Free Starting Over by Barbie Bohrman Page B

perfect comeback anyone could say to me right now.
    “I figure that if the kids see someone else dancing, they’ll get the idea, then follow suit. It’s all quite scientific, you see.”
    He says this to me as he takes both my hands in his and pulls me forward a couple of steps. The next thing I know, he lets go with one hand and smoothly wraps it around my waist . . . then we’re dancing before I can say no.
    I glance around me to see that every single set of eyes is on us. But there is only one pair of eyes that interests me. So I keep looking until I find them over Cameron’s left shoulder.
    Josie is with her friends still and is watching me with her mouth agape as I slow dance in the middle of the gym with her teacher, as is the entire student body in what can only be called stunned silence. This is sooo bad, but I’m stuck until the song is finished because it wouldn’t look too good if I ran from the dance floor. It isn’t until Cameron takes me on a full rotation that I can see Josie again. But this time she has a smile on her face, which makes me breathe a sigh of relief. From the corner of my eye, I see a few kids start to trickle onto the dance floor.
    “It worked,” I whisper to Cameron.
    He leans down to whisper in my ear. “We’re practically heroes . . . even though we’re sworn enemies.”
    “Why did you pick that costume anyway?” I ask him, still in a quiet voice.
    “I don’t know, I kind of just really like the look of it.” He stares at me a beat, then asks, “How about you?”
    “As your sworn enemy, I cannot divulge that answer.” I stand on my tiptoes and quietly say, “Plus, Bruce Wayne might get jealous.”
    He laughs, and it isn’t until that moment that I realize that the music has already changed back to an upbeat song, but we’re still dancing in a slow circle, his hand wound around my waist and one of my hands lightly gripping the back of his neck. I try to put some space between us, but he stops me.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Cameron, we can’t be dancing like this still. People will talk. Plus, my daughter is here.”
    I make a mental note to talk to Josie about this later tonight or tomorrow as Cameron canvasses the room to notice what I’ve already observed: the kids are doing their own thing; it’s the parents who are still staring. Honest to God, I don’t know which is worse at this point.
    “Okay,” he says reluctantly. “But before I let you go, can I ask you something?”
    I nod.
    “As I tried to tell you that day in the coffee shop, there isn’t a rule in place about dating a student’s parent—”
    “I’m so sorry about storming off that day,” I say to him abruptly. “I didn’t mean to do that. I just didn’t know what to think. Honestly, I still don’t know what to think about it.”
    “It’s okay.” He stops moving me around in slow circles long enough to ask, “What I’m trying to get at is, well, I’m wondering if you’d think about letting me take you out to dinner sometime.”
    I told myself that I’d be okay with us being friends even though it would be weird knowing that we are attracted to each other. And I have been psyching myself up very recently to possibly start dating again. Even Josie was on board with the idea. But I’m not sure that this is what I had in mind. It’s just too . . . I don’t even know . . . maybe too close to home or something?
    “Can I think about it?”
    His face drops for a second, disappointment clouding his normally welcoming eyes and bright smile, making me feel terrible instantly.
    “Sure. Of course,” he says slightly more formally than he’s spoken to me before.
    With that, he lets me go and I already miss being held by him. He was a very good dancer: strong and assured, gentle, yet commanding in his leading. The best part about being so close to him was his warmth; it’s like snuggling up to the best pillow ever, but only after it had been lying in the sun all day.
    Now it’s my