Page 230 of Small Town Firsts
“Yes.” She buried her face in my neck and looped her arms around me. “Do I have to go up there?”
I laughed and wobbled on my heels, thanks to the gravel path. “No. You don’t have to. But don’t you want to go up there and show your dad what a big girl you are?”
She shook her head against my shoulder.
I swung her up into my arms. “Yes, you do. You’ll be up there with all your friends. And you want to show off your pretty dress, right?”
“Yeah.” Her voice was small, but less scared.
“See? Oh, and you get a diploma. Just like the big girl you are.”
“Diploma?”
I shifted her onto my hip. “Yep. A paper that says you are a very important little girl.” I moved toward the brothers, still carting my precious cargo. “Even though we already know you are, right, Dad?”
Seth’s eyebrows shot up behind his aviators. “Of course.” He gave his little girl a huge smile. “What are we doing?” he asked out of the side of his mouth.
“She’s a big girl now. She’s definitely going up on stage to get her diploma.”
“Oh, right. Definitely. I can’t wait to take a million pictures of you, munchkin.” He poked his finger into her side and she wiggled in my arms.
“No, Daddy.”
“Okay, maybe one hundred pictures?”
She giggled. “No. Ten is good.”
Seth laughed. “Ten, huh?”
“Yes. One for you, one for me, one for Grandpa, one for Unca Ollie…” She put her hand against my cheek. “One for Ally. She’s just like a mama, right?”
I nearly dropped her.
Seth moved in close to me and slid his hand down my back. “Would you like that, baby girl?”
“Big girl,” Laurie said quickly.
“Sorry. My big girl.” Seth brought his hand up to my ponytail and stroked it absently. “Our big girl.”
Laurie leaned into me and tangled her fingers in the chain of my arrow necklace at the nape of my neck. “I would.” Then she reached up to her dad. “A lot, a lot.”
I swallowed down a lump threatening to strangle me.
Seth hugged us closer to him. “I’d like it a lot, a lot too.”
I looked up at him, but couldn’t see exactly what was going on behind his mirrored glasses. His familiar cologne and the smell of coffee mixed with the watermelon scent of Laurie and they made my head spin.
Did he have any idea what he was saying?
Was he really saying it?
I opened my mouth, but screeching feedback from the podium cut me off.
Laurie winced and slapped her hands over her ears. “Loud.”
A woman in a bright yellow dress leaned toward the microphone. “Parents, we’re just about ready to begin.”
“How about that? It’s time to begin. Ally and Uncle Ollie will be sitting with me right there.” Seth pointed to the left side of the folding chairs. “Let’s bring you up there, okay?” He swung her out of my arms and up high in the air. “My pretty girl is graduating today.”
