The Parent Trap(70)

He wasn’t so sure about that.

The song ended and the DJ’s voice pierced the air. “All right, freshmen. This is it. One more song and that’s all she wrote.”

The announcement was met with groans and jeering.

This is it, he told himself. Now or never.

“Would you like to dance?” He drew a breath, waiting.

“Yes, very much.”

He motioned toward the dance floor. “After you.”

Given the upbeat playlist the DJ had been playing all night, he hadn’t expected this to be a slow dance, so he offered silent thanks to the man when Sarah moved into his arms, one hand in his, the other on his shoulder.

He was far from being a great dancer, but he knew the basics and she easily followed his lead. While kissing her had instantly jolted him to the core, dancing with her felt more intimate, his awareness of her more intense. The warmth of her hand, the lightness of her touch, the hint of floral wafting from her hair—perfection.

Their audience? Not so much. If there was ever a need to keep it PG-13, this was it. Unfortunately several of the young couples around them hadn’t seen the memo. Sarah must have noticed them, too, because she smiled up at him and gave a light laugh.

“At least our kids are behaving appropriately,” she said.

His self-consciousness dissipated as he scanned the crowd and spotted Kate and Henry, then Casey and Dexter. Both girls had looped their arms around the boys’ necks and the boys had wrapped theirs around the girls’ waists. Relieved to see some space between those young bodies, he also realized the locked gazes meant that neither girl had any interest in what her parent was doing.

“Do you think they’d still be ‘appropriate’ if we weren’t here to keep an eye on them?” he asked.

“I believe they would. They have a lot of common sense and self-confidence, and those are the tools they need to make good decisions.”

She was right. She always was. “So you never worry about Casey?”

“Are you kidding? I never stop worrying, but I’ve done and continue to do everything I can to prepare her for the world. I have to believe that’s enough.”

He was sure she had, just as he was sure he had a lot of catching up to do. She looked up at him then and smiled, and for the rest of the dance he wasn’t a parent or a teacher or a role model, he was just a man falling in love with a very beautiful woman.





CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ENERGIZED, THAT’S WHAT she felt, Sarah decided. Revived, aware that she was more than a mom and a businesswoman. She was a woman, experiencing the jumble of emotions and physical sensations that went with being in a man’s arms. Years ago she had shut herself down, and she had done it intentionally, but now she felt as though a switch had been flipped back on. These new feelings were beyond her control, and they both excited and terrified her.

Then the overhead lights snapped on and the school gym lost its otherworldliness. Out of the commotion of students leaving, the cleanup committee whisking away the decorations and the DJ packing up, Casey emerged from the crowd with Kate and Alycia on either side and the three boys trailing close behind.

“Did you have fun?” Sarah asked.

The light in her daughter’s eyes said it all. “Tons! We won a free pizza,” she said. “So did Kate and Henry. So we were thinking...wondering if we can go for pizza before we go home.”

Jonathan joined them in time to hear the request.

“With Alycia and Brody. The six of us,” Kate said, in case there was any doubt about them not wanting their parents tagging along. “It’s only nine-thirty.”

Sarah looked to Jonathan to get his reaction.

“What do you think?” he asked.

“Have all of you talked to your parents?” she asked.

Shaking heads indicated they had not.

“Then you’ll need to call them,” Jonathan said. “And we’ll want to talk to them, to make sure we have their permission.”

“And you can tell them we’ll drive you there and then we’ll pick you up and take you home,” Sarah said.

“Everyone stays at the restaurant till we get back,” Jonathan added. “Are we clear on that?”

Casey launched herself at Sarah, hugging her and making her laugh. “Thanks, Mom.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. I already know Kate and Henry and Alycia, but are you going to introduce me to the rest of your friends?”

“Sure. This is Alycia’s boyfriend, Brody.” The reference to someone else’s boyfriend rolled off her tongue with ease, then she was suddenly awkward. “And this is my friend Dexter,” she said shyly. “His family moved to Serenity Bay last year.”