Gah, she really wished she could control her blushes better. She may as well wear a sign that said, Yes, we totally did it.

Erin changed the subject. “I looked you up online. I admit it. I love dancing and I got curious when Brody had said you danced with NBT. I watched several clips of you on YouTube. I’m really impressed. You’re an amazing dancer. You did Giselle several times, that’s a big deal.”

“It is? Why?” Brody leaned in for her answer.

Pleasure and pride flushed through her. “It’s a plum role. The role you go up through school dreaming of dancing. Very dramatic story. Love, heartbreak, death, revenge, forgiveness. You’re not only dancing but you’re acting too. Technically it’s very difficult, so many of the greatest dancers have taken up the role. To be among those names is a hope of many a young woman coming into ballet. It was most certainly mine.”

“I’m so glad you got to live that dream. It’s amazing, isn’t it? To stand up on the stage and actually be doing what you’d fantasized about and worked for your whole life?”

Their gazes locked briefly and Elise realized Erin Keenan had a lot of depth.

“I don’t know a lot about ballet, but I was so struck by the intensity of your grace and poise when you’re dancing. It would have been wonderful to see you perform live.”

“I’ve seen a bit, she’s pretty amazing.” Brody spoke in an offhand manner. Totally casual. And she melted a bit inside at the pride in his voice.

Erin’s eyes widened, and then she sent Brody a decidedly teasing grin. Elise thought about her brother, thought about how much fun he’d been as they’d grown up. Erin still had that and Elise envied her.

“Thank you. I love to dance, I have for as long as I could remember. I’m not one of those people who was forced into lessons or whatever. I would have spent all my time dancing if I could have. But when your dad is a professor, you can’t blow off school.”

“Do you miss it?”

Elise paused. “Yes. But I’m getting older and I got hurt. Some things you can’t come back from. So teaching is the next best thing.” She needed to have that tattooed on herself. Some things you’ll never come back from. But you can survive them and that’s what she did.

Brody watched her in his yard, with his friends and family, and found that he liked her there. He had his circle, and they meant everything to him, so it meant more than he could really grasp to have her there and feel like she was meant to be there. Rennie fit in great with the other kids. Elise made friends in her own way, but she was sort of irresistible, this huge force of nature in such a deceptively pretty package.

He took some of the larger trays into the kitchen and began to clean them up as Todd packed up the leftovers.

“So what’s that story?” Raven brought a tray inside and began to dry as he rinsed.

“Story?”

“Very tiny blonde lady in your backyard with the kid? Hello? I know you noticed her because you haven’t taken your eyes off her for more than three minutes at a time. You’ve been stuck to her like glue and even gave Cope the stink eye when he started that game of cards and invited her to play.”

He smiled at her, wondered what it was that had turned him so upside down those years before. When he looked at Raven now, he certainly found beauty; you’d have to be blind not to. But he saw so much more. Too much to ignore and continue to love her, but enough that he’d always hold her in a special place.

“She’s a very pretty blonde lady who helped me out when I got hit by a car, and we struck up a friendship. I like her. I like her company. And as much as I’d get Cope’s back in a brawl any day, I don’t want anyone else to like her the way I’m currently liking her. Which is all I’m going to say about it right now.”

Todd, who’d been ferrying things inside and back into the fridge, overheard and barked out a laugh. “You’ve got his number, but like Raven said, we’d all have to be blind not to have seen the way you two have been with each other all afternoon. Cope is a man whore, as Erin would say, but he’s got ethics. He wouldn’t poach anyone else’s anything.”

“Which is why he’s out there playing cards with her and trying to see down her shirt and I’m not hitting him in the face.”

“So have you retired your bachelor shoes?” Raven’s tone was mocking as she leaned back against the counter, watching him.

“No. We’re not going steady. But I’m an adult and I can like the people I’m with. I prefer it that way.”

Raven snorted. “You’ll get over it when the novelty wears off.”

Brody shook his head and swatted Raven with a kitchen towel. “Don’t be so negative. Jesus. You’re going to get an ulcer or something. Try the half-full method.”

When he went back out, Elise was in the process of trying to separate Rennie and Nina, and neither girl was having much of it.

“Why don’t you guys have a play date soon? How’s that?” Maggie smiled at both girls and then up at Elise.

“Okay! How about right now?” Nina said.

“How about soon? Do you have our phone number? You two can work out a few days and times and we’ll work around it, okay?”

Elise held back a smile but Brody saw her fight it. He liked the way she was with Rennie. This wasn’t a woman who had her roles confused. She wasn’t Rennie’s best friend, she was Rennie’s mother. But she also seemed not so rigid that it harmed either one of them. It had to be tough, being mother and father.