“Maybe I would, if I was wired another way.” He drew in a long breath. “I have nothing against Amy. She’s a nice woman, but I can’t dance with someone unless I feel something for them. Call me old-fashioned, but even holding hands—that means too much to me to do casually.” He offered the hand that a second ago had cradled her chin.
Paige slipped her hand into his. Did her action mean as much to him as it did to her? “But we’d be dancing, so what’s the difference?”
He just raised his eyebrows and spun her in a circle. Did that mean...?
The song changed and another one of the science teachers called out for a promenade.
Caleb gave her hand a light tug, letting her know to step out for the group of couples they practiced with. He led her to the edge of the gym.
“Do you know what the issue is, Paige?”
She shrugged.
“It’s not that you can’t do this. It’s that you’re looking at the situation all wrong.”
“I am?”
“You keep watching the other people around you. You watch your own feet. Comparing yourself to others and focusing on yourself—those things will only ever lead to stumbling. Sure, you can fake that you know what you’re doing for a little while, but when others are looking to you for help...they’ll catch on eventually.”
“Then what am I supposed to do? I don’t want to make a fool of myself tonight.”
He offered her both his hands, palms up. “I know the dance. Trust that I can lead you. Can you do that?”
“But how?” she whispered.
“Do you trust me?”
She bit her lip. Did he know what he was asking—how difficult that was for her?
But a thought rushed through her. She could trust Caleb. Really.
She nodded.
“Then look right at my face the whole time, and I promise, everything else will follow.”
* * *
“Wake up, you big lug.”
Caleb woke up to Maggie poking him in the arm. Lifting his head, he looked around in a startled, groggy haze. Between practice for the Barn Dance that morning and then cleaning the gutters at Maggie’s inn afterward, he’d been beat. He’d thought to rest on the living-room couch a few minutes before going home.
He blinked a couple of times. Must have fallen asleep.
“Earth to Caleb.” Maggie waved her hands in front of his face. “You have a barn dance to get ready for. I’m kicking you out.”
“I just need to change.” He yawned. “It won’t take me that long.”
Maggie pulled a face that bunched up her nose. “As your friend, I’m going to say that you don’t smell the best right now so you best head home and shower.”
Sitting up, he good-naturedly rolled his eyes.
Maggie popped her hands onto her hips. “I need you out anyway so I can get Cinderella ready.”
“Where’s Paige?” He stretched his hands above his head and tried to shake the soreness out of his arms and back. He’d hurt tonight after working on the gutters.
“I made her go start getting ready. You do realize you’re going to have to fight the other single guys off tonight after I’m done with her.”
He scrubbed his hand down his face. “Just where did you two disappear to after practice this morning anyway?”
“I took her shopping. We went clear out to the mall in Shadowbend, and then we got caught up talking. Girl stuff.” She winked. “I shouldn’t tell you, but you did come up in conversation. And for the record—Paige spent a good five minutes in here watching you sleep until I forced her to go take a shower.”
“Really?” Caleb lifted an eyebrow, unsure if Maggie was teasing him or trying to slyly relay vital information.
“Uh-huh. She kept saying—” at this, Maggie raised her voice to imitate Paige “—‘How is it that guys look so cute when they’re sleeping?’”
He stood up, grabbed his wallet off the coffee table and tucked it into his back pocket. “Well, that’s one way to ruin a guy’s day. Call him cute.”
“Cute is good!”
“Cute is a word used for puppy dogs and little kids.”
“You’re impossible. Get out of here, buddy. I expect you back in an hour looking every bit a gentleman.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.” Caleb saluted her and took the hint.
Sitting out in his truck before turning it on, he wondered what the night could possibly hold.
For the first time in two years he was actually looking forward to the Barn Dance.
* * *
He should have brought flowers. That was the customary practice for something like this. A man brings his date flowers on an occasion that calls for someone needing an hour to get ready.
But this wasn’t a date.
She’d hesitated so long before saying yes, and even then it was because she was under threat of getting sprayed with water. He shook his head. What had gotten in to him? He was acting like a flirtatious teenager.
For tonight, whatever the reason for Paige Windom saying yes, Caleb was thankful.
It’s not a date. He kept repeating the words to himself on the way over to the West Oaks Inn.
Hopefully Maggie wouldn’t make a big deal over it—yanking out the camera and making them stand awkwardly together taking mock prom pictures. She’d done that so many times when he’d showed up for Sarah over the years.
As his truck bumped up the gravel driveway, his greatest fears were confirmed. Maggie and Shelby—why was she there?—waited for him. His stomach dropped. What if the attention scared Paige? He’d have to put a stop to it. Walk in and whisk Paige out as quickly as possible.
“Ooh, is that a new top?” Shelby fussed as he crossed the lawn. “I love you in that straw cowboy hat. The students will be putting your handsome mug all over Instagram.”
Whatever Shelby’s reason for showing up and meddling, he’d talk to her tonight. No reason getting into a discussion here with the possibility of Paige overhearing.
He sidestepped his sister. “Where’s Paige? We need to head out.”
At that exact moment she walked out the front door and the sight of her made his heart take off like a fugitive in a high-speed car chase. For all Caleb knew, someone had sucker punched him in the gut. His lungs couldn’t take in enough air.
Most of the students and faculty dressed for the Barn Dance in jeans and flannel shirts. Paige wore a long skirt that flowed when she walked, shiny new boots and a shirt that cinched at her small waist.
Beautiful didn’t describe her. It couldn’t. It didn’t mean enough. She was stunning—smiling, the deep blue pools of her eyes luminous, her hair spilling down her back in large, loose, golden curls—and walking straight toward him.
Caleb tried to swallow the lump in his throat. She was his date. This gorgeous woman who enchanted him, teased him and challenged him on a daily basis. This beauty that, unbeknownst to her, was making him a better man—making him face things he’d locked away two years ago—was his.
At least for tonight.
“You look great.” Caleb managed.
Giving him a lazy smile she shrugged. “I feel weird. I think Maggie has it out for me.” Pulling her gauzy skirt up a couple of inches, she showed off her shoes. “Look at how high the heels are on these boots. I’m not used to walking in these babies yet, and now I’m supposed to dance in them.”
“Just hang on to me tonight.” Caleb offered his hand and gestured toward his truck.
“You two are so cute.” Shelby busted in between them, looping an arm through each of theirs. Dropping her voice she said, “You owe me for doing damage control—I made Maggie promise not to embarrass you guys with pictures. She fought me hard on it, though. And, bro, t
ake care of Paige, I’m afraid all the guys will be after her tonight.”
* * *
Paige fixed her hair in the visor’s mirror and stared at her reflection. There was nothing significant about her. No reason for Caleb to want to be with her.
He had seen her crying, been on the receiving end of her anger, listened to her deepest wounds, stayed with her when she was bleeding and hadn’t laughed at her when she voiced doubts about God and the Bible. All that, and he kept choosing to spend time with her.
His cowboy-themed button-down shirt molded across his athletic shoulders as fading sunlight poured through the window, giving his brown hair a shimmery aspect. Clean shaven, he glanced at her shyly out of the corner of his eye.
In a small town, it didn’t take long to reach a destination. He pulled into the parking lot of the country club and then rounded the truck to help her down.
She braced her hand on the side of his truck. “These shoes really were a terrible idea.”
“You can take them off when we get inside. Most everyone ends up dancing barefoot anyway.”
“Okay, before we go in there can you answer one question for me?”
“Shoot.”
“This is not a barn.”
“Please form that into a question and I’ll answer you.” He smiled.
“Why is this thing held in a country club if it’s called a Barn Dance?”
“Easy. It got too big to hold in the barn owned by the forest preserve and none of the people with barns on their private property want the whole student body trampling around on their yard.”
Caleb offered her his arm as they walked into the Barn Dance.
Her student Tammie ran up to them and snapped a picture without warning. “I didn’t know you guys were dating! Sorry, Mr. Beck, but my friend is going to be devastated when I show her this picture. She’s had a crush on you since last year.”
Paige bit her lip. She should probably correct Tammie before she spread that she and Caleb were a couple all over the school.
Tammie squealed. “But you two are so cute together. Nice work snagging him, Miss W.” She glanced at the digital image on the back of her camera. “This is so making it into the yearbook.” She rushed off.
Heat raced to Paige’s cheeks. “The students can be so...energetic.”
Caleb chuckled. “Especially the girls.”
The room was cavernous with high ceilings lined with exposed mahogany beams. The wood floor gleamed, and the back wall boasted floor-to-ceiling glass with an overview of the rolling, well-manicured golf course. In clear contrast with the building, bales of hay and scarecrows lined the edge of the room. A giant table in the middle overflowed with a gurgling chocolate fountain, and a live band played old folk songs on the stage.
“You look great.” Bree waved at her. She looked cute in a loud print standing beside the lanky IT guy who worked in the school district’s administration building.
“You, too,” Paige mouthed as she and Caleb moved across the room.
After the next song concluded, Principal Timmons took the stage and announced the start of square dancing. “The chaperones will run through the first two songs and then everyone else can form squares and join.”
“Ready?” Caleb pumped her hand.
“I guess I have to be.” Paige grinned at him.
They launched into the first song, and Paige did what Caleb had asked her—she trusted he could lead her. She looked right at his face the whole time. There were a few missed steps, but they laughed it off, and judging by the applause at the end of the second demonstration, no one in the crowd minded.
Caleb led her off the floor.
Bree flashed a toothy grin. “You did good, kid.”
“I missed a couple steps.”
“Eh. We all do. I always think dancing is like life in a way, and I like to picture God as my dance partner leading me in all sorts of new and fun steps. Sometimes I mess it up, but He’s right there to catch me in the midst of those stumbles.” Bree waved. “I have to go.... Don’t want any girls flirting with my cute IT guy.”
After a few songs the square dancing morphed into normal teenage dancing, which consisted of students standing in circles, shuffling their feet and raising their hands in the air every once in a while. Paige and Caleb made the rounds for their official chaperone duties and checked the hallways for mischief. Students kept asking to take pictures with them.
Caleb squeezed Paige’s hand. “I have to go make the announcement for Barn Dance king and queen.”
“I think I’ll grab some fresh air while you do that.” Paige stepped outside and breathed in the crisp evening air.
I know the dance. Trust that I can lead you. Can you do that?
Caleb spoke the words earlier today, but she knew now that they applied to her relationship with God. For too long she’d pictured God above the world, too worried about everything else to consider her life, but it changed everything to imagine Him this way—reaching out His hand, asking her to trust Him.
“You care about me, don’t You?” she whispered to the night sky.
Hadn’t Caleb told her that God gave her worth the moment He created her?
“I trust You.” A rush of calm seeped into her heart, untying binds she hadn’t even realized were there.
* * *
Timmons cornered Caleb before he could make it back to Paige.
“I have a small favor to ask of you.” The principal wore a rather large Stetson hat and a huge belt buckle.
“Wasn’t me chaperoning this dance a small favor?” He scanned the dance room. Where was Paige, anyway?
Timmons winked at him. “Admit it. You’re having a good time.”
“Okay.” Caleb crossed his arms and shook his head good-naturedly. “What’s this favor?”
“I don’t know if you heard, but Coach Quinn was rushed to the hospital this afternoon.”
“The basketball coach? Is he all right?”
“He’ll have to have his gallbladder removed and won’t be able to perform his coaching duties for the next few weeks. I asked Lenny, but he can’t do it because coaching would interfere with that indoor soccer club he plays in. You’re the only one I know on staff who plays besides him, and the boys have an important game this Thursday. League rules are that they must be accompanied by a coach or they have to forfeit. I’d hate to have all the students’ hard work go to waste.”
Thursday. He’d have to make sure Paige didn’t go to Sarah’s Home that night. “Sure, I can fill in for him.”
“I knew I could count on you.” The principal slapped his back.
Caleb turned back to face the main part of the room and spotted Paige right away. She was surrounded by some of the other single male teachers. They were fluttering around her like mosquitos to a bug zapper. If only they would fry when they touched her, it would serve them right. He saw one offer his hand...probably asking her to dance.
Caleb quickened his pace.
If he felt that strongly about seeing her talking to other guys, then it was time to tell her.
* * *
Paige excused herself from her present conversation with two other staff members as Caleb started to cross the room.
He glanced at the people she’d been talking with. “Everything okay?”
“Everything’s great.”
“Were they trying to get you to dance?” He scrubbed his hand over his chin.
She pursed her lips. “Caleb Beck, if I didn’t know better I’d say you were jealous.”
“Maybe I am.” He took a step closer.
“We were brainstorming ideas for the spring musical.” She jutted her thumb back toward two of the men—one was the choir director and the other taug
ht journalism. “That’s all.” She fought a yawn.
“Are you ready to head home? Timmons said he was fine to close the dance without me. It’s only got another fifteen minutes until they start clearing out anyway.”
“Sure. I’m tired.”
He offered his arm and she took it. Her feet were sore from wearing brand-new boots.
They shuffled out to the truck and climbed inside. Caleb laid his arm across the back of the bench, the warmth of his fingers only an inch from touching her neck the whole ride home. Why didn’t he just make a move already?
He put his hand back on the wheel to help him steer as the truck bumped its way up Maggie’s driveway.
Instead of just dropping her off, he put the truck in Park. “The sky’s so clear now. Look at all the stars. Care to watch them with me for a couple minutes?”
“I’d love to.” Paige smiled at him through the dim light. He motioned for her to meet him at the back of the truck where he pulled down the tailgate.
He slipped out of his coat and helped her into it. “It’s a little colder than I thought.”
“Thanks.” She cuddled into the warmth of his jacket.
“Let me help you up.” Caleb put his hands on her waist and then didn’t move.
Not knowing what to say, Paige smoothed her hand down his chest.
He responded by touching his forehead to hers. “There are a million things going through my mind right now, and I can’t find the words. I’m so worried something will happen, and this will all disappear. Nothing bad can happen to you,” he whispered.
The old Paige would have considered his words bordering on controlling, but she knew Caleb better now. This fear came from the core of his soul and it meant he cared, really cared about her to voice that. It had taken her a lot of mistakes and years to learn that not only men slay dragons, but women were capable of waging battles against other people’s greatest fears, as well.
She licked her lips. “But Caleb...if something ever does happen to me—” she gulped “—it’s not your fault.”
He pulled back and studied her face. “Don’t you know by now, I’m crazy about you?”
Love Inspired August 2014 – Bundle 1 of 2 Page 58