Page 42 of The Holiday Ex-Files

I smiled at Noah, who was already staring at me. “Thank you,” I whispered.

“For what?”

“For helping me to find a piece of the woman in the photo.”

I’d never seen him smiler wider.

“Now get ready to lose.” I winked.

~*~

We sat at the back of The Chocolate, waiting for our order to arrive. I looked like a drowned rat, but it was totally worth it. I was the champ of apple bobbing. Noah sat across from me at the tiny circular table, holding Liam, whose eyes kept drifting closed. We had apparently tuckered the kid out.

Someone who wasn’t tired was Miss Sparkly. She was enjoying her view. Is there anything more attractive than a man holding a child so tenderly? Noah is going to make such an amazing dad someday. By the way, I think one of our ovaries just popped an egg.

She was ridiculous. I wrenched our gaze from our attractive friend and focused on Jaxon, who was still curious about the skank. I pulled up a YouTube tutorial. It was of some hilarious kid from several years ago. Jaxon and I watched him, laughing as we went. When it was over, Jaxon gave me a toothy grin—well as toothy as he could; his bottom two teeth had recently fallen out.

“I want to try.” Jaxon pushed his chair back.

“Let’s see what you got.” I smiled at him.

“I think Cami wants to dance too.” Noah flashed me an impish grin.

I looked around the crowded dessert shop, then thought it wouldn’t be the most embarrassing thing I had ever done. This coming from the woman who made her husband’s affair public and did some pretty outlandish things to their wedding photos. And in my college days, I was all for making a fool of myself in front of crowds. I once stood up in the student union building and sang “Don’t Stop Believin’” by Journey on a dare, to give my fellow students some inspiration while we were all studying for finals. I wasn’t sure I had helped anyone with their grades, but it turned into a great musical battle as several more people got up and serenaded us. If anything, it had been a welcomed stress release.

We were so cool. Let’s be cool again. Miss Sparkly relished in the chance.

I think saying we’re cool means we’re not.

“Please,” Jaxon begged.

That was all it took for Miss Sparkly to seize the moment. I swear my body, of its own accord, popped out of the seat.

“Fine.” I gave Noah a faux evil eye.

I took Jaxon’s hand and we scooted around to the front of the table. We didn’t have a lot of room to work with in the cute shop that was once a house.

“All right, DJ Noah, find us a good beat.”

Noah chuckled while reaching for his phone on the table, careful not to jostle Liam too much. He really was going to be a great dad someday. Annika was a lucky woman. I had this fleeting thought—maybe I should help him win her over.

Are you insane? You hate relationships. Don’t start getting soft on me now. You tell Annika, single life is the best life.

That was a great motto, but she could have said it more quietly. I had to rub my head, Miss Sparkly was so loud.

I thought you wanted us to be more like you? I fired back at myself.

Not for this. Look at the man.

You realize he loves someone else?

I don’t see a ring on his finger.

You need to be quiet now.

Meanwhile, back in reality, Noah found a suitable song with a great beat.

“Show me what you got,” Noah said with a little too much sexiness in his voice, as he clicked play. Or was that Miss Sparkly’s wishful thinking?

Anyway, I was going to live up to my coolest girl title. “All right, Jaxon, let’s show your uncle our moves.”

Jaxon and I high-fived before we started.

“Feel the beat.” I clapped in time with the music so Jaxon could get a better feel for it.

He followed along with me. The kid already had great rhythm.

I showed him the first move by standing on one leg, my weight slightly forward. Then I bent my raised leg toward my butt before kicking it forward in time with the thumping song.

Jaxon mimicked me well.

We then hopped onto our kicking leg, adding in our swinging arms.

By this time, we had a crowd. I was afraid we might get kicked out for making such a scene.

We had also woken up Liam, who decided he wanted to try the funny dance too. He joined Jaxon and me. This only hyped the crowd up. People were now cheering us on and clapping to the music. I felt like a break-dancer in an eighties movie as people circled around. My inner sparkly self was coming out to shine. I had forgotten what it felt like to dance like no one was watching, even though everyone was watching. But I only cared about one person who looked on, cheering the loudest. His look said, “Hey, cool girl.”

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