Chapter 6: My Family

Across the ballroom, Harold lifted his chin one inch.

Nathan hesitated, then looked back at me.

"Okay," he said. "One dance."

"One song," I said. "I'll decide about the rest."

Kendra stepped back from his left side without being asked.

"Go," she said, smiling. "I'll hold the folder."

She meant it, and that made me angrier than if she hadn't.

Nathan took my hand, and we walked out onto the floor in front of two hundred people.

The quartet slid into the second verse of the waltz.

His right hand settled at my waist and his left held mine.

It was formal and careful, and neither of us leaned in.

"You're stiff," I said.

"So are you."

"I'm wearing a dress that doesn't let me slouch."

That got me a ghost of the old laugh.

We turned once, slowly, past the fountain.

I could feel the whole room looking.

I put my free hand up and laid it flat between his shoulder blades.

I hadn't done it in two years.

Under his jacket, his back was rigid from neck to belt.

I kept my palm still and waited.

Nathan's eyes closed, and I felt it happen.

The muscles let go, one band at a time, all the way down his spine.

His whole weight tipped into my hand.

"There," I said, very low. "That's mine."

His breath caught.

"Han."

"I watched you do it for her an hour ago, and you didn't even know." I kept my voice steady for the room's sake. "Tell me why it was easy with her."

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