Page 49 of Free to Live
“Holly.” I drop my head and rub the back of my neck.
“Please. After all the planning for this event? I would like to think we’re all friends now, right?” Her voice is firm.
I shake my head back and forth. I feel like a level of mercy is being bestowed upon me I haven’t earned, but I’m not foolish enough to let it go. “Thanks, Holly.” My voice comes out all husky.
She just smiles, then pauses as the music changes. Her smile gets larger until it illuminates her face. “Uh-oh.” A soft laugh escapes her lips.
“What?”
“We’re about to be invaded,” she says confidently. Not three seconds later, Phil throws the back door open while he shouts, “Get in here, baby girl, it’s time to dance!”
Holly fiddles with the dials on one of her cameras a moment before sliding both of them off her neck. “I’ve been summoned. How handy are you with a camera?”
“If you’re asking for me to be able to do more than point and click with your livelihood, then no.” I whip my hands around my back as she laughs.
“Man up, Joe. These pictures are going to be priceless.” Reaching up, she slides both straps over my neck. “I already changed the settings, so they should come out perfect. I’ll check them before Phil drags me off. Just make sure you take a lot of photos. If you press this button here—” Holly grabs my hand and puts my finger on the shutter. “—and hold it, it will take a series of shots. Press and release for one at a time.” She starts to walk away.
“Holy crap, you’re not kidding!” I chase after her, leaving the rest my drink on the deck railing.
She shakes her head, which sends her long mane of hair rippling down her back. “Nope. Not at all.”
We walk in, and the DJ who’s taken over for the band has house music blaring through the speakers. Holly’s already swaying her hips back and forth. Phil’s impatiently tapping his foot, waiting for his sister. She checks out the lighting around the room before grabbing the camera that’s tightly looped around my neck. “Oomph,” I choke out.
“Give me just a sec,” she yells. Making an adjustment that I’d have no idea how to make, she turns the camera on Phil, who preens. I choke out a laugh. “Just wait till we get on the dance floor.” Snapping the shot, she flips over to the viewfinder. Her lips tip up, and she shows me.
Damn. It looks like Phil’s standing in a studio. My jaw slightly unhinges. Holly reaches up and pats my cheek. “You’ll be just fine. Now you can just point and click.” Turning to Phil, who’s holding out his hand, she takes hold while he drags her through the gathering crowd.
Muscling my way through, I get close enough to the dance floor to see where all the action is. The DJ has on an extended version of “Shut Up and Dance With Me.” How appropriate, I think as I watch the Freeman family dominate the dance floor. I snap a picture of Caleb bending Cassidy backward and then flipping her up.Click.Keene has Ali’s body molded to his as his face softly stares into the eyes of his wife.Click.Colby has Corinna’s back to his front. His hands are on her swaying hips as they drop down and back up.Click.Em’s leg is hitched around a guy whose face I can’t see. I presume that’s her fiancéClick.I turn the camera and freeze. Holy crap. Phil is dropped down on his knees in front of Holly, who has Jason at her back. Somehow, in tandem with the beat, they switch, and Holly’s siren’s body rocks back and forth on a pair of heeled boots I didn’t notice outside to land between both men. She turns until she’s facing Jason when she rises back until she’s standing. Her body sways between her brother and his husband. I press the shutter repeatedly as Holly laughs up at both men.
Suddenly the music transitions to an old ’80s beat easily recognizable from the movieFootloose. The siblings are pressed up against each other as Kenny Loggins belts out about fighting his fears and love. The Freemans move in a coordinated dance that ends with Cassidy, Em, and Phil standing while Ali, Corinna, and Holly drop on their knees in front of them. I press the shutter down and hold it while their hands fly doing some complicated hand and finger snapping maneuver before they’re all on their feet dancing together in a tight huddle, immune to the wolf whistles that break out around them.
What I realize as I look through Holly’s camera is she looks fierce and fearless while she’s surrounded by her family. We share more than just a need to be by ourselves in the middle of a crowd, I muse, even as I keep taking pictures, this time around the room of all the admirers of the epic dancing. Our hearts are so tied so closely to those that we love that in the middle of anything being thrown at us, we know they’re our reason for hanging on.
23
Joseph
When the song ends, Holly dances her way back over to reclaim her cameras. Her eyes are sparkling, her face flushed. “Thanks, Joe. Did you get some good shots?” She immediately goes to flip through them, but I keep her hand from lifting the cameras off my neck.
“I guarantee I did.” Her eyes fly up to mine. An arc of something dances between us. Ignoring it, I grab her elbow and lead her over to the bar. “You need a drink.”
“Dangerous words to say to us in this place.” Already sparkling eyes turn mischievous.
I stop behind a few of my coworkers. “Oh?” My voice is pitched high to be heard over the DJ.
A slow smile crosses her face. “Whatever you order will be fine. Just no tequila. They might throw us out.”
I shake my head. When we get to the bar, I yell to Jessica, “Two Belvedere martinis.”
“Make mine filthy, Jess,” Holly calls out.
Jessica rolls her eyes and yells, “Like I expected any differently from a Freeman, Hols. I’m surprised you’re not up on the bar already.”
Holly’s cheeks turn pink. “That’s ’cause Cass planned tonight’s events, not Phil,” she calls back.
Jessica laughs and turns to make our drinks. I raise my brows and watch Holly turn pinker. “Your face is going to match your hair soon,” I remark.
“Shit.” She’s saved when Jessica slides two drinks in front of us. “Family tab, Jess.” Jessica nods before turning toward the next customer.
