The Physicists' Daughter by Mary Anna Evans

Author:Mary Anna Evans
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Published: 2022-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 19

Now that Justine had it in her head that Martin was on trial, she felt like she was a teacher giving a student marks for their performance. She knew a lot more about being a good student than she did about dating, so this was helpful.

Martin had been friendly and considerate all evening. She’d be a liar if she said he wasn’t good-looking. He was a good dancer, but not so good that Justine felt stupid trying to keep up with him. He made his leads obvious, so she could usually tell when he wanted her to twirl. She could also usually remember the things Georgette said about swinging her backside the Jitterbug way. She was having a really good time, but Jerry was having enough fun for all of them.

The dance floor was crowded, but people made room for the man who could make his wheelchair rock and spin. Jerry danced in his chair, holding Georgette’s right hand lightly with his left. Sometimes he leaned forward to lead her back and forth in complicated patterns that made Justine’s head swim. Sometimes he tossed her hand in the air as a cue for her to take a double turn on her own. And all the time, Jerry was laughing and smiling.

Justine could see why Georgette liked him.

***

Justine had lost count of how many songs she’d danced to, much less how many Planter’s Punches she’d had since Darlene recommended them, but she was starting to worry about sweating through the bodice of her dress. It was a relief when Martin said, “Do you want to get some fresh air?”

Putting a gentle but firm hand on her shoulder, he guided her through the crowd that blocked their way to the door. His hand made Justine acutely aware that her shoulder was bare except for a flimsy silk strap. Every time he steered her left or right, she ended up a little closer to him, so she was snugged right up under his arm by the time she felt the evening breeze on her face.

As they moved away from The TickTock’s brightly lit entry, his hand slid to her waist, but slowly, so slowly that she was sure he could have counted every hook and bone in her longline bra. She had no doubt that he was interested in what was under her dress, but it wasn’t her bra that he was thinking about. She was glad when his hand, gliding down the smooth silk of her bodice, stopped at her waist. It pressed her flesh in a way that left no question what he was trying to say to her.

Since her experience with the opposite sex was limited to fending off the awkward fumblings of teenagers whom the nuns had imported from a boys’ school to make the dances at her girls’ school more interesting, the enormity of her ignorance struck her hard. She knew one thing for certain. Martin had been to The TickTock at least once, most likely in the company of a woman, because he knew exactly where he was going.

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