AllFreeNovel
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“Hey, Penelope?”
“What’s up?” She drops her camera from her face.
“Is there any way we could play some music for the kids?”
“Was there a request for music?”
“Yeah, from me.”
She laughs. “Feeling like you need to dance in your fancy dress?”
“I mean, why waste a good outfit, right?” I spin around. “Actually, I think it would be fun for the kids and liven up the party a bit.”
Nodding, she reaches into her pocket for her phone. “What shall we play? I have a Bluetooth speaker I can pair my phone to.”
“I know just the song. May I?” Holding my hand out to her, she places her phone in my palm hesitantly and then moves over to her bag to grab her speaker, turning it on. I tap to search for the song I’m looking for and wait for it to play. When it does, her eyes widen. “Really?”
“You can never go wrong with Whitney.” I hand her phone back to her just as Hayden jumps up from his seat.
“Oh, hell yeah!” he shouts as the opening beats to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody” ring out from the speaker. “Let’s dance, everyone!”
I run over to Sarah and help her from her chair, holding her to me as we sway and sing along to the song. The entire room rushes to their feet, and giggles echo as everyone laughs and dances their hearts out. Grown men who tackle each other for a living are spinning around in wigs and dresses, having the time of their lives. And the kids—they’re smiling, laughing, and living.
It’s a fucking phenomenal moment I hope I never forget.
Sarah doesn’t last long, so when she feels weak, I help her back into her chair and make sure she’s comfortable. My eighties playlist keeps blaring from the speaker, “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun”following the ballad before it. But when I stand and look for Penelope, I catch a flash of her hair flying through the doorway as she exits the room.
“Sarah, I’ll be back in a minute, okay?”
“Don’t worry about me.” She waves me off, and I waste no time hunting down the woman I’ve really wanted to be alone with all day.
“Penelope,” I whisper through the hall as she walks away, never turning back to acknowledge my presence. In fact, her pace picks up, and then she turns to her right, disappearing from view as I hear the telltale sound of a door opening and closing.
Following in her footsteps, I open the same door and let out the breath I was holding when I find her inside. Her arms are wrapped around her body, and her head is leaning right out of the window in the room as if she craves the fresh air.
“Hey. Is everything okay?”
“You didn’t need to follow me.”
“Well, I wanted to make sure that you’re all right. Is that a problem?” She doesn’t answer me. “What’s going on?”
“That’s a hard question to answer right now, Maddox.”
“Can I help you with anything? Is something wrong?”
She sighs, but I hear the tremble in her voice. “It’s just not fair.”
“What’s not?”
“Those kids like Sarah,” she whispers, and then I see her reach up and brush her face.Is she crying?
Slowly, I take a few steps toward her, ripping the wig from my head and tossing it on a table before placing my arm gently on her shoulder. “I know. It fucking sucks.”
“Some of them will never get to dance at a school dance or at their weddings. They won’t ever know what it’s like to fall in love or drive a car. They haven’t even lived, and yet they’re stronger than most of the men in that room.” Slowly, she faces me, and I can see the pain in her eyes.
“Yup. Moments like these always remind me that growing old is a privilege, not a right.”
She smiles softly now. “I love that.”
