at me. “Will you dance with me, Uncle B?”
Since I was incapable of ever telling Willow no, I held out my hand to her. “Of course I will.” Once she slipped her hand in mine, I glanced over my shoulder at Sam. To my surprise, she didn’t seem pissed at my picking a six-year-old over her. “I’ll be right back.”
She gave me a warm smile. “Have fun out there.”
Willow jerked me along until we were in the middle of the couples. Rev hadn’t yet asked for a song change, so it was still a fast one. I started making goofy moves that rewarded me with giggles from Willow. She then started copying what I was doing. With her love of ballet, she was a pretty natural dancer, even when doing the sprinkler. When I looked back at the table, Sam and Mama Beth were both laughing at our antics.
As soon as the song was done, I squatted down beside Willow. “Would it hurt your feelings if I asked Samantha to dance with me now?”
Her face lit up. “No. It wouldn’t.” She patted my shoulder. “Samantha is really, really nice. I think it would be good if you made her your girlfriend.”
“Oh, you do, huh?”
Willow nodded. “Poe really liked her, too, and you know he doesn’t like just anyone.”
I refrained from arguing with her that I couldn’t base a potential relationship on the fact that a deer—who had probably been after the corn—approved of the woman in question. “It’s good to know that Poe liked her.”
“All the family likes her, so you should, too.”
Once again I had to remember that Willow was just a kid. She was such an old soul sometimes. “Thanks for the dance, rug rat.”
“But I’m the one who asked you.”
I grinned. “Yeah, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t enjoy it.” Pulling her closer, I said, “Now give your favorite uncle a hug.”
“But, Uncle B, I love you and Uncle Rev the same. I promise,” she argued as she threw her arms around me.
As I rubbed her back, I said, “I know. I’m just teasing you.” When I pulled away, I winked at her. “Now if you still want to dance, go over to Joe and tell him as a prospect, he has to dance with you.”
Willow wrinkled her nose. “That’s okay. I don’t want to dance with him.”
“Why not?”
She shrugged. “Just because.”
Although I could have pressed her, I already knew the response. He wasn’t Archer, whom she had a crush on. Back when he was a prospect, she would have loved to make him dance with her. Of course, Archer was twenty-one and totally wigged out by Willow’s crush. He worried at any moment one of us Malloy men was going to kick his ass for being a pervert. We loved to give him shit about that.
“All right, then. I’m going to ask Samantha to dance.”
“And I’m going to get more cake.”
“You do that. But just don’t let your mom and dad know it’s your third piece.”
Bringing her finger to her lips, she shushed me. “They’ll never know unless you tell them.”
I raised my hand. “Scout’s honor.”
She giggled as she ran off in the direction of the food table. With more confidence in my step than I felt, I made my way over to Samantha. She and Mama Beth were chatting like old friends, which was really nice to see.
As I stood in front of her, I cleared my throat. “You wanna dance?”
“Sure.” She climbed off the bench and turned to Mama Beth. “Don’t go anywhere, because I want to hear more embarrassing stories about Bishop when he was little.”
With a groan, I swept my hand across my face. “Seriously, Mama? That’s what you two were over here talking about?”
“I thought you liked having beautiful women talking about you,” Samantha countered with a smile.
“Not when it includes stories that make me look bad.”
“But they were sweet stories . . . and funny ones. Like the time you sat on Santa Claus’s lap and asked for a wiener as big as your dad’s.”
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously, Mama. You’ve known Samantha barely an hour, and you break out the wiener story?”
Mama Beth grinned at me. “But you were so cute and so serious about it. If only we’d had a video camera then, I would have sent it to America’s Funniest Home Videos.”
“Okay, that’s enough. You two are not allowed to talk to each other ever again.”
Mama Beth and Samantha only laughed at me. “Isn’t he cute when