Page 65 of Last Mile

Deacon asked with a smirk.

Alex grinned at him. “Oh yeah. You do.” As she rose off the bench, she handed Wyatt to Beth. “Now I think you owe me a dance or two.”

“I think I can oblige you with that one,” Deacon said.

As they headed over to the dance floor, Rev went over to Annabel and pulled her up. “Will you honor me with a dance, Mrs. Malloy?”

A dreamy expression filled Annabel’s face. “Of course I will. But they’re not playing a slow song.”

“I’ll make them play one. It is my birthday,” Rev said.

Once they left, Samantha and I were all alone. With an awk- ward silence hanging around us, I wondered what I should do. Was asking her to dance coming on too strong, or would she be offended if I didn’t? The whole gray area of friendship was a real pain in the ass.

Just as I was about to man up and ask her, I felt a tug on the back of my shirt. I turned around to see Willow staring up at me. “Will you dance with me, Uncle B?”

Since I was incapable of ever telling Willow no, I held out my hand to her. “Of course I will.” Once she slipped her hand in mine, I glanced over my shoulder at Sam. To my surprise, she didn’t seem pissed at me picking a six- year- old over her. “I’ll be right back.”

She gave me a warm smile. “Have fun out there.”

Willow jerked me along until we were in the middle of the couples. Rev hadn’t yet asked for a song change, so it was still a fast one. I started making goofy moves that rewarded me with giggles from Willow. She then started copying what I was doing. With her love of ballet, she was a pretty natural dancer, even when doing the sprinkler. When I looked back at the table, Sam and Mama Beth were both laughing at our antics.

As soon as the song was done, I squatted down beside Willow.

“Would it hurt your feelings if I asked Samantha to dance with me now?”

Her face lit up. “No. It wouldn’t.” She patted my shoulder.

“Samantha is really, really nice. I think it would be good if you made her your girlfriend.”

“Oh, you do, huh?”

Willow nodded. “Poe really liked her, too, and you know he doesn’t just like anyone.”

I refrained from arguing with her that I couldn’t base a potential relationship on the fact that a deer— who had probably been after the corn—approved of the woman in question. “It’s good to know that Poe liked her.”

“All the family likes her, so you should, too.”

Once again I had to remember that Willow was just a kid. She was such an old soul sometimes. “Thanks for the dance, rug rat.”

“But I’m the one who asked you.”

I grinned. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.” Pulling her closer, I said, “Now give your favorite uncle a hug.”

“But, Uncle B, I love you and Uncle Rev the same. I promise,” she argued as she threw her arms around me.

As I rubbed her back, I said, “I know. I’m just teasing you.”

When I pulled away, I winked at her. “Now if you still want to dance, go over to Joe and tell him as a prospect, he has to dance with you.”

Willow wrinkled her nose. “That’s okay. I don’t want to dance with him.”

“Why not?”

She shrugged. “Just because.”

Although I could have pressed her, I already knew the response. He wasn’t Archer, whom she had a crush on. Back when he was a prospect, she would have loved to make him dance with her. Of course, Archer was twenty- one and totally wigged out by Willow’s crush. He worried at any moment one of us Malloy men was going to kick his ass for being a pervert. We loved to give him shit about that.

I rose. “All right, then. I’m going to ask Samantha to dance.”