He released a breath. “As you wish. Ready to go back?”
I nodded then hesitated after a few steps.
“I feel like everyone is looking at us, in there.”
“That’s because they are.” Jack’s eyes moved on my face, then my body. I felt my cheeks heat up. “Look at you. How could they not.”
Oh, geez.
While I was trying to come up with something to say he covered my hand with his. A little surprised, I looked down and then up to him, but he was looking straight ahead. As another round of applause broke out in the room, we stepped back in again. Because of all the waiters rushing around, we were walking really slowly, and that’s how I felt a small hand on my leg as I was passing a table.
“Jack, what a surprise to see you here!” someone said from our left, blocking our way back. As Jack was shaking hands with the man, I glanced back to see a little girl quickly turn her head away when our eyes met.
When I tried to pry my hand away from Jack’s, he stopped talking and looked down at me questioningly. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered, smiling at his friend before retracing my steps back to the little girl. She was stealing little glances at me, and the closer I got, the more she couldn’t look away. When I was standing next to her, she looked up at me with these big beautiful blue eyes. It wasn’t as deep as Jack’s blue, but a lighter shade, a sweeter one.
I gently dropped down to my knees, holding on to her chair with my hand.
“Hi,” I whispered, leaning toward her.
She bit her lip and looked at someone I assumed was either a social worker to keep the kids in line or just a chaperone, but the woman was busy listening to whoever was on stage and didn’t notice me and the little girl talking.
Both hands on the seat of her chair, the girl leaned closer and whispered, “Hi.”
I grinned at her and she gave me a crooked smile.
“I love your dress. Is it new?” I asked. She looked down at herself. She wore a simple long-sleeved pink dress. It wasn’t anything special, but its owner was, and that was all that mattered.
“They gave it to me today,” she explained. “It’s pink. It’s mine now, I think.”
“It looks gorgeous on you. I wish I had a pretty pink dress like that, too.”
“You do?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “I don’t have such beautiful blonde hair like yours, though, so I’m not sure I would look that good in pink, but I’m jealous just the same.”
She gently touched my arm with one single finger and quickly pulled it back.
“My name is Rose. What’s yours?”
“Madison, but my friends call me Maddy.”
“Nice to meet you, Maddy.” I held out my arm so she would feel free to touch me again. “Do you think my dress looks okay on me? I’m not sure.”
“It’s so pretty,” she whispered longingly, and this time she felt okay enough to run her hand up and down the embellishments on my sleeves. She looked at me and then to the chaperone, and when she saw the woman still hadn’t noticed us, she crooked her finger at me. I had to take two steps on my knees to get there and then she leaned in even closer, speaking into my ear. “I’m sorry I touched you. I’m not supposed to touch anyone tonight.”
I tried to force a brighter smile on my face. “That’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
The girl sitting on her right, who could only have been a few years older than Maddy, turned to us too.
“Hey, what are you doing on the ground?”
“Hey yourself,” I said, smiling. “Just chatting with your friend.”
“I like your hair.”
“Oh, really? Thank you.”
“I love yours. I wish I had curls like that.”
She swung her head from side to side, her tiny, frazzled curls flying everywhere. “I don’t have to do anything to mine.”
“You’re so lucky.”
“Sometimes other kids make fun of it though.”
My heart ached. I’d also had kids make fun of me when I was her age. Kids could be brutal. “Don’t listen to them. Trust me, they’re just jealous.”
“What’s your name?” she asked, leaning over the back of her chair.
“Rose.”
“It’s a pretty name. You’re pretty, too.”
My heart melted. “Thank you. You’re so sweet. What’s your name?”
“Sierra.”
“Really? I had a friend named Sierra in college. It’s a beautiful name, just like you.”
The pretty blue-eyed Madison touched my arm, and I turned to her. “I really like your dress. Was it a lot of money?”
“It was a gift to me. Maybe when you’re a little older, you can buy something like this, something shiny.”
“Who bought it?”
Thinking I would point Jack out, I looked over my shoulder. I was assuming he would have his back to me since that was how I’d left him, but he had switched places with his friend and was talking to him while facing me. He glanced my way over his friend’s shoulder and our eyes met.
I bit my lower lip and turned to Madison. “You see that guy over there talking to the man wearing a navy blue suit?”
Both girls craned their necks to see who I was talking about.
“Which one? The old one?” Sierra whispered.
I looked back again and got caught in Jack’s gaze. Since he was already looking our way, even though I could see his mouth moving as he talked to his friend, I pointed at him with my finger so the girls could see him. “Not the old one, the one in front of him. He has blue eyes and he is looking at us.” Turning back to them, I asked, “Did you see?”
The girls giggled loudly.
My head whipped back to Jack, but he was focused on his friend. I also noticed a few other people from the tables around us sending me disapproving looks. I couldn’t understand why, so I ignored them. “What? What is it?”
“He winked at us,” Maddy said, still grinning. “He is so big.”
“Is he your boyfriend?” Sierra asked, now sitting sideways on her chair.
“He is my…husband.” I touched her nose with my finger.
Her grin got bigger.
“I don’t have a boyfriend,” Maddy chimed in. “I’m too young.”
“Believe me, you’re not missing out on anything.”
“Boys can be stupid sometimes,” Sierra added, nodding.
“Yeah, so stupid, and jerks, too,” I admitted. It was something they’d learn soon enough.
When they started to giggle again, I started laughing with them, not caring that more heads had turned our way this time.
“You tell your husband he is stupid, too?” Maddy whisper-yelled.
“I told him he was a jerk tonight, right before we walked in here.”
Both their eyes got huge. “You didn’t!”
“I did.” I shrugged. “He was being a jerk so I told him to stop it.”
“But he is so much bigger than you.”
“He is pretty big, isn’t he? Well, it doesn’t matter. Just because he is big doesn’t mean he gets to be a jerk.”