Page 110 of Dancing in the Dark

“Sounds like Cato makes his own rules. And you secretly enjoy chaos.” She brushes a gentle fingertip over Mia’s button nose. “I don’t want you to feel bad about not dancing, okay, baby?”

Loaded, aching, anxiety-driven silence hangs heavily in the air.

“I think you should be proud that you practiced so hard and learned a new routine.”

“But I didn’t perform it on the stage.”

“So? You still know all the steps. You still performed them at Miss Debbie’s studio. Your dad still saw them when you practiced. And Cato probably saw them too, on the days he picked you up. I bet you showed Penny on her days, too.”

“I didn’t show you yet.” She sniffles. “I was saving it up so I could be brave on the stage.”

“Baby, you were brave. You got on that stage even when you didn’t want to. You put on that costume and those really annoying tights that always make our legs feel funny. You let your dad brush your hair into a super-duper tight bun all the way up top on your head.”

“Penny did my hair,” she confesses, then lowering her voice, she adds, “Penny does it better than my dad does it. He pulls on accident and still doesn’t get it all up in the bun.”

Yeah. Because I fuckin’ suck.

“Maybe I could teach him,” Sera whispers right back. “He’s always asking me for different ideas on how to show you he loves you.”

Mia’s hiccupping breaths pause. “Really?”

“Uh huh. Like, he makes sure you have all your favorite people around you all the time.”

“Like Cato?”

“Yup.”

“And like you, too?”

“Definitely.” She presses a kiss to Moo’s forehead. “He’s always telling new people how amazing you are, even if those people don’t know you. And do you remember back when we were on the boat last summer and I did your hair in that cute braid you liked so much?”

Mia nods.

“Well, your dad asked me to teach him how to do it. He’s been practicing ever since.”

That’s not even remotely true. Because I fucking suck. But I vow, right here and now, to make it so.

“I learned how to do my own hair by the time I was ten, so I have loads of practice. It would be very easy to teach him how to do a bun, then next time, he could do it and he would be extra careful.”

“Okay.” Mia’s breath shudders as she tucks herself in close and wedges her nose in the crook of Sera’s neck. “Fifi?”

“Yeah, baby?” She strokes Mia’s thigh and hums something soft and sweet in the base of her throat. “What’s up?”

“I love you.”

Sera’s eyes swing silently across to mine, her willow stare glittering with emotion and illuminated by the lights flashing from the star projector. She swallows, her throat visibly moving even in the shadows, then she buries her lips amongst Mia’s hair and breathes her in to the base of her lungs. “I love you too, baby. Every single day since I met you and all the days after. I’m gonna come to every single recital you ever sign up for, okay? You dancing on a stage, or not, will never change how I feel about you.”

“You promise?”

“With my whole entire heart and soul. Do you wanna try to go to sleep now?” She goes back to humming her gentle lullaby. “It’s late and you have school tomorrow.”

“Can you stay here tonight?” She sniffles. “Please?”

“Sure. I won’t sneak out while you’re sleeping, I promise.”

“Will you get mad if I wake up in the middle of the night to pee and then I wake you up cos I’m noisy and always come to my daddy’s bed after?”

“Of course not. And do you wanna know a secret?” Her lips curl into a conspiratorial grin. “That’s my favorite part of the night.”