Page 54 of Peak of Love
“What funny dance?” she asked, perplexed by what her sons remembered of their parents together.
“When you both move funny,” Jerome explained. “He spins you a bunch and then makes it look like you’re falling backward before he catches you.”
“Oh,” she choked out. “Yes, that dance.”
Celina allowed herself to inhabit the past. The smell of the bonfire on Asher’s clothes, his whispered apology in her ear, and then the swish of wind as he spun her and dipped her backward. Swaying in Asher’s arms while on a beach was a feeling she would cherish forever.
“Your dad was an amazing dancer.” A heavy pause descended as they all sat with the memory of a man whose fires were truly unforgettable.
“Do you and Uncle Dane?Do you, um, dance like that with him?” Jerome asked.
Warm blood rushed to her scalp as she struggled to contain complicated reactions. Instead, she focused on her son who asked the most innocent and the most insightful question in the world.
“I can never dance like that with anyone except your dad. No one will spin me and catch me just like he did, not in a million years. But… ”
They leaned closer with heartbreaking expectancy.
“But what if Uncle Dane and I had our own dance?”
“You mean like the twist? We did that with Auntie Kit Kat when we played dance freeze,” Jonas offered.
“No, she means like holding hands.” Jerome suddenly sounded years older.
“Oh,” Jonas responded thoughtfully. “Is that what you mean, Mom?”
She pushed past the lump in her throat. “Sure, it could be holding hands and maybe a little bit of the twist. Though I’d never be able to do it as well as Kat. Grownups,um, part of being a grownup is finding a unique dance with their special person. So I don’t know exactly what that dance is with Uncle Dane. But I wanted to know what you thought.”
Another long pause.
“Did he ask you to dance?” Jerome uttered.
Celina’s chuckle bubbled up along with a surge of love for her children. And something else. A thrill she never thought she would feel again, but that she might begin to share.
“Yes, he did. He asked me to dance.”
She watched her sons contemplate her answer with the glimmer of both innocence and awareness. The boys were quiet as they looked at each other. Something clicked between them. Beyond gestures, beyond words.
“OK,” they said together.
“OK?” she asked.
They nodded. She hugged them on each side of her, pressing her lips to their foreheads. Jonas squeezed her waist and nuzzled into her shoulder. Jerome looked away. She followed her son’s eye to the driveway where the dark sedan pulled up.
Dane unfolded his elegant, confident body from the car. When she studied his face, it conveyed an intriguing mix of emotions: certainly excitement, a bit of nervousness, and underneath it all was a hint of cautious joy.
She was struck by the force of her love. The more time she spent with Dane, the more she was drawn to him. His poise and strength were magnetic, yet it was his raw vulnerability, his intense ability to love with all his heart, that she loved the most.
A few long strides later, he was at the door. Before he even turned his key, both boys sprang towards Dane, eager to welcome him home.
THE END
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Laura writes romances featuring women who slay their own dragons and the men who rock their world and hold their purse (or glass of wine). In her books, the fall is hard, the steam is blinding, the groveling is glorious, and the passion is all-consuming. She’s addicted to romances where the longing is so intense, the rewards of pleasure only deepen when they follow.
