Page 23 of You Know You Wanna

I caught snippets of the conversation here and there, though. A lot of it I tuned out, like the teenage boy who was complaining to Jenna about the heat, but when I heard Laurene’s voice, I snapped back to attention.

“I’ve been practicing turning my feet out like Dorothea showed us, and it’s making such a big difference. Can you believe it? Just that one little thing and it’s like one move suddenly just flows so much more naturally into the next.”

My eyebrows mashed together. Turning her feet out? For what?

Birdie, however, seemed to know exactly what she was talking about. “That’s why I love taking her class. We call her Aunty Dot around here. She’s been teaching since before I was even born and she has a knack for spotting exactly what each dancer needs to walk out of the class at least a little bit better than they were when they walked in.”

Oh, right. The barre class. I wonder why Laurene is so excited about it. She kept gushing to Birdie about the dance instructor and how she’d been practicing this and that, but I didn’t understand half the words they were using.

Jacqueline had signed Laurene up for ballet when she’d been only three years old and she’d been doing it ever since, but I hadn’t really heard her even talking about it in years. In fact, if I hadn’t been receiving monthly statements for instruction, I wouldn’t even have known she was still doing it.

At least being the person responsible for paying the bills gave me some information, but my girl hadn’t sounded this excited about anything since the day I’d picked her up from school for the break. The kids finished eating and helped Jenna and Birdie clean up.

“Remember, guys,” Jenna said. “The trash we make is the trash we take. Let’s be sure to get it all.”

Every last one of the kids redoubled their efforts, even bending over to make sure there wasn’t a speck of plastic left anywhere before they started back toward the resort. Jenna led the group while I brought up the rear, curiously watching Birdie and Laurene together.

They’d been joined at the hip since Birdie and I had gotten to the bluff, and they were still talking animatedly as they walked. As far as I could tell, there hadn’t been even a minute of silence and I smiled to myself over how excited Laurene was.

I honestly didn’t understand it, but it had been a long time since I’d seen her looking so happy. So alive. So lit up with childlike excitement that I instantly felt validated in the decision to bring her here.

All this time, I’d been worried that she was going to have only terrible memories of this summer and that she wouldn’t want to come back to the States to visit for her next break, but as I watched her now, I realized that Birdie had—once again—been right. It had taken Laurene some time to settle in, but now that she had, she was having a wonderful time.

When we got back to the resort, Birdie went into the Kids Camp to settle some of the other children but Laurene suddenly doubled back to me. “Can we invite Birdie to have dinner with us tonight?”

I blinked hard, beyond surprised at the request. “Excuse me?”

“I want her to come,” my daughter said, her eyes wide and pleading. “Please, Daddy? Can we please invite her to eat with us? It’s just at the restaurant here. It’s not like we’re asking her to drive anywhere or anything like that.”

“I, uh, I’m not sure if she’d be able to, hon. She’s pretty busy and she’s probably got a lot of work to do.”

“Everyone has to eat, though,” Laurene said, pressing her hands together in a prayer motion. “If she has to work, then that’s okay. I know that work always comes first, but can we at least just invite her?”

Work always comes first. Those words echoed in my head, sounding like a curse for once. A curse I was intent on breaking—at least for the summer. I’d already decided that Laurene came first this summer, and if this was what she wanted, then why not?

“Sure, honey. We can invite her, but if she says no, let’s find out when she’s available and schedule it for then instead of trying to convince her to join us tonight, okay?”

The happiest, most genuine smile I’d seen from her in years lit her face. She even bounced around on her feet a little, clapping her hands before she flung her arms around me. I couldn’t remember the last time she’d hugged me like that.

She stepped back and glanced at Birdie. “Will you go ask her? Can you do it now? Can I come with you? If she says she has to work, I won’t try to convince her, I promise.”

“Well, maybe a little convincing will be fine,” I said, grinning back at her as I reached out to ruffle her hair.

She shrieked with laughter and ducked away from me, but the exchange still made my heart swell. It was an unfamiliar, uncomfortable sensation, but man, it was also really fucking great. Just so much more natural than any we’d had in so long that I wondered if we’d ever had one like it.

Sticking to my side as I strode up to Birdie, I could practically feel the excitement radiating from my little girl. Her bright eyes and smile were motivation enough, but I was also suddenly hoping Birdie would say yes. As we approached her, she turned and gave me a questioning look.

“Is everything okay? I thought you two would’ve gone by now.”

“We’re fine,” I said quickly. “We were just wondering if you’d like to join us for dinner in a few hours? Say seven. At the restaurant by the pool.”

“Wow,” she said, glancing at Laurene before she smiled. “I’d love to. I’ll see you two then.”

My daughter beamed up at her like Birdie herself had hung the sun and the moon, but I was feeling pretty good about it myself. Especially when Laurene slid an arm around my waist to hug me as we walked away.

It had been at least eight years since I’d last felt like a superhero in her eyes. Not since way back when fixing a toy by clipping a plastic tube back into place or even just taking the spider out of her room had qualified as slaying the dragon. I’d forgotten how good it felt, but as we made our way back up to the suite, I silently vowed that I would be her hero again.

I didn’t have many years left of getting to do it. Not really. It would be a tall order since she’d be leaving to the United Kingdom soon, but for as long as I could, I would be my little girl’s superhero once more. I could give her that. I owed it to her, just one last summer of being her daddy, the hero who could make all her dreams come true.