on the other side with a finger to his lips as he waved me in. Deeper inside the house, I could hear Samantha proudly bellowing out the part of Alice.
"Try to make it less of an announcement," Trent told her, his voice getting louder as Lane led me to the right room. "Go for more melodramatic."
Sam huffed at him. "How? You do it."
So Trent pitched his voice to be more feminine. "Curiouser and curiouser! I must be shutting up like a telescope now! Oh, what if it ends in my going out altogether, like a candle? What does a flame look like, once it's blown out?"
I walked into their den just in time to see Trent's hand pressed to his chest. Yes, I laughed. There was something about a well-muscled, bearded man gasping like a child that was just too much. The girls seemed to agree because they joined in.
"Mom!" Gabby groaned. "You're not supposed to interrupt."
I pointed at Trent. "I don't think he has the right look for Alice."
"I could totally pull off Alice," Trent told me. "But if you're going to watch, you have to join the audience." He pointed to the other side of the room where Seth, Pax, and Ian were comfortably reclined, taking in the show. For a moment, I wondered where they'd put their dog, because I wouldn't mind seeing him again, but he'd probably be a distraction.
Pax and Seth were in the recliners, but Ian had claimed the corner of the couch. With a smile, he patted the cushion beside him, the invitation clear. Well, I wanted to hear this, and the truth was that I loved seeing these guys all so invested in my little girl. They didn't even look bored.
"Wine?" Seth asked when I was closer. "I'm headed that way for another beer anyway."
"Please," I decided.
I half expected Lane to steal his chair the moment he was out of it, but he took the spot on my other side instead. That left me pinned between him and Ian, and it was actually rather nice. It got even better when Ian moved his arm to rest along the back of the couch, giving me a little more room to curl onto the cushion. It also put me just a bit closer to him, and when I tucked my feet up beside me, Lane casually rested a hand on my calf.
"Again!" Ian called out.
Samantha sighed. "Maybe I'm not cut out for Alice. I mean, isn't she supposed to be a white girl?" Her words were meant for Gabby.
It was Pax who answered, though. "Represent, girl. All the good roles go to the rich white kids. I'd like to see a brown Alice at least once in my life."
I pointed his way. "I'm with him."
Samantha groaned. "But I'm just not getting this!"
Lane chuckled. "You're making Alice too hard. She's a kid in a fantasy land. Nothing more. She's just shocked and amazed."
"Oh…" Samantha gasped before performing the line again. This time it was much better, as if she was acting instead of reading.
"Yes!" Trent told her. "That's how it's done. Ok, Gabby, which role are you going for?"
She took a deep breath, glancing at me as if she was nervous. "I really want to be the Cheshire Cat."
"All right." He glanced back to Lane. "Any words of wisdom for that part?"
Lane scoffed. "It's a cat. Cats are stupid, arrogant, annoying creatures."
"I've got arrogant and annoying," Gabby assured us, then launched into her rendition just as Seth came back in. "Well then, you see, a dog growls when it's angry and wags its tail when it's pleased. Now, I growl when I'm pleased and wag my tail when I'm angry. Therefore, I'm mad."
"Nailed it," Seth told her. "The line and the acting." He made his way over to me and handed me the glass of wine. "Elena."
"Thank you, Seth," I said, overly aware that we'd barely talked before this, and yet his smile was the kind filled with promises.
And while I sipped at my glass, the girls kept going. Trent took each one through a few lines, offering pointers on how to interpret the characters and bring that out in their rendition. The girls paid attention, taking this a lot more seriously than I'd expected. Then there were the guys.
They weren't focused on their phones, and there wasn't even a TV in this room. They also didn't lie to the girls. When something came off flat, they made faces and shook their heads. When one