One Wish. Robyn Carr

love watching you,” he said. “There’s one small problem—I can’t wait to get you alone.”

      “Are you dancing much?” she asked.

      “Very judiciously and as little as possible. Giggly high school girls are just not my thing. Besides, I’m supposed to be keeping an eye on things, make sure the kids aren’t getting into trouble.”

      “What kind of trouble?”

      “Oh, you know, sneaking out to the parking lot to be too alone or to get a bottle or smoke a joint or get in a fight over something, like a girl. You know.”

      That was the point, she didn’t know. “Really?”

      “Been a while since you’ve been rockin’ the high school dance?”

      “You could say that,” she said. “I thought this would be boring. I can’t remember when I’ve had so much fun.”

      “Just remember, don’t fall in love with anyone because you leave the dance with me.” He grinned at her.

      She noticed that Troy danced with Iris. Not a slow dance, but not so fast, either. He twirled her around and they laughed. She had no worries that Iris would invade her territory, none at all. But did Troy still wish that romance had worked? She forced herself to look away. When she looked back, Iris was talking to her husband. Troy was nowhere in sight.

      He was right behind her, claiming a dance. It was an old tune with a good beat—“Knock On Wood”—and Troy improvised, moving her two beats left, two beats right, a little twirl. She’d been very impressed by his dancing tonight. And it was sexy! Then the tune segued into a bebop beat and she noticed a few kids getting together for another line dance, but Troy pulled her back from the crowd, gave her hands a little shove and made a jitterbug move. “Huh?” he asked, lifting his eyebrows.

      She laughed at him. “As long as you don’t slide me between your legs or toss me onto your hips and over your shoulder.”

      “Aw,” he said, then led her into a really good jitterbug, so good that kids stopped what they were doing to watch. This guy knows what he’s doing, she thought.

      When the song ended, there were a few claps from the crowd. Grace heard a teenage girl say, “Oh, God, why can’t he just marry me!”