“Sure.” He took her hand and stood up, letting her lead him out to the dance floor.
Alex had his hands in his pockets when he looked down at Harper. “So that leaves me and you.”
“We don’t have to dance.”
“Are you kidding me? We totally do.” He took his hands out of his pockets and held his arm out for her.
With little choice left, Harper smiled and took his arm. Once they found a clear spot, he stretched out his arm, then put his hand on her waist, pulling her closer to him. He took her hand in his, and she put her hand on his shoulder.
“You seem to be in an awfully good mood today,” Harper commented. “You and Gemma can’t seem to stop smiling today.”
“I am in a very good mood,” Alex admitted with his easy grin.
Daniel and Gemma spun by, doing some kind of exaggerated waltz that had Gemma laughing.
“Everything going good with Gemma?” Harper asked once Gemma and Daniel had danced far enough away that they couldn’t hear them again.
“Couldn’t be better,” Alex said, then corrected himself. “Well, it’d be nicer if there wasn’t that whole siren thing … but considering, it’s actually pretty amazing.”
“I’m glad. You guys seem really good together.”
“Thank you.” Alex looked genuinely pleased with the compliment, and Harper realized that this was probably the happiest she’d ever seen him. “Now that you’re getting more used to the idea, we can start hanging out again.”
It wasn’t until now, with things feeling easy and simple and like old times again, that Harper realized she’d missed him. She loved Daniel and Gemma, and even Marcy, but it would be good to have Alex in her life again.
Then, unexpectedly, Alex took her hand and spun her, causing her to twirl as she laughed in surprise, then he pulled her back to him.
“It seems like you’ve picked up some dance moves,” Harper said, as they started to speed around the dance floor. She thought he was doing a version of the Charleston, but her feet didn’t cooperate as much as she’d liked.
“I’ve picked up a lot of things. It’s been a long time,” Alex said, and when she tripped on her foot, they both laughed. “Maybe we should try something slower.”
“It’s probably for the best since I don’t really want to break my leg,” she agreed, and grinned up at him. Once they began to move slowly again, she brushed a hair back from her forehead, and he smiled down at her.
“I’ve kinda missed you actually.”
“Me, too,” she admitted.
“I should be going to Sundham for the spring semester, so maybe we can be study buddies again,” Alex suggested.
“That would be fantastic. I’m not doing so well in school so far.” Harper frowned, knowing that was an understatement.
“Well, I’m sure once all this stuff with Gemma is solved, you’ll do much better.”
She smiled, trying to look as confident as Alex sounded. “Yeah. Me, too.”
The song ended, switching over to Agnes Obel’s “Riverside,” which felt much slower than the previous one. She glanced around, looking for Daniel, or barring that, an excuse to sit back down.
While she’d been looking left, Daniel and Gemma appeared at her right, and she turned to see Daniel asking Alex, “Mind if I cut in?”
“Nope.” Alex stepped back, offering her hand to Daniel. “She’s all yours.”
Harper slid gratefully into Daniel’s arms, and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Gemma and Alex disappearing onto the dance floor again. She looped her arms around Daniel’s neck, and he held her much closer to him than Alex had.
“Did you have a nice time with Alex?”
She nodded as she swayed with him. “Yeah. How about you?”
“Pretty good. Your sister’s a rather enthusiastic dancer, though.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. And she stepped on my foot.”
“Is it okay?” She tried to step back, so she could see his foot, but he held her close to him, refusing to let her go. “Do you want to sit down?”
“No.” He smiled and shook his head. “I never wanna sit. I just wanna dance with you for the rest of the night. Just like this.”
Staring up into his eyes, it was hard for her not to cry. So she rested her chin on his shoulder and held on tighter to him. His arm felt strong around her waist, but his other hand was up higher, pressing warmly against her skin in the open back of her dress. The stubble on his cheek rubbed against hers, but she didn’t mind.
In fact, she relished it. She wanted to savor every moment of this. The way his arms felt safe around her, the way he smelled of sandalwood, the scrape of his cheek, even the feel of his shirt underneath her hands as she hung on to him.
“I don’t want this song to end,” she whispered.
“I can go talk to the DJ,” Daniel suggested, trying to make a joke. “Bribe him to keep playing it all night long.”