Grace knocked on Billy’s door and said, “It’s me, Grace,” all at the same time, so he wouldn’t get nervous.
He opened the door. Really opened it. No chain or anything, because it was only Grace. Well, Grace with Rayleen standing right behind her, but that was still OK by Billy standards. At least, these days it was.
His eyes went wide when he saw the wood.
“So that’s what you guys were chattering about out there.”
“Help us bring it in, OK?”
Billy’s eyes changed. They got darker, and more closed off.
“I know, I know,” Grace said. “It’s the hall. But it’s just for a minute. It’ll only take a minute.”
Billy looked up at Rayleen.
“I’ll grab this side,” Rayleen said. “If you’ll just come out real quick and get the other side, we’ll have it inside in just a couple of seconds.”
Billy stood. He breathed. A lot. Like he was under a blanket and couldn’t get enough air. He counted to three. Out loud.
“OK,” he said. “One. Two. Three!”
At the same time as he said three, he leaped out into the hall and grabbed the other side of the wood. Then he ran back inside with it so fast that Rayleen almost couldn’t keep up with him. She nearly fell down trying.
“Close the door! Grace! Close the door!” he said, when they were all inside.
So she did.
“Now I can still dance today!” she said. Shrieked, actually.
“Oh, I don’t know, baby girl. It’s awfully late.”
“It’s not late! It’s only about six thirty.”
“But I only have you from three thirty to five thirty.”
“So? Today you have me a little later.”
“But I’m used to three thirty to five thirty.”
They stood looking at each other for a moment. Grace knew what Billy meant. She was asking him to do something different, new, and he wasn’t good at that, and when you ran into something Billy wasn’t good at, it didn’t seem to help to argue.
Grace looked at Billy, and Billy looked back at Grace, then up to Rayleen, then back to Grace.
“Oh. Baby girl,” he said. “Don’t look so crestfallen.”
“Can’t help it,” she said.
“OK, fine,” he said. “Dance.”