Page 28 of Ocotillo Kisses
He smiled, a little surprised. “You did?”
“I wanted her opinion. I know she won’t be here at the actual celebration, but I still wanted to know her thoughts. I used to trust my own judgement, but it’s been a long time since I had to do that.” She looked down.
“I know I’m no music expert, but I think you made a pretty good choice. They’re not bad.”
“The question is, do they have enough variety, and stamina? They’re only the opening band tonight, only playing about an hour, but they promised to keep learning new songs between now and July.”
She seemed to be trying to convince him. “I think as long as they can play a good mix of fast and slow, and new and old, they’ll be okay. Something for everyone.”
She perked up at that. “That’s exactly what I’m hoping. I know the young ones will see those older men and think they’ll be boring, but honestly, I think they’ll have fun with the new music.”
“Why didn’t you get the band from our party?”
She smiled and shook her head. “They were from San Antonio, and your dad paid them pretty well. More than the town wanted to pitch in.”
Con grunted. They could have contributed, but maybe it was good for Ginny’s grandpa and his friends to have something to do for the town.
When the song ended, he led his mother from the floor, and she lowered herself onto the bench with a sigh of relief. Con looked at Britt, whose hands were folded on the table as she watched the dancers leave the floor, others approaching as the band moved to a faster song. Con and Britt used to be pretty good dance partners. He wondered if she remembered.
Javi rose to approach, and offered his hand to Con’s mom.
“I think I’m happy just to watch now, thank you just the same.”
“I get that,” Javi said, then turned to make his offer to Britt.
Con couldn’t believe he had been considering asking Britt to dance. Instead, he moved down the table to Poppy.
Her face lit up in a way that kind of hit him in the gut. Maybe he shouldn’t be singling her out so much. But he couldn’t dance with Lacey, Sofia or Ginny, and Hailey, the only other single woman in their circle of friends wasn’t here. He could have, he supposed, asked one of the women sitting at the bar, but he didn’t want an expectation there, either. At least he thought he could control Poppy’s expectations.
Maybe. Possibly.
Or he could have chosen not to dance, just sat and had a beer with his friends.
And now he had Poppy in his arms, his hand on her waist guiding her around the floor, in and among the other couples. She read him so well. She was pretty, they had similar temperaments, they fit well together. But something wasn’t quite right.
But when they returned to the table, he made a point not to sit beside her. He sensed her disappointment, and Lacey seemed agitated by his choice, but he didn’t want to encourage her, not right now. Not when he didn’t really know what he wanted.
“Come dance with me,” Lacey ordered, standing over him.
He looked from her to her husband, who lifted a shoulder. Con rose and followed her to the floor.
“What are you doing?” Lacey demanded before they’d even taken their first step.
“What do you mean, what am I doing?”
“Poppy likes you. You have to know that. You danced with her a lot at your party last month, but the minute that Britt comes back into town, you drop her?”
“Lace, it’s not like that.” It wasn’t like he was dancing with Britt, was it? He wasn’t choosing Britt over Poppy. He was just choosing not to encourage Poppy when he didn’t know where his mind was. He didn’t see getting back together with Britt for the short time she was here, but he also...didn’t want to dismiss the idea. Whoa.
“What’s it like then?” Lacey demanded.
“Look, just because everyone else paired up doesn’t mean Poppy and I need to.”
Lacey pressed her lips together, then nodded. “Fine. Then make that clear to her, please, and stop stringing her along.”
“She’s dancing with Javi now. Are you going to tell him the same thing?”
“She doesn’t like Javi like she likes you. Please tell me you knew that already. That she likes you.”
