Page 48 of Always Mine

“He does love his nineties country,” I agree, taking hold of his arm and walking backwards toward the dance floor. “Now, come on. I’m a host at this party, after all. I need to be seen.”

My parents are near the front, and I shimmy my way through the gang of people to get to them. When Mama spots me, she dances her way over, smiling wildly with youthful excitement shining in her eyes. “I was wondering where you were.”

I laugh, letting go of Cooper to grab her hand and spin her around. “I’m here. Cooper and I were talking.”

“Everything okay?” She eyes me with concern, looking past me to him.

“Yeah, catching up on things,” I say, pushing her back and pulling her in again as we dance. Tilting my head, I spot Cooper dancing with Nana. Poor guy. “Should I save him?” I tease, knowing Cooper adores her, despite how much she gossips. He always says she’s his favorite person.

“Nah.” Mama shrugs. “Let her have her fun. Billy will be coming to sweep her off her feet any second now, I’m sure.”

“Oh, God, I forgot about that. Thanks for that reminder,” I grumble, not wanting the mental image of my nana in that way.

“I think it’s cute. It’s been a long time since she’s had someone.” Her expression saddens me, and I know she’s thinking about Papaw. It’s been ten years since he passed, and we all miss him.

I soften, tugging her against me, and giving her a light squeeze. “He’d be glad for her.”

“He would be.” She pulls back and blinks, clearing away her tear-filled eyes. “He’d give her shit about it being Billy, though.”

“That he would,” I smirk, nodding as I spin her one last time when the song ends. I can practically hear him saying‘Outta all the men you coulda chosen…’

“It’s been a while since we’ve done a good line dance. Do you think we should go for that next?” Hunter asks the rowdy crowd. He’s in charge of the music tonight—aka running the Spotify playlist—and he takes the job way too seriously.

Everyone cheers again, and I join in, wishing I had a beer to toast with when “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” begins to play. We get in position, Cooper to my right and Ember to my left, with my parents directly in front of me. Hunter drops his mic, clearly not wanting to miss his chance to dance, and squeezes in between Ember and I.

“Smooth.” I snicker, giving him a playful nudge with my elbow.

“What?” He beams, kicking his foot out when the song starts, a shit-eating grin on his face. “I want to dance with my girl.”

My laughter is drowned out by the song and all the people around me. I look at Cooper, who’s shuffling slowly, matching the pace of my nana. As if sensing my gaze, he turns to me, giving me a toothy grin.

“She’s still got it,” he tells me, earning a hip check from Nana.

“Bet your ass I do, and proud of it,” she teases, shimmying her hips.

My mouth drops slightly as I watch her. “Nana!”

“She does have skills,” Billy says, cutting through my parents and holding his hand out for Nana to take. “Care to dance with an old man?”

She takes his hand, batting her eyelashes a little too much. “I’d love to.”

Then he’s whisking her away to God knows where, leaving us all to stare after them.

“Damn, Nana has more game than I ever will!” Ember yells a little too loudly, causing us all to laugh.

“She’s something else. We can only wish to be on her level at that age,” Dad says, shuffling in time to the music.

It’s a good time. It’s more than good, it’s amazing. I may not have realized it, but I needed this. All of us together, dancing our asses off, and enjoying the night is taking my mind away from all the frustration and angst from earlier. It’s like everything is back to normal.

That is, untilhisloud voice rings out, stopping me dead in my tracks.

“You can take the boy out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the boy!”

My gaze snaps to my left, seeing Paxton only a few people away. How in the hell had I forgotten he was here? He snatches Lily’s hat, putting it on, looking absolutely ridiculous because it’s too small for his head, but it doesn’t deter him in the slightest.

Paxton is smiling. Not that fake, blocky one he’s had since coming back, but a real one. It’s the one that used to make my stomach flip and knees weak. His dimple pops as he rocks his body in perfect time with the beat of the music. If it wasn’t for his blue Polo and sneakers, I could pretend it was like old times. Like the last three years never happened.

When he spins, he tilts his head, eyes roaming to where I’m stuck frozen like a deer in headlights. He halts as well, almost like he forgot I was here, too.

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