“I look great, right?”
Zane caught the attack of the giggles from Shelley, and they laughed until they were gasping.
“Jack?” Shelley finally said.
“Yes, honey.”
“I think you’re the best stand-in dad that anybody ever had.” She threw her arms around me and squeezed tight, and my throat tightened around the lump in it.
“You’re the best stand-in daughter that anybody ever had, too,” I told her, hugging her back. “But I’m worried you just love me for my fashion sense.”
Shelley giggled and ran off with Zane, saying something about lemonade, but I didn’t really catch it, because Tess showed up just then. She’d wanted to drive separately, so she could do her makeup and whatnot while I picked up Shelley, so she hadn’t seen my tux, but I hadn’t seen her dress, either.
She started laughing so hard she clutched her stomach. I waited for her to calm down and then I pulled her into the selfie station with me and wrapped my arms around her from behind. She wore a dark green dress—no sequins—that was exactly the color of my eyes, and her fiery red hair, left down and loose like I loved, glowed against the emerald fabric.
“Tess Callahan, you take my breath away,” I told her. “You are the most beautiful and bravest and most brilliant person I’ve ever known. Will you dance with me?”
She said yes.
I danced with her, and with Shelley, and then I danced with Zane and Shelley’s teacher and even the principal. I nodded at Rick Peabody when I saw him dancing with one of the teachers, and he sent me a grin and mouthed the word “pig.”
Everybody laughed when they saw me, but I didn’t care. I was exactly where I wanted to be.
About halfway through the dance, I caught sight of Lily standing on the edge of the dance floor, her little face dark with unhappiness. I strolled over there and stopped next to her, looking out at the dancers instead of down at her.
“Cousins?”
“Cousins,” she muttered.
“Okay. Why don’t you dance with me and point them out when we go by?”
Her face lit up. “Really?”
“Absolutely.”
I heard, a few days later, that a rumor circled that some of the McKee boys saw an actual tiger at the dance and were scared into good behavior for a long time afterward. When people asked me about it, I just smiled and said, “no comment.”
But Lily pinky promised me we’re now friends for life.
Just before the dance ended, when they called the last song, I looked for Shelley, but she was deep in conversation with Zane and some of her other friends. I held my hand out to Tess.
“Dance with me?”
She smiled and walked into my arms. We danced, not talking, just enjoying the moment, until the song ended. Then Tess suddenly stiffened and looked up at me.
“I can’t believe I missed the perfect opportunity! And me, a die-hard mystery reader.”
“The perfect opportunity to do what?”
Her beautiful blue eyes sparkled. “To say, ‘The Butler did it.’”
EPILOGUE
Tess
Sunday afternoon, after church and Sunday lunch at Aunt Ruby and Uncle Mike’s house, Jack and I changed into warm clothes, coats, and gloves and headed to Daytona to catch a ride with some friends of his in the Coast Guard. They’d served with him in the rebellion, so it was like old home week, with a lot of joking and banter and catching up while we loaded boxes onto the boat.
One of his friends told me that anytime I wanted to “dump the kitten,” he’d be waiting, which made Jack growl and made me laugh.
