by Reina Torres
As Matthew gently lifted Juliet from the couch and into his arms, Laura found her eyes drawn entirely too much to the way his t-shirt sleeves pulled across his biceps.
Did more dads like Matthew have biceps like those, because if they did, she would certainly pay more attention in the future.
When Matthew crossed the room to the hallway, Laura turned on the couch, tucking her knee on the cushion as she followed their progress.
When he turned slightly to ease them both through the doorway, keeping a watch for Juliet’s feet, she had to admit that her heart turned over in her chest.
Why did he have to be so sweet? So gentle with his daughter?
She wanted to enjoy her time with them, but if he continued to be this amazing every day, it was going to be hard to part with them when the show was over and done. Even the first rehearsal had been easy and fun. For all of Matthew’s protestations that he might look awkward in the scene, he picked the basics up easily. While Adrienne worked through other sections of the party scene, Laura had taken the time to work on his posture and the quality of movement that goes along with performing on stage. Matthew hadn’t taken things too seriously, laughing when he stumbled or when he stubbed his toe. Working with him made the whole day a true joy.
“Hey.”
Matthew stepped back into the room and Laura sat up to watch him with a smile. “Any trouble?”
“She didn’t even open her eyes when I put her in bed. How was I supposed to know that four hours of rehearsal would tire her out this much? I should have discovered this sooner.”
He rounded the arm of the couch and instead of sitting on the other end like he’d been earlier, he sat down on the middle cushion and turned slightly in her direction, laying his arm over the back of the sofa.
“Well, if she’s anything like I was, she’ll develop a tolerance for the rush of adrenaline and then she’ll be able to go for five hours... and then six.” She was very aware that the tips of his fingers were almost close enough to touch her shoulder. “You just have to hope that you do too.”
“You’re like the mystic of ballet shows,” he grinned at her, “is there anything you don’t know?”
She’d been preparing for it all day, but it was different when it actually happened. He hadn’t even asked a direct question and she was already in knots.
“It’s been a long time,” she admitted, “so you have to take everything I say with a grain of salt. You never know, maybe now it’s acceptable to do the wave in the theater after a really good moment in the ballet.”
Matthew cringed and she laughed at his expression.
“You cringe a lot when I’m around.”
He shook his head and held up his hands in what looked like the Scout salute. “It’s not just you. It’s girly things and all things ballet, I’m guessing. I know I’m clueless when it comes to all of this and when I miss something that I feel should have been only too easy to figure out, it’s like another mark against me as a dad.”
She turned even more toward him and shook her head, dipping her head to the side a little to catch his full attention. “Why do you say that? You’re a great dad.”
His smile said he was trying to accept the compliment, but it was the same wince of his expression that said he couldn’t quite believe it.
“When Juliet’s mom passed I felt a real loss for her,” Laura admitted, “for several years I would see the both of them come into the building before class and I watched the way that Juliet would hug her mom so tight that I was surprised Aimee had breath enough to tell Juliet how much she loved her before she left and then when Aimee picked her up again, you’d think they hadn’t seen each other in weeks.
“They’d hug and kiss each other like they were being reunited after a long trip.”
“See, that’s what I’m talking about, Laura, I-”
“Don’t.” As much as she loved hearing him say her name, Laura wasn’t going to let him abuse himself like that. She placed her hand on his arm and he’d stopped talking. “You need to hear the rest of what I was trying to say.”
She barely resisted the urge to grab him by the shoulders and shake him, but then he’d probably think she was trying to punish him.
Still, he managed to keep quiet, gesturing for her to continue.
“When I see you with Juliet, I see that same love between you that she had with her mother. She lights up when she sees you, even though you were only across the room. And when she looks up at you on stage, Adrienne doesn’t even have to tell her to look like you’re the best dad ever and project it in her eyes and her body language, it’s already there.
“I’m so happy that the two of you asked me to do this. It’s really an honor to see what a wonderful dancer she’s become. No one can look at her and think you’ve failed in any way.”
He cleared his throat. “I’m so glad you said yes.”
She felt a soft rush of sensation along her shoulder. Turning her head ever so slightly she saw his finger gently brushing along the edge of her blouse.
The sensations from that simple touch flooded through her veins. It was a gentle touch, one that spoke of a connection between the two of them, but it didn’t push any boundaries between them. Still, it made her realize how dangerous it was to stay any longer.
She was spending time with them for Juliet’s sake, not her own. And while Matthew Benson was probably the perfect man for her, this was not the time in any of their lives to even entertain falling for him.
“I should probably get going.” Clearing her throat, she reached for the arm of the sofa to help herself up to her feet.
“Laura, wait.”
His hand settled on her shoulder and the heat of his skin against hers was enough to settle her back against the couch.
“Am I missing something?”
“Not that I can see.” Oh boy. She really hoped that he had. If not, this was one conversation she didn’t want to have.
“We were having a nice conversation and suddenly you’re going for the door like you can’t get away from me fast enough.”
“It’s late,” she told him, and the excuse sounded silly to her ears, “and I know you don’t have a big love for the train, but it gets me where I need to go.” She looked at the clock on the wall. “I’m fairly sure that there’s a nearby station that I can-”
“I’ll get you a cab.” His tone said he wasn’t going to take no for an answer. “It’s not that I don’t like the train. I’m sure it’s perfectly fine.”
“But?” She laughed. “There’s a really big butt in that statement.”
He nodded, this time with a smile. “Yes. I don’t think it’s the safest, especially at night. A beautiful woman alone is an invitation to the worst kind of people and I would worry the whole time. I’d probably make you call me and stay on the phone until you were home and I knew you were safe. That would be a very long phone call and you’d probably hate me after, but I’d worry.”
She looked at him, tilting her head to see into his gentle eyes. He thought she was beautiful. Oh sure, there were other things that he said, but Matthew Benson thought she was beautiful.
“I’ve been using the El for years, ever since I moved to Chicago. I’ve never had a problem. Besides,” she leaned closer to let him in on a secret, “I don’t think anyone would attack a dancer.”
His brow furrowed a little. “Why not?”
“Because,” she reached down and pointed at the leg that she’d extended, “we kick, really hard. And our muscles can sometimes make us look like weight lifters. Who wants to mess with us?”
He hung his head and sighed. “Why can’t I get you to see reason?”
“Oh, I see it,” she grinned and dropped her leg back down to the floor, “I just think it’s not that big of a deal.”
The mood seemed to settle between them, Matthew finally sighed and nodded. “Okay, I may just be a little bit over the top, but I’d like you to think of two things.”
She leaned her
shoulder against the back of the couch. “Okay, two.”
“One,” he held up a single finger, “tonight, you’re at our house and this is a residential area a little bit outside of the train route, so you’re going to have to get a cab to get to a station, so why not ride the cab all the way to your apartment?”
She opened her mouth to speak and he gave her a look.
Laura covered her mouth with one hand and motioned for him to carry on with the other.
“And Two,” he added a second finger beside the first, “I know you can take care of yourself, Laura. No one doubts that. But would it be so bad to let someone else take care of you a little?”
His words struck another chord deep inside her heart. When she’d moved to Chicago when she was a teenager, she’d lived in a dormitory with other ballet students. Sure, there were adults that made sure they ate and were seen by doctors when they needed it, but the instant she’d finished school and moved out on her own as a company dancer, it had all been on her shoulders.
If she was being truthful to herself, hearing those words from Matthew made her feel cherished, even if it was likely that most of his attention was because of his daughter’s attachment to her.
But the tender part of her heart that held all of her deepest emotions and dreams soaked in his gentle words.
“Okay,” she nodded, “if you want to get me a cab home, then I would be very happy to accept.”
“Great.” Matthew picked up his phone from the coffee table and had a cab on the way in less than a minute. “He’ll call when he reaches the driveway, that way we don’t have to stand outside waiting in the cold.”
She shook her head. “You can go to sleep, Matthew, I can-”
“Accept the fact that I’m going to wait with you and walk you all the way to the cab.”
Laura couldn’t help it. Having him watch out for her made her feel so warm inside.
“You’re just too nice to me,” she felt a lump form in her throat, “it’s been a long time since I’ve had that.”
Matthew took her hand in his. “Get used to it,” he smiled and gave her hand a gentle squeeze.
The subtle gesture didn’t just make her heart turn in her chest, it began to fall.
Chapter 6
A soft knock at his office door had Matthew setting his work down for a moment and smiling at the woman standing in the doorway. “How is everything going, Brigid?”
She leaned against the doorframe and folded her arms over her chest. “So far so good.”
It was her usual greeting and her usual answer, but Matthew would caution anyone who would come up against the woman who looked like a slightly taller than average Betty White. She might look like a sweet granny, but step over the line and she’d put you in your place.
It was one of the reasons that when he left his old firm, she was the only one he asked to come with him.
And it was the best decision he’d ever made in his career. Well that and paying the majority of the tuition for her to go to law school.
Brigid Kinsale was a top-notch lawyer in her own right and that was after starting law school in her sixties.
“You keep standing there looking at me, Brig, and I’m going to have to charge admission.”
He heard her soft chuckle.
“Well, I’ve been hearing from Iris all day long about your mood.”
Well that got his attention. Leaning forward in his chair he looked at Brigid with concern. “Did I say something that upset her?”
Brigid’s laughter told him he’d missed the whole point. Again.
“You can be so sweet and so dense all at the same time.” She waved off his concern. “How you can find the tiniest problem in paperwork and not see the big stuff in your life that’s staring you in the face.”
He had to admit being just the littlest grumpy that she found something funny that he was still clueless about.
“Well then,” he cleared his throat and leaned an elbow on the top of his desk, “maybe you’ll take pity on me and fill me in?”
She lifted her hands to wave at him to back down. “Keep your pants on, boss. I’m just testing the waters-”
“Brigid-”
“Even before I talked to Iris, I was dying to ask you how things went at the rehearsal.”
“Rehearsal, hmm? How did you know that Laura didn’t turn us down?”
“How could she?” Brigid looked affronted at the idea. “First of all, our Juliet is too cute for words and so talented and sweet, of course she said yes.”
He opened his mouth to speak and Brigid rolled right over him like a sixteen-wheeler with a cut brake line.
“And the way that Juliet has gushed about her ‘Miss Laura,’ even though it’s been years since she’d taken a class with her, I knew that ‘Laura’ would do it.”
Matthew was trying to ignore the ‘air quotes’ that Brigid had used when mimicking how he’d said Laura’s name.
“And lastly, even when Laura was dancing for The Adler Company as a principal dancer, she always… and I mean ALWAYS took time to meet her fans and do outreach when her fans couldn’t get to her. Of course, she’s helping our girl. So… how was the rehearsal with-”
“If you use those ‘air quotes’ again, I’m going to leave for the rest of the day and let you deal with the Mackie children.”
Brigid pressed her hand to her chest, nearly tangling her fingers with the beaded chain that she used to keep her glasses close at hand. “Wow, you must have it bad for her if you’re threatening me with the triple threats.”
Shaking his head, he leaned back in his chair. “I just don’t know what to think right now. This was supposed to be simple. Have her rehearse with us for a few weeks, a couple of performances and let Juliet have a few more memories of her favorite teacher.”
Brigid waved her hand. “But…”
“It’s too soon,” he declared. “I mean it’s too soon to think... to know if the connection is just a fluke or…” he stood up from his chair and walked to the side of his desk.
Leaning back against the hard, mahogany edge, he struggled to understand his own confusion. “How do I know if it’s just wishful thinking?”
Brigid let out a long and heavy sigh. “You’ve been on dates before now-”
“Sure. When Juliet said it was time for me to ‘get out’ every once in awhile, I asked a few people out. It just wasn’t the same, you know?”
She nodded. “You and Aimee were so good together, but you were both at your best when it came to your family. So if you’re feeling that again in your heart while you were out with Laura, then I think you should listen to that. Trust that.”
“It wasn’t a date.”
She shrugged. “It didn’t have to be a date. It doesn’t ever have to be a date, Matthew. But what you need to do is give yourself a break. You’ve been so tied up in knots trying to be both parents to that girl of yours that you’ve kind of forgotten what it’s like to be a man.”
That got him on his feet. “Now hold on…”
“No,” Brigid took a step closer.
“And your ‘mood’ that Iris noticed wasn’t anything bad. She wanted to tell you that she was happy for you. You walked in with a smile today that was a little different than normal. You joked more. Your smile was lighter, bigger. And twice,” she lowered her voice almost to a whisper, “she caught you singing to the radio. She said she’s never heard anyone make a country song sound so dang happy. Her words not mine, because you know I love me some Tim McGraw.
“But think about this before you tell me I’m wrong, Matthew. You don’t have to brace for the worst when you’re spending time with Juliet and Laura. Let the good have a chance to happen too, okay?”
He wanted to shoot off an answer. He wanted to smile at her and tell her that he’d think about everything and it would all be all right.
He wanted it to be. Lord knows when he’d met Laura, he’d been stunned by her natural beauty and her gentle demeanor.
&nbs
p; But spending what amounted to a full day with her at rehearsal and then afterwards in his house, he’d been waiting for her to do or say something to knock her down off of her pedestal in Juliet’s eyes, but what had happened was finding out that he was becoming just as enamored of Laura as his daughter was.
And his heart knew just how dangerous that was.
“It’s hard,” he looked at Brigid and wondered how she always managed to see right through him when he tried so hard to put up walls, “it’s like I want to like her, but I don’t want either of us to get hurt when somewhere down the line that being a step mom is just as bad as it sounds and she walks away.
“It would crush Juliet.” He pushed on, realizing how crazy he sounded. “Listen to me rambling on about things that are so impossible that I don’t know why I’m even torturing myself about it.”
Before he realized it, Brigid had her hand laid gently on his arm. “You’re thinking about it, because for the first time since Aimee’s passing, you’ve met someone good enough to inspire the questions. And yes, it’s too soon to know anything more than one important thing.” She made sure he was looking at her before she continued, “Does she make you want to spend more time with her? Do you want to know more about her?”
He took a deep breath and met her concerned gaze. “Yeah, I want to know… everything.”
Brigid leaned in and brushed a kiss on his cheek. “Then give yourself a chance to try.”
When she left the room, he was still standing there when his phone rang and Iris told him that the Mackie children were there.
* * *
That night after dinner, Juliet dragged her dad to the couch and asked him to connect the television to the internet. He gave her a look that spoke volumes.
