“If I’m honest, any song that will get you to dance with me can be our song.”
She hesitated before taking his hand. “I meant it when I said I don’t know how to dance.”
“I plan on taking it slow.”
Jack led her to the dance floor, which was crowded with couples swaying to a 1940s ballad. He wrapped one arm around her waist and held up his other hand so she could slide her fingers through his. He swayed their bodies back and forth in rhythm, and she exhaled, willing herself to relax. By the time the second song started, Stella was more at ease and rested her head on his shoulder.
She had skipped every dance her middle school and high school had hosted to avoid embarrassing herself by being clumsy while on display. She also hadn’t wanted to suffer the sting of no one asking her to a dance, since she’d adamantly sworn to anyone within earshot that she had no interest in going. But she’d been curious and more than once wished some boy would have asked her anyway. Now she understood what she’d been missing.
“I like this,” she said, closing her eyes and resting her head on his chest.
“Ilovethis,” he said.
When the next song started with a quick tempo, Stella tugged Jack off the dance floor. “I don’t think I’m ready for the jitterbug or swing dancing.”
He pulled her against him. “I can teach you.”
Stella laughed. “Not right now. I’m just getting used to the idea that I can dance to the slow ones. Thank you for bringing me out here. I’m glad my first dance was with you. It was really nice.”
Jack pressed his cheek against her hair. “‘Really nice’ is an understatement. I could dance with you until the stars come out and the sun rises and then—”
She laughed again and playfully pushed him away. “Are you sweet-talking me? Trying to woo me?”
Mischief glinted in his eyes. “Is it working?”
Stella pressed her hands against his chest. “Jack, I need to be honest with you.”
His playful expression disappeared. “Let’s hear it.”
“Everything you do works for me.”
He covered her hands with his. “I know just what you mean.”
By 8:30 p.m. the festival started winding down, and the crowd thinned as people found their way to their cars. Vendors packed up, and the food trucks sold the last of their goods to late-night eaters. Everyone would be gone in less than two hours, so Stella headed inside the library to make sure vendors had help packing up if they needed it. More than half of the indoor booths had already been dismantled, and volunteers helped vendors carry boxes and supplies out to their vehicles.
Stella took the stairs up to the second floor and looked around. It was empty except for a scattering of left-behind papers and to-go cups. She gathered the trash and carried it to a trash bin. When she reached across a table to scoop up a few stray pencils, someone walked up behind her.
Stella glanced over her shoulder with a smile, assuming it was Jack, but her stomach plummeted. Wade Haynes—handsome and confident—stood there grinning at her.
Chapter 22
“Hey there,” Wade said, still grinning at Stella as though they’d planned this encounter, as though he hadn’t been gone and silent for months.
She stared at him. She tried to inhale a slow breath that might control her heart as it galloped out of control, but her lungs didn’t respond. She gripped the pencils in her hand. One snapped.
“No hello? No hey, how are you?” Wade said, moving closer, his shadow like a menace inching toward her.
Thoughts slammed around in her mind like trapped, angry wasps. Where had he come from? After all this time, why was he here? He’d never been in the library before. Seeing him standing in her favorite place felt all kinds of wrong. The back of Stella’s neck burned. “What are you doing here?”
“We brought the kids to the festival,” he said. “Great job with it. Myles brought his girlfriend, so he didn’t spend as much time with us, but she’s a nice girl. Hannah and Christian had a blast withall the activities. There was plenty for the older kids to do this year, even more than last year, I’d say.”
He stepped closer, and Stella took a step backward.
“I saw you out on the dance floor with a guy,” he continued. “Who is he? I haven’t seen him before. Seemed like you two know each other pretty well.”
There was no mistaking the jealousy in Wade’s voice. He sounded like a man hinting at someone invading his territory. Stella dropped the pencils on the table, and her empty hands balled into fists. What right did he have to care who she was with?
“Not that it’s any of your business, but he’s not from around here.”
