31. Carolina
Chapter thirty-one
Carolina
W e float back into the school dance, hands twitching at our sides, desperate to reach out to each other. But we need to have more of a discussion. One that covers how we’ll move forward and what that will mean for the girls. Tamara steps up to the mic on the stage, her voice sing songy and shrill.
“Helllloooo, West Isle Elementary families! I’m Tamara Leavey, your PAC President, and it is the moment you’ve all been waiting for. It is tiiiime!”
“Bring back the microphone feedback,” I murmur, grinning when Berg has to cover his mouth with his hand. I love making the grouch laugh.
“The much anticipated cake auction has arrived. Can we have some of our volunteers bring up the first cake, please? ”
The auction itself is adorable. Little homemade cakes are going for twenty bucks or so and it’s all in good fun. Every time a child recognizes a cake their mom or dad made, they proudly announce it to all their friends. Tamara’s cake is second to last and I really can’t help but eye roll at the oohs and aahs. Especially now that I know she bought the damn thing. By the time the bidding for the cake reaches one hundred dollars, my eyes aren’t rolling, they are bugging out of my head.
“This is ridiculous,” I hiss.
“Oh, sold to the Hanson family for one hundred and fifty dollars!” Tamara fans her face. “I’m honoured!”
“I bet she didn’t even make her money back on that.”
Tamara’s giggles are still echoing through the room when an older student at the school brings my cake up to the table on stage. A couple hours in the heat of the gym has not improved its state.
“Oh, my.” Tamara places her hand on her heart like the cake caused her personal affront.
“Last…but, um, not least…we have this.”
“Christ,” Berg swears next to me.
“I’ll get the girls. You bring the truck around.”
“Stay.” He wraps an arm around my shoulders.
The room isn’t dim any longer. Anybody could see. I squirm under the weight of his arm, but I’m pretty sure it weighs as much as my leg, so I stop trying.
“Let’s start the bidding at, er.-”
“One hundred dollars.”
I gasp. “Berg!”
Tamara squints, scanning the crowd to see who the dummy is.
“Mr. MacMillan?”
Berg nods like being willing to pay a hundred bucks for a clump of sugar doing its best rendition of dying, Wicked Witch of the East style, is totally normal.
“The previous cake has already been awarded to the Hanson family.”
Her tone is cool and I wonder how butt hurt she is about being turned down by Berg on the dance floor. Probably a lot.
“One hundred dollars for that cake, please.”
Berg's cheeks are hot but his voice is steady, and he’s standing stock still next to me even though I feel like toppling over like my cake.
“One hundred and ten!” shouts a familiar female voice.
I whip my head toward the source of the sound and see my brother in the doorway with Anna, who just made a bid by his side. Natalie said she asked them to come to the dance.
“One hundred and twenty,” says Chris.
Tears are welling up in my eyes. My stupid little cake has a new lease on life, even if it’s silly. I spent hours on it, trying to impress the girls and raise some money for their school.
Berg turns, an eyebrow arching with amusement. “Back off my cake. Two hundred dollars!”
My knees wobble .
“Suit yourself. Two hundred dollars to the MacMillan…family.”
Oh, the way she said the word family makes my heart race. It was dripping with disdain. She’s lucky as hell that she clicked the mic off and stormed off the stage. At that moment, twin blurs of motion run straight at my legs.
“Your cake got the most money, Caro! You won!” Natalie exclaims.
“It’s not a contest,” I laugh, feeling like celebrating all the same.
Lou envelops my thigh with impressive strength as Anna and my big brother come over to join us. My anger over Tamara’s not-so-subtle jab fades away as we greet them and Anna wraps me in a big hug. I’m taken aback for a moment, hands hovering.
Screw it.
I wrap my arms around her and hold her tight. “Thank you,” I whisper against her perfectly curled hair.
“Of course.”
She says that so naturally, like saving the day for your friends is the most normal thing in the world. Maybe because I’ve been so preoccupied, but it occurs to me for the first time that Anna and I could be sisters one day, and the idea makes my eyes sting.
“I better go claim my cake,” Berg says, slipping away.
My brother takes each of the girls by hand and leads them onto the dance floor to rock out to some Lady Gaga.
“Okay, that’s adorable,” I say.
“He loves those little girls. ”
“Apparently. My mom could barely pay him to babysit me,” I laugh, remembering my brother as a skinny teenage boy who had zero patience for an annoying little sister.
“Let’s get a drink,” I suggest, showing Anna the way.
When we’re sipping on a couple of La Croix’s, Anna nudges my shoulder.
“I saw his arm wrapped around you.”
I bite my lip, looking at her like a deer in headlights.
“Oh, well, I was pretty upset about my cake soo…” I trail off at the end of my lame excuse.
“Your brother didn’t.”
I swallow hard. Thank. God.
“You think he’d care? Your expression makes me think you think he’d care.”
My cheeks turn beet red.
“Oh, my god. Has this been going on for a while?”
“Yeah…there’s been this chemistry ever since we met. We tried to…not.” I shake my head. “That was basically useless. But this was his first time doing something sort of public like that.”
“Chris is a big boy. He can handle his little sister being in love.”
My mouth pops open in surprise. I didn’t say anything about love.
My words come out all jumbled. “How did you…I didn’t even say that…”
Anna’s eyes widen. “He’s coming,” she hisses out of the corner of her mouth .
I have to laugh because right now it feels like we’re the students at this dance. Sure enough, Berg taps me on the shoulder and I turn, taking my time to enjoy how that damn dress shirt stretches across his chest. Berg and I stare at each other like lovesick pre-teens.
“I wouldn’t be much of a date if I didn’t ask you to dance. So, will you dance with me, Caro?”
“We’re gonna find the girls and say goodbye!” says Anna, making a beeline for my brother.
I’m acutely aware of the fact that very few of the other adults in attendance are dancing. Most are simply sitting at the folding tables or milling about in the corners of the room. But when Berg takes my hand and starts walking to centre stage, I forget about all that. He clears his throat before placing his hands around my waist and I rest mine upon his shoulders, because looping them around his neck is too much of a stretch.
“Come here,” he says, pulling me closer so that I’m resting my cheek on his warm chest.
“People are looking,” I say, when I see a mom and dad glance in our direction.
“Let them,” he rumbles, only tightening his hold on me. “They’re probably only looking at my ass in these suit pants, remember?”
I love how he’s able to diffuse tricky situations with humour. I squeeze his arm .
“Thank you. But they’re actually just wondering what lipstick I’m wearing. It’s courtesy of a seven-year-old who cornered me and told me I needed to wear it to look pretty for her Daddy.”
My heart melts a little at the memory. Lou’s tongue stuck out of the corner of her mouth in concentration as she applied it for me.
“Think I already kissed it off you, actually.”
“Damn it.”
“But if you want to reapply when we get back, we could always see how it looks around my–”
I slap his chest, shushing him, and he throws his head back in a deep laugh.
“I guess I should talk to them about us.”
“What will you say?”
“That we’re dating, like Chris and Anna. That we care about each other and want to spend a lot of time together.” I feel his lips press against the crown of my head. “I know what the optics surrounding dating my nanny are. I’m not dumb. I simply don’t care. If my life has taught me anything, it’s to reach out and snag happiness when you see it.”
The couple I saw whispering earlier make their way to the dance floor hand in hand. The mom leans towards me. “I’m so glad you two started dancing. I hate being the first ones to start.”
I smile at her, feeling silly for assuming they were gossiping about us. When it comes down to it, I bet most people don’t care. Berg makes me feel happy too, and being with his daughters fills a part of my heart I didn’t know was hollow.