Dancing Hours (41 page)

By the time we got to Arizona, Jessica had been there for a
couple of
week
s
with Holly.  She had her own room, which was fully decorated in purple and pink flowers.  She had just started school there and she was so happy to see us.  David was clearly happy to see
Jessica
too. 
Holly and I spent a long time talking in the kitchen while Jessica and David played in her living room that night.  “She’s never going to go to sleep tonight.”  Holly observed.

“Probably not.”
  I watched David making monster noises and chasing Jessica around the furniture.  “Maybe we should stay the weekend. Would that be okay?”

“Yes!  Jessica would love it and you could meet my sister.  She had to work late today, but she can come over tomorrow if you’ll be here.”

And so we stayed the weekend.  Holly was every bit the devoted mother David had hoped she would be.  Jessica’s needs always came first.  And Holly’s sister was an excellent aunt.  As an only child, I never missed having a brother or a sister.  I was always the star of the show at my house.  I never had to share a bedroom, a sink or a sandwich with anyone else.  And I always had friends that I was close with.
  But I would never have that bond that sisters seem to have.  And Holly and her sister had a pretty tight bond.

I didn’t make it back to school on ti
me and they made me repeat the classes
. David and I got an apartment together and finished out the year there. 
Living with him wasn’t any more of a challenge than living with any other roommate.  He started working for Ed drafting press releases for the business out of our apartment while I went to classes.  Most nights we made love and fell asleep in each other’s arms. 

At David’s urging, I signed up to do
the next
semester in France.  
The flight there was the most exciting thing I had ever done.  David seemed genuinely excited too, but he didn’t seem to be a very good flyer because he was jittery the whole time. 
I joked that he needed to switch to decaf and he barely registered that I was talking. 

It took a week for us to finally get around to visiting the Eiffel Tower, but I could not help being overwhelmingly excited.  I was going to look at it from every angle, go up inside, eat in one of the restaurants.  I had great plans for me and the Eiffel Tower.  David seemed to understand that he was merely a prop in my mission to get to the Tower that day, but as I stood there admiring it from the ground looking so much larger than I ever
imagined;
David had a surprise for me. 

“Are you happy?” he asked.

“Wow.  Yes, I’m so happy.”  I
said
  “
I can’t believe I’m finally here.”

“Me either.” He looked up at the tower, hands in his coat pockets and took a deep breath.

“I’ll bet you…”  I started a sentence and looked over to find him on one knee.

“Andy, you are the most amazing woman I’ve ever known and I’m really happy that we could make your dream come true today.  I thought maybe you could make my dream come true too.” He opened the little blue velvet box.  Inside was
a ring I recognized instantly -
my grandmother’s engagement ring.  “Will you marry me?”

I felt like all of Paris stood still around us. 
The entire continent could have disintegrated at that moment and I wouldn’t have noticed.  Of course, I said yes.  Loudly, excitedly, absolutely yes. 

We spent a blissful season in Europe exploring and engaged in every sense of the word.  We returned to Los Angeles to finish up my degree and married in the summer back home, where we met.  Kate planned the wedding for us, I just had to find the dress and show up. 
It was perfect.

Jessica was the flower girl, the ring bearer and a bridesmaid.  Holly brought her sister and her cousin to the wedding.  Even Noah showed up and stood with my handsome groom. 

Our reception was at the senior center in the dance hall my grandmother renovated, as if she’d known I would dance there on one of the happiest days of my life.  David and I had our first dance, then I danced with my father, my mother… sometimes it felt like Nan was dancing there beside me. 
I think the whole town showed up, invited or not.  That is what I loved about being home.  My town was my family, the whole raggedy lot – as Nan would say.  We danced all night long. 

We
later
moved back to that small town together.  I took a job with Miss Celia teaching children
to dance
and worked at the Under Ground sometimes.  David continued working for Ed remotely.  We saw Jessica often, even after we had our own children.  Once a year we traveled to a new and faraway place, but
when our vacation was over
it was always good to be home.

Over the years I learned that even though I love to dance
for hours
, let my mind drift with the music to a faraway place, it’s the time between the dancing hours that matters the most.