polly and Blue watched as Mr.Cox headed toward Crystal and a second or two later, they were on the dance floor.
Polly smiled up at Blue. “Thank you.”
“For what? Being selfish? I wanted to dance with you.” The smile he gave her back was the warmest he could manage. He loved the girl for her sweetness and kindness, and he loved her because he loved her mother too. “If I’m going to be your dad for the night, I want to dance with you.” He glanced around to find most of the dads in a classic dance stance, but a few of them were hugging their daughters to them, and he was touched by the love in the room. Taking Polly’s hand, he took up the stance he was seeing, but she leaned into him and rested her cheek on his chest.
Blue wanted to laugh. He wanted to cry. He wanted to kiss her on the forehead and tell her what a lucky guy he was to have a daughter like her, but she wasn’t his daughter. Not yet anyway. If he had any say in it, she would be eventually. Almost as if shecould hear his thoughts, Polly asked, “If you and my mom stay together, would you ever consider adopting Toady and me?”
“Your mom and I have talked about it, and I’d like to, but we need a little more time to make sure this thing will fly.” He hesitated for a second, then pulled back to look down into her face. “Polly, I just want you to know… I feel so lucky to have you and your mom and Toady in my life. You guys… you’ve given me a life I didn’t know I could have. I want to make you proud of me, and I want to be somebody you can count on, you know? And I don’t know how to do that, but I really want to. I’m trying.”
“You already are. You’re here with me. Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten to come. I’m not like Crystal. She didn’t care. But not having a dad… It’s been hard for me, and especially for Toady. And Mom. She’s done everything herself. I love you being there with us while Mom’s at work. We’re not so lonely anymore, and Mom’s not so lonely anymore, and Indie is our little sister. So thank you. I meant it when I said you’re the best dad I’ve ever had, but I’d say that even if I’d had another. I love you, Blue. I don’t want you to ever leave us.” Polly leaned into him again and Blue’s heart melted.
“I love you too, sweetie,” he whispered against the crown of her head. “And I won’t leave unless you guys ask me to. I want to be with you. You’re my family now, and I’m so, so proud of you. The way you wanted me to dance with Crystal first? That was really kind of you, Polly. Your mom has done a great job of raising you and Toady. You’re good people.”
Polly craned her head just enough that she could look up at him. “You did Crystal a huge favor, you know.”
“Oh, it was nothing. No problem. She’s welcome to come along any time and?”
“No, no! That’s not what I meant! She’s dancing with Mr.Cox!”
“Yeah? So?”
“So, he’s the hottest teacher ever! All the girls have crushes on him, and Crystal’s getting to dance with him! Everybody’s going to be so jealous of her now!” Then she giggled and went back to leaning into him.
Blue had to fight to keep from laughing. He’d accidentally set up Polly’s friend to dance with the hottest teacher in school. And he’d shut down Turner without having to get ugly and cause a scene.You’re on a roll, Wallace!It occurred to him that he might need to stop on the way home for some lottery tickets, because it certainly seemed his day was going well.
And he’d have quite the story to tell Anne!
“And oh my gosh,Mom, when Blue came down to dance with me, I told him to dance with Crystal first, and he went over and asked Mr.Cox to dance with Crystal so he could dance with me. And Crystal was so excited because Mr.Cox is the hottest teacher in the school, and everybody’s got a crush on him, and she got to dance with him! And it was the best danceever, Mom! Really!” Polly had been talking nonstop for ten minutes, first about what everyone was wearing and then about the decorations.
“And what about Blue here? Did he look nice?”
Polly rolled her eyes. “Mom, he was the hottest dad there. I mean, really. Look at him. All the girls were drooling over him and staring at him.”
“What?” Blue sat straight up and his eyes went wide. “The girls were drooling over me?”
“Yeah. Didn’t you notice? They were all staring at you! And when I was at the refreshment table, I heard one of the teachers say to another one, ‘Whose dad is that? He’s a hunk.’ I almostsaid something, but I didn’t dare.” He could tell from the way she spoke that she wasn’t kidding, and he didn’t know what to think.
