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crinkles in disbelief when he sees what she s doing.
Mom, are you playing a game? I didn t know you even knew how to download games on your
phone.
Anita lets out a whoop. Level Six baby! I didn t know how. Seven showed me. Luke, why
didn t you tell me these games were so much fun? I kicked that little piggy right over the barn!
Luke turns to me. Who is this woman you re trying to pass off as my mother?
Anita gives him a smug smile. You don t know all my secrets yet, young man. Remember that,
Seven. You have to keep them guessing.
I laugh at the befuddled look on Luke s face. Yes, ma am. I ll remember that.
Okay, I have no idea what just happened but I ve been waiting for this all night. Dance with
me. He holds out his hand.
I glance over at Anita, hesitant to leave her alone. She shakes her head and waves us off. Go.
Go! Dance while you re young and can do all those crazy moves.
Laughing, I accept Luke s hand. I don t know any crazy moves but I ll just fake it til I make it,
I guess.
He pulls me closer until I fit right in the cradle of his arms. Then he bends his head until his
lips are at my ear. There won t be any faking between us. Believe that.
I bury my face against his shoulder, ignoring his chuckles. He seems to enjoy making me blush.
The song is a fast number but we re slow dancing for some reason. Luke doesn t seem to care though
and neither do I. Finally the music changes to a slow song and his arm slips lower on my back,
holding me against him.
Tell me something about you. Something I don t know, he murmurs in my ear.
This is a hard one. We ve talked about so many things over the years. He knew I was in foster
care and that I have a younger sister. I ve told him about my social anxiety and how hard it is to make
friends.
I want to, I just don t know where to start.
He tilts his head. What about your name? You use the number seven in your alias too so I
assume it must have a special significance.
My hand clenches against his shoulder. Of all the things he would ask me, this is the one
question I should have expected. But thinking about it always takes me off guard.
It s okay if you don t want to.
No, it s not that. I m just trying to figure out how to explain it.
I watch the other dancers swirling around us. We re surrounded by happy couples. This would
usually make me feel my solitude even more acutely but for the first time, I feel like I m one of them.
Being with Luke makes me feel like I belong.
I was seven years old when my mother decided she couldn t take care of us anymore. Grace
was only a few months old. She told me we were going out for ice cream.
Luke rests his head on top of mine. Even without seeing his eyes, I can feel his horror in the
way his arm tightens around me.
I didn t know you were so young when it happened, he says finally.
All I remember of her is that she had dark hair like mine and she always smelled like apples.
Even though I can t see her face anymore, I remember clinging to her while she was trying to leave. I
just kept saying I ll be good. I ll be a good girl, I promise. My voice breaks and suddenly his other
arm is around me too and he s hugging me right there on the dance floor.
It was nothing you did, baby. I hope you know that.
Tucking my head, I wipe beneath my eyes, hoping no one has noticed that I m crying in the
middle of the dance floor.
I do know that. It took a while but & yeah.
After a few moments of swaying silently, I clear my throat. Anyway, for months after that
everyone I met would ask me two questions. What s your name? And how old are you? It became an
automatic thing to answer I m Sarah. I m seven. Over and over. Even at that young age I knew that all
those people weren t really interested in me. They were just doing their jobs. To them I was just a
number.
I pull back and look up at him. His eyes are shiny with unshed tears as he smiles gently down at
me.
That s why it s your personal number, isn t it? Because that s how old you were when your
life changed.
No, it s how old I was when I learned that I was on my own.
A tear slides down his cheek. Moved, I reach up to wipe it away. Then right there in front of
everyone, he kisses me again.
Unlike before, it s not a frenzied rush of emotion with searching hands and tongues but a gentle
kiss. A sweet kiss. Nothing he could have done would have made me feel more cherished.
And it completely freaks me out.
Excuse me, I need to & I need to use the bathroom.
I can feel Luke s eyes on me as I push through the crowd looking for an exit. Any exit will do
even if it leads to the parking lot. I just can t stay in this room with Luke, his adorable mom and the
promise of happiness any longer.
In a stroke of luck, the first door I find actually does lead to a bathroom. There s only one
person in there so I m able to close myself into a stall until I catch my breath.
Even though I ve had a crush on him for years, falling in love wasn t part of my plan. Love is
one of those things reserved for the lucky few, a privileged class I could only observe from a
distance. This isn t my life. Things like this don t happen to me. I don t belong here in his perfect,
ordered world.
But it s starting to feel like I could and that scares the hell out of me. I can visualize it
completely and the wanting hurts more than anything else.
Wanting something I ll never have is unbearable.
I pull out my phone and then tap my code to unlock it. I have a text message from Grace. I
check the time before calling her back. Her foster parents are used to her gabbing in her room at night
to friends so I try to only call her then. Not that the Barnetts aren t nice but I don t want to give them
any reason to try to keep us apart. I figure the less they know about how much contact we have, the
better.
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