Rose scoffs. “Both, obviously.” She twirls me again. “But I got more practice doing the Swayze part of the dance because none of my friends wanted to be the boy.”
“Did you do the lift?”
“Yep.”
“Think you can still do it?” I ask as a wonderful and terrible idea occurs to me.
She raises an eyebrow at me. “I feel like you’re about to challenge me to do it.”
“Good guess.” I let go of her hand and take several steps back. Around us, the other girls have stopped dancing and are scooting away, giving us space to attempt this. “Ready?” I ask.
“I just want it known that you are risking your life, and I cannot be blamed if I mess this up,” Rose says. “I haven’t done this since I was thirteen. But yeah, sure, I guess I’m ready.”
I do a little shimmy to the beat Sol is strumming on his guitar before taking a breath and running toward Rose. She catches me by the waist and lifts. I’m almost shocked when my feet actually leave the ground.
Wow, she’s way stronger than she looks, I think as she managesto lift me over her head. I stretch out my arms and legs, trying to remember the pose from the movie I haven’t seen in years. I must get it at least mostly right, because I hear Sol laugh before he switches to playing “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.” Around us, Zinnia cackles while Poppy and Lily cheer.
But Rose has barely had me in the air for two seconds before she begins to wobble. I yelp as she stumbles back, fully expecting us to go toppling headlong into the fireplace. But she manages to drop me to my feet with a tiny bit of grace. Just enough so that neither of us ends up face-first on the cabin floor.
“Not bad,” I say, smiling as Rose reaches to put her hands on my hips and mine go to rest on her shoulders. “And after wrecking us at charades tonight, too? Is there anything you’re bad at?”
“Absolutely,” she says. “I mean, I can’t think of anything right now, but I’m sure there’ssomething.”
I laugh, and the smile that lights her face is one of the sweetest things I’ve ever seen.
The others have started dancing again. I can hear Zinnia begging Poppy to try and lift her. But they feel like they’re miles away. Standing this close to Rose, our bodies swaying in time with each other, our eyes locked on one another’s, it’s as if we are the only ones in the room.
“I’msorry,” I say.
“For what? Making me do that lift?” she asks. “Don’t apologize. If anything, I should be thanking you for giving me the opportunity to impress you.”
I feel the heat rising into my cheeks, and I have to look away from her pretty green eyes so that I don’t combust right there in the middle of the living room.
You can’t like her, I remind myself.She’s supposed to be like a sister to you.
But nothing about the way Rose makes me feel is sisterly.
“No, I mean … I’m sorry we’re in this situation. Without much food and stuff. It’s my fault,” I explain. “If I hadn’t gotten caught shoplifting—”
“Then someone else probably would have eventually,” she says. I look up just in time to see her shrug. The hands on my hips pull me a little closer, and I have to be careful not to step on her toes. “Look, I’m not thrilled about being hungry. It’s frustrating. But I don’t blame you for it, Iris. I don’t even really blame this Brophy guy you all keep talking about. I’m sure he thought sending the cops to check on you was the right thing to do.”
“I think so, too,” I admit. “But it still sucks.”
“Itdoes,” she agrees. “But I think we’ve all been through some suck in our lives. We can handle it. So don’t apologize to me. Hopefully Sol’s working on some plan. Some way to get food that doesn’t involve stealing.”
“Maybe he and Violet will have some luck hunting tomorrow,” I say. And then, with a teasing smirk, I add, “And you can help skin the deer again.”
Rose wrinkles her nose. “Ugh. I mean, I will if I have to, but …ugh.”
I’m not sure how long we keep dancing like that. I’m not really aware of much besides the way her hands burn like brands on my hips. Or how soft her long black hair feels as it brushes over my knuckles, where my hands rest on her shoulders. Like a curtain of silk framing her moon-pale face.
We dance until, one by one, the other girls file off to bed. Until Sol finally stops playing the guitar and we break apart to wish him a good night.
“You girls sleep well,” he says. “And, Rose, if you’re strong enough to pick up Iris like that, maybe you ought to come out and help me chop wood sometime. You ever used an ax before?”
“No, sir.”
Solwaves a hand. “Oh, come on, now. You know better than that. It’s Sol, not sir. We’re family here, after all.”
