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Hmm. What was that comment about? Was he trying to sell her on the town of Bartlett? She already loved it here. Before she had time to ask, Emma challenged him to a contest to see how many pieces of popcorn they could toss into their mouths.
“You’re on,” Luke told her. “Best out of ten wins.”
Kaylee marveled at his ease—he was so good with the girl, making her laugh as he effortlessly joked around with her. Dean had told her before that Luke was Emma’s godfather, and that he, Beth, and Faye had all been there for him and his daughter when his wife had left. It was obvious, just in the amount of time Kaylee had spent with them that they were like a family to each other.
She laughed along at the popcorn-tossing contest antics as she demolished her bag. She’d never thought to put the two types of popcorn together, but the sweet and salty combination was amazing. She hoped they had a website so she could order more online.
She wasn’t the only one who devoured her popcorn. Dean and Emma collected the empty bags and water bottles and tossed them in the trash as she pressed a hand to her stomach. “If I keep eating like this, I’m going to gain ten pounds by the time I go back to Chicago.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t go back to Chicago,” Luke said, not quite under his breath.
Her pulse sped up as she blinked at him. She wasn’t sure she’d heard him at all. “What?” she asked, her gaze focused on his.
He shrugged as if he hadn’t said anything important. “I’m just saying, maybe you could stay awhile.”
“I—” She didn’t get out anything more because Marnie shrieked and grabbed her arm as the band played the notes of a new song.
“Oh I love this one,” she said, already pulling Kaylee toward the dance floor. “We have to do this dance.”
“Dance? What dance?” Panic bubbled in her chest.
“It’s a line dance,” Emma said, pulling on her other arm. “It’s easy. They do it at weddings all the time. We’ll teach you.”
She pulled back.“Wait. I don’t dance. Haven’t in years. And I’veneverdone a line dance.”
“The steps are simple, I promise,” Emma said. “Even my dad knows them.” She reached for Dean’s hand. “Come on, Dad. You gotta do this one with us so Kaylee sees how easy it is.”
Dean frowned then shrugged at Luke. “I will if you will.”
Luke’s eyes widened. “Me? What do I have to do with it? I don’t care if Kaylee learns the dance or not.”
Emma stopped and dropped Kaylee and Dean’s arms to plant her fists on her hips as she glared at her father and godfather. “Come on, you guys. We’realldoing it. It will be fun. Now get your booties out here before the song is over.”
Dean and Luke grumbled as they followed Emma and Kaylee into the street. Marnie was already in place, clapping her hands as she stamped her feet. “Stand by me, I’ll show you,” she told Kaylee.
She and Luke fell in line next to her, and Emma and Dean flanked Marnie’s other side. She went through the steps, shouting them out above the music. “You got it,” she told Kaylee, starting another rotation.
She definitely did not feel like she ‘got’ anything. She was just hopping around, trying to keep up and was usually a step or two behind. But they were all laughing, and she realized Luke and Emma messed up just as many times as she did. And so did half the people in front of her. There were a few who totally had it, who made it look easy, and everyone else seemed to be trying to keep up with them.
Kaylee tried to focus on her own feet and not let them stumble over each other. She was just starting to get the hang of the sequence as the song was winding down.
Then Marnie called out, “This is the fast part. Double time.”
Kaylee shrieked with laughter as the song sped back up, and they all started stomping faster and doing double claps. Trying to clap in time with the stomps was totally messing her up. Her feet tangled in each other on the last turn, and she stumbled back.
Right into Luke.
His strong arms came up around her, breaking her fall as her back landed squarely in his chest. She let out an “oof”, but he didn’t seem to notice.
“Whoa there, I got you,” he said, lifting her back on her feet as the song came to an end.
“Well, that was embarrassing,” she said. And a little exciting to be pressed that close to Luke.
“You did awesome,” Emma said, patting her shoulder and completely oblivious to the fact that she’d almost biffed it and fell on the ground.
A new song started, and the tempo slowed way down. Luke’s arm was still around her waist, steadying her. She looked at her feet, unable to meet his eye, so he wouldn’t know how much she wanted him to ask her to slow dance.
“So,” he said, his tone off-hand. “Would you want to—?”
His words were cut off as one of the guys from the line in front of them turned around and pointed a finger at Kaylee. “Hey, aren’t you that famous writer?”
Caught off guard, and disappointed in the interruption, she could only mumble, “Um, well…”
“How about a dance?” Without waiting for an answer, he grabbed her hand and pulled her toward the middle of the dance floor.
