The Best Is Yet to Come (36)

“What do you mean?” he said. “It looks like they’re enjoying themselves.”

“Callie made sure he regretted asking her to the dance, going out of her way to ignore him with a lot of other students following suit. Something’s changed, and I’m not sure what.”

“From where I’m standing, Spencer doesn’t seem to mind.”

Hope agreed. Spencer seemed to be eating up Callie’s attention, and that worried her. The kid was so infatuated with his childhood friend, he might actually believe Callie was sincere. The sudden change was suspicious, to say the least, and it worried Hope.

“If Spencer is as smart as you say he is, then he’ll figure it out soon enough.”

Hope’s thoughts were spinning, and she barely heard Cade. “Callie’s after something. I need to find out what her angle is.”

“Hope,” Cade said, gently squeezing her hand. “Let the kid enjoy the evening.”

Cade was right, she should let matters be. If Spencer reached out to her, she could discuss it with him then. For now, the best she could do was keep her eyes on the couple and hope nothing would disrupt the evening. Looking around the dance floor, she spied Scott Pender as he walked over to the edge of the dance floor, abandoning his date, and stared at Callie and Spencer. A dark scowl came over him.

“Oh dear,” she whispered, immediately concerned.

“What’s wrong?” Cade was instantly alert.

Before she could explain, Scott approached Callie and Spencer. Hope eased closer to the edge of the dance floor to step in if warranted.

Scott shoved Spencer aside and grabbed hold of Callie by the waist. Spencer stood back as if unsure what to do. By this time, several of the couples dancing close by had stopped to watch the exchange.

Callie wrestled away from Scott and grabbed Spencer by the hand. “I’m not interested in dancing with you,” she said, glaring at Scott. “Spencer is my date for the night.”

“You don’t care about him,” Scott challenged. “Who do you think you’re fooling?”

“You don’t know who I care about, so keep your opinions to yourself.”

Scott turned to face Spencer. “You’re more of an idiot than I thought.”

Spencer remained silent.

Just when matters looked to get heated, Coach Simmons stepped onto the dance floor, and that was all it took to defuse the situation. Scott glanced at the coach and then laughed, as if it was all a big joke, slapping Spencer hard across the back. Without another word, he walked to the other side of the dance floor, where his date waited, looking none too pleased.

Hope breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn’t sure what she would have done if Scott had pushed Spencer into an altercation.

It was a relief when Scott went back to his date. Coach Simmons must have noticed her interest, because a few minutes later he approached Hope and Cade.

“Good to see you, Ms. Goodwin.”

“You, too, Coach.”

He looked to Cade, and Hope made the introduction. The two men exchanged handshakes.

“I’m grateful you stepped in when you did,” Hope told him.

“Scott’s a good kid, talented and destined for great things on and off the football field, if he can learn to keep his cool.”

Cade eased closer to Hope, placing his arm around her middle. “Are you aware Hope had a run-in with him recently?”

Coach was immediately concerned. “I know she found him harassing the Brown boy. Is there something else I don’t know about?”

“Her car was vandalized.”

Coach’s eyes narrowed. “What happened?”

Hope felt the need to step in. “Cade, please. It isn’t fair to accuse Scott when we have no proof it was him.”

“Please,” Coach insisted. “I want to know.”

As Cade told him the details, it was clear Coach took the incident seriously. For sure he didn’t look happy. When Cade finished explaining about the tire and the security feed he’d watched, Coach’s face was hard and determined.

“If anything, and I do mean anything, like this happens again by any one of my boys, I need to know about it.”

“Of course.”

“I’ll handle it personally,” he added.

“All right,” Hope reluctantly agreed. She understood Coach wanted to protect his team by taking matters into his own hands. Losing a key player due to discipline problems could well mean losing the chance of winning the state championship for the second year running.

They stood together for a few minutes longer before Coach nodded toward Cade and then walked over to join one of the parent chaperones.

The rest of the dance proceeded without incident. At the end of the evening, Hope was exhausted. She hadn’t done any real physical work, so it seemed silly to find herself yawning.

With the other chaperones, they stayed for cleanup. Cade was a big help. They remained with Lois as she locked up the gym after the DJ had packed up his equipment and left.

“All in all, it wasn’t such a bad night, now, was it?” she asked Cade, as they walked out into the dark to the nearly empty parking lot.

“I confess I actually enjoyed myself.” His arm was around her, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

“I’m glad.”