“Very,” Celia agreed.
“Well, you know,” Chloe said, smiling as she looked over at Wes, “practice makes perfect. Except, oh, we’re far from perfect.”
Celia laughed. “Well, practice makes you two look pretty damned good! But, hey, listen! Isn’t that a tango coming up?”
“A tango!” Chloe said.
Wes shrugged. He’d never thought he’d have been quite so grateful for his mother’s obsession.
But he could tango.
And so, they stepped out on the floor again. Once more, he knew that he could lead, and once more, he was certain Chloe had also been dragged into taking dance lessons herself. Maybe she hadn’t been dragged.
But it was rather incredible, and certainly convenient. They could appear to be a couple who had known one another, learned about one another, and just what they could do together as a couple.
The tango ended with them alone on the floor and actually receiving applause along with the band.
“I’ll bet you two can rumba, samba, Viennese waltz... I lose Jeff when it gets too complicated,” Celia said.
“Hey, I was a great lineman in high school and college! Ididn’t have time to dig into the local Fred Astaire or Arthur Murray studios!”
“And now we play football every day!” Celia said dryly. “Hm, and they’re coming up next with a foxtrot!”
Jeff groaned.
“Hey! Wes will take you out on the floor,” Chloe said. “I’ll sit this one out with Jeff for a minute or two. I’m a little muscle weary, anyway.”
“Sure!” Wes said. “Happy to oblige.”
He swept Celia out on the floor.
She wasn’t the partner Chloe had been, but she did know the dance and they moved along easily enough.
He wasn’t sure what conversation Chloe would have with Jeff, but since he had Celia, he decided to press her on the day.
“You really got nothing but a scrape, right?” he asked her.
She groaned as she moved about. “I keep telling everyone that I’m fine!”
“I know, I know. I was just hoping you didn’t get a twisted muscle that you’re barely feeling now, but that might hurt tomorrow.”
“No twisted muscles, thanks to you, my savior!”
“Well, it is slippery up there. And we were kind of bunched together.”
“I know,” Celia said. “I think that I was trying to let Daniel by me, but there were others around, too.”
“I’m sure he would have never pushed you on purpose. But despite our really good guide, we did wind up almost on top of one another now and then.”
“And I don’t think that Daniel would have minded if I’d fallen,” Chloe murmured.
“Pardon?”
“Oh, no, no, I didn’t mean anything bad, really. It’s just sometimes...”
“Sometimes?”
“Oh,” she said, twirling out of his arms and then returning, “you know, Broderick is the brains behind that company. Maybe Daniel is trying to prove himself too much sometimes, I mean, maybe, you know.”
