Tumble (Dogwood Lane #1)(59)

“Practice is over,” Aerial says. “You girls did super tonight. Make sure you grab a flyer off the table in the locker room and take it home to your mothers.”

“Is it Manicure Day?” Keyarah asks, bouncing on her toes.

“It is,” Aerial agrees.

The room erupts in a wild cheer as they race to the locker room. I notice Mia is the last one instead of being in the middle of Keyarah and Madison.

“What’s Manicure Day?” I ask Aerial as Mia disappears into the locker room.

“It’s a tradition started right after you left.” She bends over and picks up a few wrist wraps from the mats. “The mothers get together with their daughters and do a mani-pedi day before the Summer Show. Remember how you used to get together and make your hair bows?”

“That was my favorite day. How tying off the fabric around the elastics was fun I have no idea, but I loved it. Every year, I loved it.”

“We started buying the bows online, so Manicure Day took its place.” She shrugs. “New generation, new traditions. Although if you ask me, the hair bows were more about team building. I think the manis are really for the moms.”

The girls file out of the locker area. Mia is, once again, last. In her hand is a red sheet of paper she shoves into her bag on her way out the door.

“I’ll see you tomorrow, Aerial,” I call out. Jogging across the gym, I meet up with my girl. “Hey, you. You did great today.”

She doesn’t look up. “Thanks.” She presses on the doors and doesn’t hold them open for me like she usually does.

I step into the sun and see Dane walking toward us. His smile falters as he takes in Mia’s demeanor. “Hey, rascal. How was practice?”

“Good.” She stops in front of her dad.

“Everything all right?” he asks.

“Yup.” She takes her dad’s hand and then looks at me. “Can we go get a hamburger at Mucker’s?”

Dane and I swap glances. I wish we could click over into the playful mode I see hidden beneath his concern for Mia. I wish even more I could stand next to him and feel him at my side. But just as I wish for those things, Mr. Snow’s offer pops up like an annoying online ad.

“Sure,” Dane tells Mia. “We can go get a burger. Sounds good to me.”

“Will you come with us, Neely?”

I want to say yes. I need to say no. All I can do is look at the adorable little girl with a sad streak in her eyes, and I can’t find the guts to answer either way.

Dane does it for me. “She better go or we’ll kidnap her.”

This puts a piece of the sparkle back on Mia’s face. That, in turn, trumps the best solution of starting to wean myself from them.

“Let’s go, ladies,” Dane says.

Mia offers me her free hand.

I take it.



“And then a cab pulls up to the curb, right? I’m thinking my luck has finally changed, and I start running down the sidewalk, waving my arms like a lunatic.” I demonstrate, with a little exaggeration, my arms flailing around in the air.

Mia giggles before taking a bite of her burger.

“I almost get there. I’m this close,” I say. “And my heel gets caught in one of New York’s famous sidewalk cracks, and I go face-first into a pile of snow.”

“I bet that was cold,” Mia notes. “How’d you get up?”

“Luckily, this man was walking by and helped me up. That’s not common in the city. Most people would just watch you walk out into the middle of traffic and not blink an eye.” I take a drink of my vanilla milkshake and shrug. “The man hailed me a cab, and I got back to my apartment. It was a heck of a day.”

Dane sits next to me, not saying a word. We’re early for dinner at Mucker’s and are the only people in the actual dining area. There are a few groups on the patio.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” Mia says, wiggling in her chair. “May I be excused?”

“Go ahead,” Dane tells her.

She skips off, her spirits seemingly better than they were when we got here. I watch her ponytail disappear into the bathroom before I turn my attention back to her father.

“What do you think was wrong with her?” I ask.

“I don’t know.”

“It came out of nowhere. She was hugging me and happy as a lark, and then she wasn’t.” I take another drink. “She’s too young for hormones. Or is she? What age do girls start their periods these days?”

Dane goes pale. “I have no idea. Surely not at her age.”

“I wouldn’t think so. It seems so young.”

The waitress comes up to the table and clears away our empty plates and the giant bowl of ranch dressing we shared for our fries. Dane requests the check and a box for the rest of Mia’s burger.

He leans to the side to retrieve his wallet from his back pocket, and I catch him grinning at me.

“What?” I ask.

“Just thinking you smell better than the last time I saw you.”

“You should’ve seen my mom.” I groan. “She picked out a piece of hay right away and was like, ‘This looks like a good sign.’”

Dane laughs, handing his credit card to the waitress as she reappears.

“I’ll be right back,” she says.