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“Pop Pop has always said the fruit didn’t fall far from the tree where I’m concerned. Said I may look like my mom, but I act exactly like Dad. Which means I’m persistent and hard to shake…like a bad cold.”
“Sounds about right,” he said wryly.
She didn’t take offense. That was one of the things he liked best about her. Yvonne could dish it out, but she could take it too. She wasn’t one of those overly sensitive women who was forever getting her feelings hurt. “Lucky for you, you’re about to benefit from that persistence.”
Leo laughed, the sound rusty to his own ears. He didn’t laugh nearly enough these days. “Lucky isn’t the word I’d use.”
“Don’t worry. Aunt Riley and I discussed all of this earlier. You’re in good hands.”
He groaned as Yvonne gave him a shameless wink. If Riley was involved in whatever this scheme of hers was, he was fucked. He loved her aunt Riley, but he preferred it when she turned her “attention” to other poor, unsuspecting souls.
The idea that Riley and Yvonne had plotted out a way to get him out of his funk wouldn’t bode well for him. He was about to say “thanks, but no thanks” again when Yvonne stood up, crossing the room.
She pulled her phone out of her back pocket and paired it with the Bluetooth speaker on his bookshelf. She scrolled through her song list until she found what she was looking for.
He grinned when Kenny Chesney started playing. He liked country music a lot. It was one of the first things that had drawn him to Denise back in high school. In retrospect, he could see it was really one of the only things the two of them had in common.
Country music and then Vince. That was it.
“American Kids” started playing as Yvonne moved in time with the beat. She danced back across the room toward him, her hands outstretched.
He shook his head, but she wasn’t swayed.
“Dancing is a great way to get out of your head.”
Leo knew for a fact that was a bold-faced lie. Dancing made him way too self-conscious.
“Leo,” she persisted.
He sighed and gave in. Dancing was the least he could do, considering she was trying to help him. He held on to her hands and spun her around a few times as she giggled.
Her light brown hair flew around her freckled cheeks. He’d always thought Yvonne was pretty, in a cute-little-sister way…but he was starting to realize that kid-sister thing didn’t apply anymore. Actually, it hadn’t in a long time. She’d evolved from that to a close friend to…fuck, whatever this was tonight.
He’d always called her a wild spirit. She was free and happy in a way he’d never achieved.
As the music continued, he started moving his feet a bit more, laughing at her antics and the way she sang along even though it was clear she didn’t know two-thirds of the words.
They must have made too much noise because both boys came sprinting down the hall, pulling up short when they saw him there—dancing. He was ready to shoo them back to their room, but he realized from the bright smiles on their faces that his stress the past few weeks had cast a pall over all of them. He wasn’t the only one who needed a break.
He crooked his finger. “Don’t leave me here looking like the only idiot. Start dancing.”
Clint’s eyes lit up, the overactive boy not needing to be convinced. He started imitating all the dance moves he’d learned from Fortnite.
Vince, however, was too much like him, more reserved, too serious. Plus, at twelve, he still wanted to act like a kid, but there was that “cool factor” to combat.
Vince’s tween inclinations were no match for Yvonne, who walked over and pulled him into their dancing circle the same way she had Leo. The two of them spun, wobbling unsteadily after they’d managed to knot themselves up. Neither of them seemed to care. They were having too much fun.
Leo started mimicking Clint’s crazy moves as one song changed to another, and then another, Boomer trying to jump up on them, barking in his doggie excitement.
Nearly an hour passed and they’d all worked up one hell of a sweat. They collapsed on the couch and chairs in the living room, smiling widely.
“What a workout,” Yvonne declared breathlessly.
Even Clint, who had more energy than twenty people, was sitting still, exhausted from their exertions. He yawned, and Leo realized it was way past their bedtime.
“Back to bed, fellas,” he said.
He was surprised when neither of them fought him, though Vince did stop just before leaving the room to look at Yvonne. “I liked dancing with you.”
