Page 22 of Under an Oklahoma Sky

When Sage had seen the dance on this year’s schedule, she’d planned to do something special with Jenna so she wouldn’t feel left out. Last month, Evan had offered to take her until Maddie reminded him that their niece was getting married that weekend. The young woman was also Maddie’s goddaughter, so missing the wedding wasn’t an option.

Continuing to rock Jenna, Sage murmured reassurances until the little girl finally succumbed to exhaustion. She waited a few minutes to make sure her daughter was sound asleep, then gently laid her back down and pulled the covers over her.

Taking a deep breath, she stood and tiptoed from the room, wiping away her own tears before quietly closing the door behind her.

Chapter Eight

Adam put a handful of wildflowers into a mason jar filled with water and scanned the living room of his cabin, making sure all was in order. Everything was perfect. He actually had butterflies in his stomach as he glanced at his watch.

Two more minutes.

The last time he’d asked someone out, he’d been in his first year of college, and he couldn’t remember being this nervous even then. Tonight would be special, and he hoped she thought so, too.

Dragging a hand down his newly shaved face, he checked the mirror by the front door and adjusted the tie he’d borrowed from Evan. Although he wore a clean pair of jeans, the button-down dress shirt he wore to church was doing double duty this week. He’d run a comb through his wet hair and slicked it back.

Footsteps outside the front door told him the time had come seconds before there was a light knock on the wood. Taking a deep breath, he opened the door. A smile spread across his face at the pretty sight before him, and he had to bite his lip to keep from laughing when Matthew and Sage both gave him a thumbs-up.

Jenna stood on the other side of the threshold, wearing a pink-and-white dress, white patent leather shoes, a pink ribbon in her hair, and a blue bandana covering her eyes. Matthew stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, guiding his sister forward. She didn’t know where she was going or why.

Waving them in, Adam took a few steps back as Matthew steered Jenna into the room. Once she was in place, Adam knelt in front of her and picked up the sign he’d made that afternoon after clearing everything with Sage.

This coming weekend was the Brownies’ and Girl Scouts’ father-daughter dance, and Jenna had been crying because she didn’t have Mark to take her. Adam had overheard Sage and Maddie discussing the little girl’s heartbreak after breakfast that morning.

When he’d approached Sage with the offer to take Jenna, she’d initially said no. She was afraid her daughter was becoming too attached to him and would suffer another loss if he eventually left town. An hour later, though, Sage found him in the barn and told him she’d changed her mind. Jenna’s happiness was more important than worrying about what might happen someday.

Adam wished he’d had the courage to tell Sage he wasn’t planning to go anywhere else. He wanted to stay there with her and the children, but he’d been too chicken to say it. He had no idea where he stood with Sage or how she truly felt about him. From what he understood, she hadn’t been involved with another man since Mark’s death. For all Adam knew, he might simply be a stepping stone as she made her way back into the dating world.

And he couldn’t forget what getting involved with him would mean for her. Whether or not either of them liked it, he still had a prison record and more baggage than she’d probably expected or wanted.

But tonight wasn’t about him and Sage. He could give her little girl a happy memory, and that was enough.

Once he was in position, Sage untied the bandana. Jenna’s eyes and mouth opened wide as she looked around the room. The wildflowers filled several mason jars, and pink-and-white streamers left over from her birthday party a few months ago hung around the room.

“Hey, Little Bird, can you read the sign?”

She nodded and read it slowly, pointing at and sounding out each word. “It thays, ‘W-W-Will… you… go… to… the… d-dan-danthe… w-with… me?’” Her eyes lit up as the meaning of the question sank in. “You mean it?”

“Of course I do,” he replied with a grin. “That’s why I asked.”

Spinning around to her mom with wide eyes, Jenna clasped her hands together and bounced on the balls of her feet. “Can I, Mom? Can I go to the danth with Adam? Pleathe, pleathe!”

Sage laughed. “It’s may I, and yes, you may go.”

The little girl squealed in delight, turned back, and ran into his open arms. Hugging her, he glanced up and saw Sage wipe away a runaway tear. He gave her a reassuring wink.

The father-daughter dance crisis had been averted.

Now he just had to get Sage to teach him how to dance sometime during the next three days.

Sage connected her phone to a portable speaker and pulled up the playlist she’d put together. A moment later, the soulful strains of “Strawberry Wine” by Deana Carter filled the barn. It was one of her favorite songs and always reminded her of when she and Mark had first started dating back in college.

While Maddie was in the house getting the children ready for bed, Sage steeled herself to teach Adam how to dance. She was grateful he'd offered to take Jenna to the dance, but the last thing she wanted right then was to step into his arms and let them sway together to the music. It would make her want things she’d convinced herself she couldn’t have—namely, him—in her life. And in her heart.

She stood in the middle of the new floor, with the horses watching them curiously, and Adam followed her lead, stopping two feet away and facing her. Her stomach flip-flopped when he gave her a sweet grin.

“Please forgive me in advance if I step on your toes. The last time I danced was at my senior prom, and even then, I wasn’t good at it.”

A laugh escaped her. “Mark had two left feet when I first met him, so no worries. It’s easier if we start at this distance…” She gestured between them. “…so you can look down and follow my feet at first.”