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“It’s no problem,” I replied, taking a sip of the water Luke had given me on my arrival.
Violet picked that exact moment to walk down the stairs, and I started choking on my drink. Luke rushed over to slap me on the back. “You okay, kid?”
I nodded, unable to take my eyes off Violet. She was always beautiful, but tonight, she looked like a vision that had walked right out of my dreams. Her red hair was long and flowing down her back, and the dress she wore was such a light shade of blue it reminded me of ice on the surface of a lake on a bright sunny day.
“You look incredible, Violet,” I said, stepping toward her and accidentally slamming my shin into the coffee table. Not again. I tripped forward but somehow still managed to keep to my feet. That coffee table was going to be the death of me.
Luke chuckled behind me while Violet struggled not to laugh too. Her eyes were bright with happiness, which at least made my embarrassment worthwhile.
“You scrub up well yourself,” she said, nodding at my outfit. It was one of my dad’s suits from back when he was in college. There was no way he could squeeze himself into it now, but it fit me like a glove.
“Thanks,” I replied. “You ready to go?”
She nodded, and I held my arm out as I approached her.
“You two be good,” Luke said as she linked her arm with mine. “I want Violet home by midnight. And there will be no funny business.”
“Funny business?” Mia chimed in. I’d been so focused on Violet I hadn’t noticed her cousin sitting on the stairs. “Like a comedy act?”
“You know what I mean,” Luke growled.
“I really don’t, Dad. Maybe you should spell it out for Violet and Reed?”
“Uh, that won’t be necessary,” Violet said, shooting her cousin a scowl. “We get the message. No funny business, promise.”
She practically dragged me to the door in her rush to get away. She was probably concerned Luke would take Mia’s words to heart and start giving us a detailed breakdown of what he considered to be funny business. It was something I was more than happy to avoid too.
I was still chuckling when we reached my car.
“You think that was funny?” Violet asked.
“I mean, I would love to hear Luke’s explanation someday.”
“I pray that never happens,” she said, pointing a finger in my direction. “So, please don’t encourage him.”
“Wouldn’t dream of it.” I grinned.
I felt genuinely happy while driving us to the dance, and I caught Violet grinning at me when we reached the school parking lot.
“What?” I asked, as I turned the engine off.
“You were humming.”
“Humming?”
“Yeah, to the radio.”
“It was a good song.” I said despite having no idea what had been playing.
“If you were humming along to the song, then you were totally off-key.”
“Didn’t realize I had such a judgmental audience.”
“I’m not judging. It was cute.”
“Cute?” I gasped. “Nobody calls me cute.” Although, after my surprise performance on the ice earlier today, I was probably going to get called a lot of new things.
Violet leaned across the center console, still smiling. “And what are you going to do if I call you cute again?”
