Stories by Claudia

A insider, Jacob befriends Jill by asking her to dance.

Just then a server bumped into the bride-to-be, spilling a full tray of red wine down the rich girl’s ivory silk dress.

“I’m so sorry,” Megan’s husband Tim said. “I didn’t see you there. Oh my God….”

Jill watched Tim scamper to get a towel. To keep from laughing, Jill coughed into her hand. The rich girl screamed at Tim then at Candy. When her father came over, she screamed at him only to collapse sobbing into her mother’s arms. Her mother led the tiny woman away to change.

“This is the most fun I’ve had at a family gathering in at least a decade,” Jacob said.

“I assume that was a friend of yours.”

“Brother-in-law,” Jill said.

“She had it coming,” Jacob said. “She knows exactly who you are.”

Jill shrugged. When she turned to look at the party, she saw a variety of male eyes looking in her direction.

“Would you like to dance?” Jacob asked. He nodded toward the dance floor where couples danced a perfect waltz.

“I don’t know how,” she replied.

“Just follow me,” Jacob said. He set his glass down on the bar. “I’m this close to you. I’m not
going to let you go.”

He put his hand on her arm and was confronted with another server holding a tray of drinks.

“It’s all right, Christy,” Jill said. “He just wants to dance.”

Christy scowled at Jacob then looked him up and down. “Be nice.”

“Yes ma’am,” Jacob laughed.

Holding her hand, he led her to the dance floor. He situated her hands then whispered instructions into her ear. After a few missteps, she fell into the simple rhythm of the dance and the closeness of this man. For the first time in a long time, she felt, well not exactly happy, but a tiny bit of delight.

“You are a wonderful dancer,” Jacob said.

“Not really,” Jill replied. “I just know how to follow what you’re doing.”

Jacob laughed. “That’s most of the work.”

“It’s not hard to follow,” Jill said.

“Do you dance?” Jacob asked.

“I like to dance… oh you mean for a living? You think I’m a stripper?!?”

Chapter Two continues: Jacob rescues Jill from an angry Trevor.

~~~~~~~~

Denver Cereal is a Serial Fiction based in Denver, Colorado.
A new chapter is published every week. Monday through Saturday, a piece of the serial is posted at Stories by Claudia. The entire chapter is posted on Saturdays at On A Limb with Claudia. A pdf link to the entire chapter is also available on Saturdays at this blog.

claudia hall christian is a novelist who lives in Denver, Colorado.

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.