Page 45 of Hero

Evidently encouraged by his daughter’s improving mood, Zed relaxes too. I smile as I watch him pull Rina to her feet and go through the steps of a two-step with her.

She giggles and stumbles and tries to sing the words of the song at the top of her lungs.

I make regular scans of our surroundings, just to be safe, but the world is every bit as empty as it was twenty minutes ago.

We’re entirely alone.

When we finish that song, Rina claps her hands and does a little jig of excitement.

Zed catches my eyes, smiling for real. Warm and genuine and intimate. It makes my heart jump and then race.

“One more, Daddy? Can we do one more?”

“Yes. One more, and then you have to go to bed.”

“I don’t have a bed.”

“Tonight you can sleep on the seat of the truck. It will almost be like a bed.”

I immediately like this idea since the doors of the truck can be locked, which means she’ll be safer there than anywhere else.

Rina appears excited by the plan. “Oh, that will be good! But one more song first!”

“Yes, one more song. Which one do you want?”

She thinks for a minute, determined to pick a good one. Then she finally bursts out, “Old men talk about the weather!”

I chuckle at her improvised name for the old Randy Travis song, which has always been one of her favorites.

Zed nods soberly. “That’s a good one.” He extends his hands so he can dance with Rina again, and she happily obliges. They dance their way through the first half of the song.

Then Rina abruptly pulls away and exclaims, “Now you dance with Essie!”

I start to object since dancing really isn’t my thing and the girl was having such fun. But Zed doesn’t hesitate to come over to where I’m sitting. He reaches a hand out toward me.

“You dance too, Essie!”

With a sigh and a shake of my head, I let Zed pull me to my feet, then swing me into position with one hand on my waist, the other clasped in mine.

Rina cheers and applauds.

Zed starts singing the song where he left off, taking me through the steps of the dance. I follow his lead as best I can, and soon I don’t even care if I’m moving in the right way.

He’s looking down at me, a smile in his eyes. His face is handsome and familiar in the flickering light of the fire, but it also feels entirely new. It’s like he’s singing right to me. Telling me he’ll love and be faithful to me forever.

I might actually melt away in response to it.

When the song ends, Rina jumps up, still clapping, and runs over to hug both of us around the thighs at the same time.

I laugh, pleased with this distraction from the way I was feeling just now.

I suspect Zed is still watching me as I help Rina wash up, change into pajamas, and then get settled with a blanket and pillow on the bench seat in the trunk cab.

For some reason, my anxiety surges, rising to fill my chest and clench in my throat. I pat the passenger side door where Rina is safely tucked away for the night and then hug my arms across my chest.

“Should we take turns keeping watch?” I ask, mostly for something to fill the silence.

“You might as well get some rest. I wasn’t planning to sleep tonight.” He says it matter-of-factly, as if it’s a simple statement of fact. One I could have no argument about.

---