Chapter 20

My smile broadened, seeing her standing there. “You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen,” I told her, “same as this morning. Though, I definitely approve of the dress.”

“It’s not too much?” she asked, looking down at herself.

“It’s perfect,” I told her. “You’re perfect. Let’s go dance,” I suggested.

“Is Barb still kicking around?” she asked.

“Barb, who?” I asked, making her snicker.

“Barb, who is about to be replaced,” she supplied.

“I think she’s here,” I said lightly. I was going to kiss Sissy when she came looking for her lecture. If I’d had a preference, I’d have immediately ditched everything today to be with Jane. Having her here was exactly what I needed to salvage the night. I’d been thinking about her curling up on the sofa with a book and wishing I was there instead of here for most of the night.

“Good,” she said. “Dance with me. I want everyone to see.”

“What about your boyfriend?” I asked. “I thought you wanted to wait and break up with him face to face.”

“He accidentally texted me something he meant for one of his guy friends. ‘Bro! I totally just scored with Chelsea Evans! Been after her since high school! High-five! Goin in for Round 2!’ So I sent him back a text that said ‘High-five’ and left it at that. He’ll figure it out.”

“Ouch!” I said. “Are you okay?”

“That depends,” she said with a crooked smile. “Are you gonna give me a reason to text him back?”

“Absolutely,” I promised.

She glided alongside me as I led her to the dance floor and took her into my arms. It was one of those perfect moments. Time stood still and we were the only people in the world. I gazed into her eyes and she stared back. I’m not that good a dancer, but I don’t think that mattered. We were kind of lost in each other.

We stayed like that for several songs until one of the men Barb works with asked to cut in. Jane looked at him smiled. “Nope,” she said. “He’s not sharing.”

He looked disappointed, but nodded and told me I was lucky. Don’t I know it.

We left the dance floor after that song ended and went to the bar to get something to drink. She wasn’t 21 until June, but she ordered Champagne and no one questioned her. I got a bottle of water, still holding to the promise not to get drunk. I felt far more relaxed now, less like I needed a drink and more like celebrating.

It didn’t take long until we were located. “Parents off the starboard bow,” I warned her. She turned and smiled at her parents.

“Jane?!!?” her mother gaped at her, taking in her appearance. “What are you doing here? Where did you get that dress? What are you doing with alcohol, young lady?”

“I came here to be with John,” she said, answering her mother without any indication that her mother had asked in anything more than a conversational way. “Cecilia bought the dress, although it was almost like a scavenger hunt to get it altered. As for the Champagne, I’m celebrating! You should be too. It’s Christmas time.”

“That dress is...” She looked down at Jane’s figure and shook her head. “It’s very revealing,” she said diplomatically, “and you’re too young to drink.”

“Janice,” I said, attracting her attention. “She’s less than six months away from being 21 and she goes to college, so it’s not her first drink. Besides, it’s Christmas and she has six people that are here that can look out for her. Her dress is fine. It’s definitely spectacular, but it’s nothing scandalous. I’ll make sure she’s okay. Jane’s in good hands.”

Arthur had been quiet through this whole thing, but he snorted at that. “That’s what you said about Barb,” he muttered under his breath, but not quite low enough.

“That was low, Arthur,” I said calmly. “I’ve never mistreated Barb or given you any reason to doubt that I cared for her.”

He looked a little chagrined by that. “No, you never hit Barb,” he admitted, “but maybe if you were more attentive, she might not have gone looking for someone else.”

I let the comment slide, deciding to ignore him for the rest of the night. He’d clearly had one drink too many and was starting to let his inner feelings show. Barb was his princess, so he wanted desperately to be on her side. Making it all my fault did that for him.

Jane scowled at the whole situation and was about to blast off on a screaming match that would have brought the house down. I laid a hand on her arm and shook my head when she looked at me.

“Janice,” I said carefully, “if you’ll excuse us, I’m going to introduce Jane to a few people. I want her to have a pleasant evening and this seems like a good place to say goodnight.”

I steered Jane away from her parents with a smile that I definitely had to force.

“Why did you stop me?” she asked angrily. “I was gonna tell him off for that.”

“Because he’s your father, because he’s a little drunk tonight, because you’re a lot pissed at him and might say something you’ll regret later and because I want you to have a good time tonight, not fume over them,” I told her. “If you still want to tear a strip off him, do it tomorrow when he’s hung over and the yelling will hurt his head.”

That made her laugh and her mood improved after that. I introduced her to Tara, who gave me a speculative look, took her around the room and noticed Doris standing alone, so I brought Jane over to meet her. “Doris, I want you to meet Jane,” I said.

They exchanged pleasantries and then Jane took charge. “John’s told me a lot about you,” she said.

“Nothing bad, I hope,” she said with a smile.

She shook her head. “He says you’re a very nice woman and he’s happy to help you out when he can.”

She smiled at that. “You really said that?” she asked.

Jane nodded. “He said nothing but good things about you,” she assured her. “We should go though. You’re still coming over on Monday?”

She blushed a little, but nodded. “If I’m not going to be in the way,” she said, giving Jane the chance to wave her off.

“You’re important to John,” Jane told her. “I’ll see you Monday.”

She smiled at her and they hugged lightly before we moved on. It was almost an hour later before Barb found us. “Jane!” she exclaimed, surprised to see her. They stared at each other for a long moment. “I didn’t know you were coming,” Barb told her. “You look great.”

“Thanks,” Jane said quietly. “Cecilia took me with her today and we did the dress and the hair and the works. She thought John could use the company. After all, he doesn’t know many people here.”

She nodded. “Cecilia’s been trying to help both of us through everything,” she said delicately and then her expression changed to one of worry. “Look, Jane. I don’t want to lose touch with you,” she said, anguished. “Can we talk sometime before you go back? John said you don’t want to ever meet ... HIM and I understand that, but can we at least talk? Not tonight, though. I don’t want to spoil the mood tonight, but soon?”

Jane looked at me to gauge what I thought about that possibility. I nodded slightly. “Barb’s asked me the same thing,” I told her. “Maybe the three of us can sit down and talk. Maybe over coffee or something.”

Her eyes lit up at that, probably thinking of the milk that Doris had left in my fridge yesterday. “I think that might be possible. Maybe you can stop by on your way home from work some night and we’ll talk.”

“Thanks,” she said. I didn’t know where we were going to end up, but I’d gotten a sense that Barb had listened tonight when we were on the dance floor and that gave me some hope that we could manage the end of our marriage without more bitterness and fighting. “Have Mom and Dad seen you yet?”

I nodded. “They were ... surprised to see her here,” I said delicately.

Jane grunted sourly. “I’ll deal with THEM tomorrow!” she said sharply. Part of me hoped Arthur was really hung over.

“Why?” Barb asked, surprised at her reaction. “What happened?”

“Arthur has very much enjoyed the open bar this evening,” I said. “He expressed some sentiments that he probably would have kept to himself under other circumstances. Janice wasn’t pleased with Jane’s dress or her drink.” Jane was nursing her second glass, but it had been an hour since she’d started her first, so she wasn’t on her way to getting drunk and I wasn’t about to leave her side for an instant.

Barb winced. “How bad was Dad?” she asked, cringing.

“I hope he’s hung over tomorrow so that every shout makes him hurt,” Jane told her sister with a vindictive smile.

Barb sighed. “What did Dad say to you?” she asked Jane wearily.

“He didn’t say anything to me,” she said and glanced at me. “He told John that your affair is his fault and that if he’d been more attentive, you’d have stayed at home.”

She grimaced at that. “He just undid all the progress we made tonight, didn’t he?” she asked.

“Not really,” I said lightly. “His opinions are his. You’re not on the hook for what he thinks happened.”

“I’ll straighten him out,” she assured me. “Maybe we can bond over yelling at him together.”

That got her a smile from Jane. It was small, but it was there. We said goodnight and then continued our walk around the room. Marty and Sissy were still on the dance floor, so there was no chance to talk to them. Instead, Jane finished her drink and we went out to join the dancers. The crowd had thinned out a little and a lot of the couples that were still out there were pacing themselves. We’d heard a couple of livelier songs, but the music was mostly suitable for slow dancing and was low enough to make it easy for couples to talk while they did it.

Strangely enough, Jane and I didn’t talk a lot. We spent most of our time gazing at each other, oblivious to what was going on around us. Around midnight, we were taking a break when I saw Brad and Doris leaving. She didn’t look happy and he didn’t look concerned. After they disappeared, Barb came to see us and said goodnight herself.

“I tried to find another room,” she said to Jane apologetically. “They were full though. If I’d known you were coming earlier, I might have snagged something.”

Jane shrugged. “It’s okay,” she said and then drove home to Barb what the new situation was. “We’re covered. Call us when you wake the parents for breakfast. I want a piece of Dad before he can find aspirin.”