“What are you talking about?”
Maren rolled her eyes. “What areyoutalking about? I’m a mom.” She grimaced. “Well, an aunt, raising her niece. But I might as well be a mom, and moms aren’t cool.” She sounded down for the first time that day.
It killed him.
“Come here.” He offered his hand.
Maren gave him a puzzled frown. “What?”
“Just come here.” Colin grinned. “Dance with me.”
“Dance with you? Really?”
“Yeah really.”
Grinning, she placed her hand in his, and his whole body registered the contact like he’d been waiting all day for it. Colin pulled Maren in close and slid his other hand around her waist. They started slowly swaying to the music.
“This is silly,” Maren murmured so quietly Colin almost didn’t hear her.
“What’s silly about it?” he asked, tipping her head up. “I’m just showing you how cool I think you are.”
Maren laughed and shook her head but didn’t pull away.
Small victories.
“I don’t think I’ve danced with anyone since senior prom,” she said.
“See? You were cool enough to go to senior prom. I wasn’t.”
She looked into his face. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Not at all. The girl I asked turned me down.”
“She did not.”
He nodded. “She did.”
“And you didn’t ask anyone else?”
“No way. A boy can only stand so much heartbreak. I had to recover by eating half a pizza and pretending I didn’t care.”
“Did you care?”
He thought about that seventeen-year-old version of himself for the first time in years. Skinny. Angry. All elbows and ambition. Desperate to get out of town and be someone nobody could look down on.
“Nah,” he said. “Not much.”
“Well, for what it’s worth, she was an idiot.”
His chest warmed.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.”
Colin chuckled. “Honestly, it doesn’t bother me. I’m pretty happy where I ended up.” He gave Maren’s waist a squeeze.
Her breath caught.
