Page 25 of Promises & Pumpkins
“Yeah, maybe.” I wasn’t going to get my hopes up, but I wasn’t going to crush hers either. Kelly’s words repeated in my mind.Maybe you realize being a bonus mom wouldn’t be completely terrible.
Maddie wiggled like her made-up injury was completely gone. She clapped her hands together excitedly. “You can try it later.” Later?
“What do you mean?”
She looked at me and then from one side to the other before leaning closer to me and lowering her voice. When she tapped her fingers together like a TV villain, I had to bite back an entertained smile. “I have a plan. Just go with it.”
Chapter 22
Miles
“You have to sit in the front row, Daddy,” Maddie demanded from the back seat while I pulled into the parking lot of the small community center. “I want you to be able to see me.” How could I miss her? I knew she wasn’t the only one dressed in the same costume, but she was inbright orange, and it only made her bright-blonde hair look even brighter. She would stick out even more with the pink bandage.
“I know, sweetheart. That’s what you said. I promise I will do my very best to be front and center.” I pulled into a parking spot, turning off the engine but hanging onto the wheel until I felt like my composure wouldn’t float away with the fall breeze.She’s just your daughter’s dance coach.
Maddie unbuckled in the backseat, kicking the back of the seat in front of her with her non-wrapped foot. “Let’s go! I don’t want to be late!”
“You’re not late.” In fact, we were too early—we were run-into-the-neighbor-I-couldn’t-get-off-my-mind early. When Maddie huffed, I put my hands up, getting out of the car and rounding it to open her door. “Okay, okay, my little pumpkin ballerina. Let’s go see what you can do.”
She threw her hands in the air, lacing them together above her and spinning in a circle before she looked at me with a seriously focused expression and bent her knees. Then she stopped and ran as quickly as her ankle would allow her to into the building. I was only a couple steps behind her but by the time I was in the building, all I saw was the back of her hair disappearing into the green room behind the stage.
“See you out there, Daddy!” she yelled before she was completely gone. “Don’t forget! Front row!”
I settled into the front row as instructed, glad that nobody else had beaten me to it. It was close enough to the stage that I would be able to see every stumble and hear every little voice saying something to the audience. It was also close enough that I could hear the rustle from backstage. Harper’s voice stuck out.
“Are you ready, ballerinas?” she asked, and the joy in her voice made a smile pull at my cheeks. There was a small roar of agreement followed by silence and then Harper walked onto the stage. “Good evening, everyone—parents and friends alike.” Shelooked at me and when she smiled, she looked guilty. “We’re so very excited to show you everything your little ballerinas have been learning in our class. It’s been the best getting to know and dance with them all, and we hope to see them all again for our next session too! But you’re not here to listen to me talk, and I’m not much of a public speaker, so without further ado, I present to you the cutest pumpkins and bats in this year’s presentation, Haunted in Hazy Cove!”
As Harper walked off the stage, girls dressed like Maddie and others dressed like bats ran onto the stage. There was chaos while they found their places, pausing to search the crowd for their families and waving when they found them. Maddie was no different. Her search started right where she’d told me to sit, and she was relieved to find me there. She waved, grinning when I waved back. Then she stepped back, and her eyes got wide when the stage lights got brighter.
Maddie shook her head, and my stomach sank.Stage fright.She turned, looking off to the side of the stage before running in that direction. The other dancers looked, watching Maddie stop in front of Harper. “What’s wrong?” Harper asked her, bending down so they were face to face.
“I can’t do it,” Maddie said. She put her arms in front of her like a cross. “There’s too many people!”
“You won’t even notice the people when you start dancing.” Harper wrapped her arm around Maddie’s shoulder. “You worked so hard the last few weeks. Don’t you want to show everyone what a great ballerina you are?”
Her face scrunched while she looked from Harper to me and then back. Then she smirked before scrunching her face again. What was she up to? I narrowed my eyes. “But what if I mess up?”
“Then you brush it off and keep going.” Harper took Maddie’s hands. “The very best dancers make mistakes. Did you knowthat? It’s part of what makes you a great dancer, when you can make a mistake and keep going.”
Maddie looked suspicious and glanced into the audience, smiling when she found me again. “Do you ever make mistakes?”
Harper nodded. “I’ve made more mistakes than I can count. But you know, I learned from every single one of them. And I kept dancing. So, what do you say? Should we go out there and give it a try?”
“Only if you promise to be friends with my daddy again.” Maddie put her hand on Harper’s shoulder in the same comforting way Harper had done for her a few minutes earlier. “We all make mistakes, remember?”
Both Maddie and Harper turned to look at me, and my stomach tied itself in knots. When Harper smiled, shrugging one shoulder, I couldn’t help but return the smile with my own. “We never stopped being friends.” Satisfied with her results, Maddie straightened her back and shuffled back onto the stage. A small round of applause welcomed her back and when the music started, her hands went into the air with the rest of the pumpkins.
I watched while they spun and performed simple coordinated moves until my eyes were pulled back to side-stage where Harper stood. She looked proud watching the girls spin around and when she looked up, our eyes met. Hers shone almost as brightly as her grin did. “It’s good to see you,” she mouthed.
“It’s good to see you too.” It was. It was always good to see her, and it had been from the first moment I saw her trying to break into her house. Seeing Harper came with a sense of peace that I hadn’t found in a lot of places.
She mouthed something else, but I couldn’t tell what she had said.
“What?” I replied, squinting like it would make it easier to read her lips when she gave me her reply.
Her lips moved, but I couldn’t quite pick up what she was saying. I twisted my face and shook my head.
“What?”I asked again, realizing I wasn’t paying attention to the dance anymore when they all stomped at the same time. Harper shook her head, waving her hand and nodding back to the performance. The girls took another spin, rotating in a large group circle, and then came to a stop, lining up along the edge of the stage.
