He didn’t grin back. “You sure about this?”
“Why should I be the one who leaves? I didn’t do anything wrong, so I’m not going to give them the satisfaction. Stop asking me. I’d like to try to enjoy this night.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt, Rose.”
I stared up at him. It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair that he was randomly saying things like that when I was feeling so off-kilter around him. “You won’t let me,” I said, choking a little and having trouble finding the right words. “You won’t let anyone hurt me.” I knew—somehow I knew he wouldn’t let anything hurt me.
He released a breath. “As you wish. Ready to go back?”
I nodded then hesitated after a few steps.
“I feel like everyone is looking at us, in there.”
“That’s because they are.” Jack’s eyes moved on my face, then my body. I felt my cheeks heat up. “Look at you. How could they not.”
Oh, geez.
While I was trying to come up with something to say he covered my hand with his. A little surprised, I looked down and then up to him, but he was looking straight ahead. As another round of applause broke out in the room, we stepped back in again. Because of all the waiters rushing around, we were walking really slowly, and that’s how I felt a small hand on my leg as I was passing a table.
“Jack, what a surprise to see you here!” someone said from our left, blocking our way back. As Jack was shaking hands with the man, I glanced back to see a little girl quickly turn her head away when our eyes met.
When I tried to pry my hand away from Jack’s, he stopped talking and looked down at me questioningly. “I’ll be right back,” I whispered, smiling at his friend before retracing my steps back to the little girl. She was stealing little glances at me, and the closer I got, the more she couldn’t look away. When I was standing next to her, she looked up at me with these big beautiful blue eyes. It wasn’t as deep as Jack’s blue, but a lighter shade, a sweeter one.
I gently dropped down to my knees, holding on to her chair with my hand.
“Hi,” I whispered, leaning toward her.
She bit her lip and looked at someone I assumed was either a social worker to keep the kids in line or just a chaperone, but the woman was busy listening to whoever was on stage and didn’t notice me and the little girl talking.
Both hands on the seat of her chair, the girl leaned closer and whispered, “Hi.”
I grinned at her and she gave me a crooked smile.
“I love your dress. Is it new?” I asked. She looked down at herself. She wore a simple long-sleeved pink dress. It wasn’t anything special, but its owner was, and that was all that mattered.
“They gave it to me today,” she explained. “It’s pink. It’s mine now, I think.”
“It looks gorgeous on you. I wish I had a pretty pink dress like that, too.”
“You do?”
I nodded enthusiastically. “I don’t have such beautiful blonde hair like yours, though, so I’m not sure I would look that good in pink, but I’m jealous just the same.”
She gently touched my arm with one single finger and quickly pulled it back.
“My name is Rose. What’s yours?”
“Madison, but my friends call me Maddy.”
“Nice to meet you, Maddy.” I held out my arm so she would feel free to touch me again. “Do you think my dress looks okay on me? I’m not sure.”
“It’s so pretty,” she whispered longingly, and this time she felt okay enough to run her hand up and down the embellishments on my sleeves. She looked at me and then to the chaperone, and when she saw the woman still hadn’t noticed us, she crooked her finger at me. I had to take two steps on my knees to get there and then she leaned in even closer, speaking into my ear. “I’m sorry I touched you. I’m not supposed to touch anyone tonight.”
I tried to force a brighter smile on my face. “That’s okay. I won’t tell anyone.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
The girl sitting on her right, who could only have been a few years older than Maddy, turned to us too.
“Hey, what are you doing on the ground?”
“Hey yourself,” I said, smiling. “Just chatting with your friend.”
“I like your hair.”
“Oh, really? Thank you.”
“I love yours. I wish I had curls like that.”
She swung her head from side to side, her tiny, frazzled curls flying everywhere. “I don’t have to do anything to mine.”
“You’re so lucky.”
“Sometimes other kids make fun of it though.”
My heart ached. I’d also had kids make fun of me when I was her age. Kids could be brutal. “Don’t listen to them. Trust me, they’re just jealous.”