Just One (Dangerously Dimpled) Read Free Page B

to
find where you went to hide. Alex is notoriously surly at parties, Charlotte.
He’s practically famous for sneaking off early.”
    Alex shoves both hands in his pockets.
“I’m not much of a party animal, I guess.”
    The tension hovering over the three of us
is so uncomfortable, even the crickets have stopped chirping. I risk a look in
Alex’s direction. He’s turned away from us but I can see the outline of his
frown. What in the name of George Dubya is going on between him, and the hoofed
waif at my side?
    Cadence’s prep-school manners come to the
rescue. “Goodness gracious, it’s like an oven out here. Charlotte, we better
get you inside before all that makeup just slides right off your face.”
    Oh
no she did not. I open my
mouth to lay a few choice words on her, but Alex speaks first. “It was a
pleasure meeting you, Charlie. Enjoy the party.” His smile doesn’t reach his
eyes and his hands stay firmly in his pockets, as though he doesn’t want to be
witnessed touching me. “Give my best to your sister.”
    “Silly,” Cadence coos, “you can tell her
yourself. I promised Jackson James I’d introduce the two of you. He’s looking
for someone to negotiate a new lease on some land out near Fort Smith. It’s
quite a big deal, from what I gather.”
    Alex gives a tight nod to Cadence. I
swallow my disappointment and allow her to usher me toward the bistro table.
What happened to the charming guy who saved me from the bushes and took off my
shoes so we could dance?
      “Grab your shoes, Charlotte, this isn’t a
hoedown for Heaven’s sake. ” She waits as I gather my sister’s discarded heels.
“And don’t stay out here too long, young man,” she calls to Alex, marching me
toward the hotel. “The birthday girl’s about to make her wish!”
    I catch a glimpse of Alex for a split
second as we pass him by. He looks strained, like he wants to say something,
but can’t. Disappointment covers my arms in goose bumps. Cadence doesn’t seem
to notice.
    “Oh Charlotte, my, you are a surprise.
Here I thought you’d be hiding out with the help, suffering through every
moment until you could run back home. Instead I find you with…with Alex.” She
finishes the sentence awkwardly, as though strained. For a moment that
ever-present debutant smile slides from her face, but she recovers quickly. “What
a story you’ll have to tell when you get back to the trailer park.” Cadence’s
words drip with condescension.
    She yanks the door open and steps
through, immediately lost amidst the throng of beautiful guests. I hesitate. I
can feel his eyes watching me. The hand he laid on the small of my back as we
danced feels as though it branded my skin, the outline of it hot and
uncomfortable. A minute longer and I’d have let him round third base on course
for a home run.
    I never thought it possible, but I ought
to be grateful to Cadence Spelling. She saved me from making a huge mistake.
Alex Ramirez and I are from two different worlds. I step into the air
conditioning, and let the door close behind me.

8:55 p.m.

 
    “What’d you wish for?”
    “My lips are sealed on this one.” A sly
smile flitters across Paige’s mouth. The button-sized dimples make her look
like a little girl. She learned early on, the power of those dimples. The world
has been at her mercy ever since.
    “But you always tell me. You tell me what
you wish for and I-”
    “You make sure it comes true,” she
finishes.
    Six months after our Mama died, I’d found
Paige crying in our parent’s closet. Bundled in Mama’s old terrycloth robe,
tears streamed down her pudgy eight-year old face.
    “ What’s
the matter, baby girl?”
    Paige
shook her head violently, her platinum hair stuck to her cheeks.
    “Please
don’t cry. You can tell me what’s the matter. I won’t tell nobody, I promise.”
    Her
bottom lip quivered but her blue eyes, so light and clear they looked like quartz,
looked up at me. “I’m never gonna get my