Free Song of the Surf (Pacific Shores Book 3) by Lynnette Bonner Page B

Dakota’s lap. Despite the fact that she only wanted to have a few minutes to massage her leg, Dakota snuggled her close and managed to only grimace once when the little girl’s bony hip ground into her cramping thigh.
    Justus squatted by the chair. “Hey Alyssa, how would you like to sit on my shoulders for a bit?”
    “Yes!” The little girl scrambled from Dakota’s lap so fast one might have thought he’d offered her a lifetime supply of candy.
    Dakota gave Justus a look of thanks. He only nodded and squatted down so Alyssa could scrabble up his back and onto his shoulders.
    Good with kids. Chalk up another tally mark in the pros column. Not that she was keeping track.
    “Okay you guys,” Marie called for their attention. “I saw the looks you all were giving us this morning, and I know this is asking a lot from all of you, but I promise you we are going to have fun with this. So here’s how it’s going to go. First our song, ‘I Will Always Love You’, is going to start out nice and slow and Reece and I are going to start the dance, then the song is going to splice into a faster version and we want you six to come in. We’re going to do a little routine that will be fun and wow all the guests, and then it will morph back to the slow version and will end with just Reece and me on the floor again.”
    “What about me, Mommy?” Alyssa called from her perch. “Do I get to dance?”
    Marie smiled at her. “Not this first dance, baby. You will get a chance to dance with Reece later, but for this one you’re going to sit with Grandma, okay?”
    Alyssa bent around and peered into Justus’s face, her eyes all asparkle. “Mr. Reece is going to be my daddy!”
    Justus gave her a smile. “And I bet he’s going to be a good one, too, don’t you think?”
    “Yep.” Alyssa gave a definitive nod of her little head. “Yep, I do.”
    Reece’s feet shuffled, and he kicked at something on the floor with the toe of his cowboy boot.
    Dakota felt the sting of the tears that sprang into her eyes. She had loved watching God bringing this family together, and now tomorrow their long journey would finally come to both an end and a beginning.
    Something made her glance up at Justus. Justus frowned, taking in her tears. He glanced from her to Reece and back again, a look of speculation in his gaze. And with dread Dakota realized he’d mistaken the reason for her emotional state.
    But it was too late to quietly correct him, because Marie was dispersing them to the spots she wanted them to enter the dance floor from, and Justus was busy setting Alyssa down and pointing her in the direction of her grandmother.
    When they once again stood side by side, he was stiff and sullen.
    “Justus,” she whispered his name, wetting her lips as she waited for his attention, because somehow it was suddenly very important to her that he understand she did not have feelings for Reece.
    He dropped his focus to her.
    She shook her head. “My tears were ones of happiness for what God is doing in the lives of my friends, and not for any other reason.”
    His brow lowered. “So…you don’t have feelings for him?”
    She shook her head. “No. But I do have a confession to make…”
    He folded his arms and leaned into his heels. “A confession?”
    “I can’t dance.”
    Brows arched, he gave her a bit of an exasperated look. Then he chuckled. “You’re serious?”
    She grinned. “Utterly and completely. I’ve never danced a day in my life, and I’m going to have to learn with a gimpy leg. You and I are probably going to end up in a heap on the floor.”
    His laugh was full and long this time. “That’s what you started to tell me back in the car before the boy ran out in front of us, wasn’t it? You said we needed to talk about my toes and—” he scratched his head— “I have to tell you, I had this whole image of you wanting me to take my shoes off so you could look at my feet. I was a little worried, and my