“So you’re good at dancing?”
“No.” He laughed. “I was kind of hoping you were so you could teach me. But I know enough to fake it.” He leaned close, his voice lowering. “And honestly? I won’t be thinking about my feet. If you’ll dance with me, I’ll just be thinking about how lucky I am.”
Okay, someone had better pinch me, and quick. What had I done to deserve a guy like this?
Before I could give it another thought, one of the wedding guests approached Derrick. “Dude, you’re Derrick Richardson.”
“I am.”
“Could I have your autograph?”
“Of course.” He signed the guy’s wedding program. This started a group of fans gathering around him, just as my father took to the floor for the father-daughter dance. Derrick continued to sign autographs as Phillip and his mom shared a dance, but he finally managed to turn everyone’s attention back to the bride and groom, who opened the dance floor to all of their guests.
“Finally!” Derrick slipped his arm around my waist again. “I thought this moment would never come. Let’s hit the floor, Southpaw.”
I took a couple of steps, but a troubling thought caused me to stop just short of the dance floor. “I’d love to dance with you, Derrick, but before I do, I think I need to take a spin with a different partner. Do you mind?”
“A different partner?” For a moment Derrick looked offended—until I pointed to Tyler, who stood against the wall, looking lost and a little overwhelmed. “Ah. Great move, Southpaw. Show the guy how to trip the light fantastic.”
“I’ll show him how to trip, all right. Over my feet, is more like it.” The belly laugh that followed must’ve startled the prim and proper woman to my right. She turned to give me a stare, straight down her nose. Oops. Almost forgot where I was. People probably didn’t belly laugh at the River Oaks Country Club.
“Promise you’ll save the next dance for me?” Derrick asked.
I nodded and then stood on tiptoes to give him a kiss on the cheek. “I promise.” Then, with a song in my heart, I headed over to Tyler, extended my hand, and offered him the first dance.
My sister’s reception turned out to be the party of the century. I’d never seen so many people have such fun. Turned out the country club set knew how to celebrate, especially when it came to the dance floor, where they boot-scoot’n boogied the night away. Go figure.
The sixty-five-dollar-per-head dinner was scrum-diddly-umptious. Even Grandma Nellie agreed. My dad loved the Chicken Cordon Bleu so much that he almost forgot about the price tag attached. Almost.
And me? I almost forgot there was no nacho cheese dip to be found anywhere.
After Crystal and Phillip cut the cake, the time arrived for the maid of honor and best man to give their speeches. Derrick went first. My heart went out to him as he held the microphone in hand. I’d seen him perform on the ball field, but how would he do with a speech? Turned out, pretty good. He told stories about Phillip that made us laugh . . . and sigh. I had to give it to him.
His job as best man now complete, he passed the microphone to Sienna. Poor girl. Her social skills obviously didn’t extend to public speaking. She stumble-bumbled her way through the speech, pretty much making a goober of herself. In fact, she got so flustered at one point that I thought she might run from the room crying.
Derrick gave me that same knowing look he’d given me before. As Sienna ended her speech, he took the microphone and handed it to me. I put my hand over it and mouthed the words, “What are you doing?”
“You know.” He nodded. “Go for it. Give your sister a maid of honor speech she’ll never forget.”
And so I did. I shared a funny story about the time we’d shared an upper bunk at camp, and she’d knocked me out of it in the middle of the night. I also told the story about the night she’d decided to go on the mission trip to Haiti, how she’d cried as she talked about the children she wanted to help.
When I finished, the whole crowd cheered. Crystal threw her arms around my neck and squeezed me so tight she almost crushed my windpipe. Next in line to give me a power hug was Phillip. After that, strangely, Sienna. She gave me a quick hug and mumbled, “Thank you for saving my neck.” I hadn’t really saved her, of course, but hugged her in response. Maybe, with time, this goofy girl would win me over. And she did, when she added, “You know I love her. Do you think she’ll forgive me for falling down on the job?”
“Of course. My sister loves you too, you know.”