The Parent Trap(68)

The music was louder when it came back on, and conversation was no longer easy.

“Is there anything I need to know about being a chaperone?” She tried to speak loud enough to be heard without having to shout.

“A few things. Make sure no one sneaks in or out the side doors. Check the girls’ washroom every ten minutes or so and make sure there are no shenanigans going on in there.”

She laughed at that. “Shenanigans?” Now there was an interesting euphemism for the trouble kids could get themselves into. “What do I do if I catch someone?”

“Let me or one of the other teachers know. We’ll deal with it.”

That was a relief. She was happy to keep an eye on the comings and goings, but she didn’t want to confront a group of kids who were involved in any kind of “shenanigans.”

“I’d better go make the rounds. Talk to you later?”

She nodded her agreement, and she would look forward to it.

He gave her hand a light touch. “You really do look great tonight.”

She couldn’t take her eyes off him as she watched him walk away, and she was grateful the room was too dark for anyone to see the heat that rose up and warmed her face. She was coming very close to falling for this man, falling hard, and if she was right about the signals he was sending her way, the feeling was mutual. And to her surprise, these feelings weren’t completely terrifying.



CASEY HAD BEEN freaking out about this dance, but it wasn’t as weird as she’d expected it to be. Helping with the decorations had been a blast, and getting ready with Kate had been fun, too. She wouldn’t have looked nearly this good if she’d had to figure out what to wear on her own, and she could tell from the way Dexter kept looking at her that he liked what he saw.

She’d worried that having her mom here as a chaperone would be, well, weird, but Kate had reminded her that having their parents spend time together was a good thing. Thanks to her mom, Kate’s dad had already started to lighten up on his high expectations. Now she needed to get her mom on board with keeping Petey because the shelter was supposed to reopen by the middle of next week. Still, seeing her mom talking to Kate’s dad and remembering seeing them kiss was kind of weird, too. And just now he had touched her hand for a few seconds and it got even weirder. But now they were on opposite sides of the gym, keeping an eye on everything that was going on, and Casey started to relax.

“Come on, you guys,” Kate said. “If we hope to win any of those prizes, we need to get on the dance floor.” She herded the group into the middle of the gym and picked up the rhythm of the music.

The six of them formed a loose circle and she found herself between Dexter and Henry. Alycia was an amazing dancer, thanks to years of ballet classes, and Kate was awesome, too, so Casey did her best to match her moves to theirs. A group dance was way less nerve-racking than if they’d been paired up, though, and she was glad Kate had started it. She would’ve wanted to die if she’d had to dance with just Dexter, and she definitely would’ve wanted to die if Brody asked Alycia and Henry asked Kate but Dexter didn’t ask her.

So this was good.

Really good.

And when Dexter’s shoulder bumped hers—maybe by accident, maybe not—it was the best.

The music stopped abruptly and Casey found herself and Dexter sharing the beam from a spotlight.

“Congratulations to our first winners!” the DJ crooned into the mike. “Come on up here, you two.”

“Cool.” Dex was grinning at her, and then he flung an arm across her shoulders and walked her out of the circle of light and across the floor to the DJ station.

The guy jabbed the mike toward Dex. “And who do we have here?”

“I’m Dexter.”

“And what’s your name, gorgeous?”

“Casey.”

“Dexter and Casey, folks. Aren’t they a cute couple?” He handed an envelope to Dex. “And for their next date, we’re giving them a coupon for one extra-large pizza at Paolo’s pizzeria. Let’s hear it for them!”

Their next date? Oh. No. This was a total freaking disaster. Now everybody would think she was...that Dexter was...that they were...

Oh. No.

And then it got worse. Way worse.

No, no, no, no, no.

Her mom was here. Now her mom would think...

Oh no.

Dex didn’t seem to mind, though. His arm was still slung across her shoulders, and he smelled like leather and another scent she could only identify as something that made her light-headed. Had she told him her mom was here? She couldn’t remember. What was the matter with her? Why wasn’t her brain working?

“You guys are so lucky,” Alycia said when they rejoined the group.