Tiny Dancer(Divine Creek Ranch 13)(57)

His cock had just about calmed down by the time they arrived at The Dancing Pony. Ben was relieved to find that a number of his friends had also been talked into dressing up for the Halloween party and costume contest by their women.

He had to suppress the urge to bust a gut when he saw that Grace Warner had indeed managed to get her men into the Halloween costume of her choice. He greeted her with a hug and asked, “How did you manage it, Grace?”

Grace giggled. “I promised to introduce us to everyone as Goldilocks and the Three Daddy Bears.” She patted her long blonde corkscrew curls. “So that’s what I’m doing.”

“Beautiful, somehow I don’t think the fairy tale included Goldilocks in a baby-blue satin corset. Speaking of babies, how’s your little angel doing?”

“We took her trick-or-treating at her Grandpa Joe’s and made a few other stops. We dressed her as a ballerina, and she loved it. And thanks, Ben. You’re good for a girl’s ego.”

She pulled her phone out and showed him a picture of her daughter, Rose Marie, who’d won his heart the first time he’d laid eyes on her in the hospital nursery after she was born a little over a year before. One of Grace’s other husbands, Jack Warner, came over when he saw her showing pictures and pulled out his phone and, like a proud daddy, showed off the pictures he’d taken of Rose Marie.

Ben smiled and made conversation with both of them and pondered how much had changed in both of their lives in the last few years. He recalled the zeal and enjoyment with which Jack and his distant cousins, Ethan and Adam, had wooed Grace into a permanent threesome. He looked back with a bit of regret on the rocky start that he, Quinten, and Camilla had in their budding relationship. He was reminded also of how quickly things could change for the better or worse. Fate had placed Camilla on the river bridge road several nights before. They were lucky that they’d found her, and she was lucky that she hadn’t been home that night when the break-in had occurred. Things could’ve turned out so much differently for all three of them.

Grace pointed at Camilla and Quinten behind the bar and winked at him. She held up her phone and said, “Let me get a picture of the three of you and I’ll text message it to you.”

Ben beckoned the two of them to come out from behind the bar, and he posed with Camilla between him and Quinten and thanked Grace for even thinking of it.

He peered around the club when he saw Camilla’s jaw drop open in shock. He immediately spotted the cause of her surprise when he saw who walked up to the bar next.

Seth Carter and his fiancée, Jayne Sheridan, were dressed as Neo and Trinity from The Matrix. Jayne was clad in a snug black patent vinyl outfit and boots, with her hair skinned back into a tight ponytail, while Seth sported the long black coat and dark sunglasses. His typically serious demeanor lent itself to the character he was portraying.

Jayne and Seth’s wedding was planned for the first weekend in November. Life had changed from one instant to the next for Seth with the arrival of the son he hadn’t even known existed two months before. Of course, Jayne made a big difference in his life, too. He could recall how Seth had reacted to seeing her dancing with another man back during the summer. Ben hadn’t even known that the two of them were an item at the time, and now there they were engaged to be married the following weekend.

Grace hugged Jayne, who was also her cousin. “You look fantastic!”

Jayne smiled with pleasure. “I had to perform illicit favors to pull this off.”

Ben thought the half smile on Seth’s face was pretty satisfied looking.

The Dancing Pony filled with patrons as the night progressed, and Dave the DJ kept things lively with a combination of the country hits he normally played, mixed with classic rock songs and Halloween-themed classics.

Camilla and Quinten worked at a fast and furious pace behind the bar while Ben and Ethan took turns mingling with patrons and bartending. Some patrons lingered from happy hour, but as the night progressed, more people showed up dressed in costume, some simple, others elaborate. Eli Wolf was very good-natured about playing the Big Bad Wolf to Rachel’s Little Red Riding Hood and even danced to the “Monster Mash” with her.

Ben winced at Presley Ann Woodworth’s whiny tone as she spoke to Dave in the DJ booth. “Dave! Come on. I know you have it. You must have it in there somewhere. Just once?” Presley Ann was a frequent patron of the club and never ceased to amaze Ben and Ethan with her spoiled-little-rich-girl antics. She ran off female friends as quickly as she made them and was a constant source of embarrassment to her sister, Leah, who kept a low profile.