Music in the Night (Logan 4)

"Of course, I'm sure. I paid," Robert

maintained. "All the money checks out," Marsha said.

"That means we don't have more money than tickets issued," Adam added.

"I know what it means," Robert said.

"Do you have the tickets, Robert?" I whispered. He thought a moment and then nodded with a confident smile, pulling them out of the inside of his sports jacket.

"If I didn't pay for them, how did I get them?" he asked Marsha, thrusting the tickets in front of her face.

She gazed at the tickets and then looked at her clipboard again.

"I don't understand," she said.

"Maybe Betty gave him two tickets and he promised to give her the money for the second one later," Adam suggested.

"Yes," Betty said quickly. "That's it."

"No, it's not and you know it," Robert insisted.

"Betty's too responsible to give out tickets and not collect the money for them," I suggested calmly. Everyone paused and gazed at me a moment. "Someone just made a simple mistake."

"Well . . ." Marsha glanced at Adam.

"I don't think Robert would steal a dance ticket, do you?" I followed.

"I hope not," Betty blurted.

"We'll straighten it out later," Marsha said. "Right now, we're all wasting time when we should be having fun."

"Exactly," Adam said, taking her arm. "To the dance floor, Madam Chairman."

The others laughed and then left with them.

"That was a pretty stupid bit of meanness," Robert said, easing after them.

"Maybe it was just an honest mistake, Robert."

He continued to glare in their direction, just daring one of them to look back at us.

"Somehow, I doubt it," he said. "Those kind don't make honest mistakes."

"Let's not let them ruin our night, Robert," I said, touching his hand. He relaxed, smiled at me, and nodded.

"Right. Shall we?" he asked, taking the punch glass from my hand and putting it on one of the tables.

We returned to the dance floor. It didn't take us long to get lost in the music and each other. We soon forgot about the ticket incident and danced until I declared my feet were really begging for mercy. Robert laughed and suggested it was time we had something to eat anyway.

"I guess we've worked up an appetite."

We got in line and filled our plates. Some of the girls in my English class complimented me on my dancing, and girls who had come together without dates gathered around Robert, commenting on his dancing ability too.

Theresa Patterson was there with some of her Brava friends. They kept to themselves, but Theresa gave me a bright, friendly smile when I waved.

As I looked over the endless plates of food I had to give the devils their due: Betty and Marsha had planned a wonderful party. There were steamed clams, of course, and all sorts of chicken dishes, including Southern fried, bowls of tricolor pasta, salads, plates of fruit, loaves of Portuguese bread, rolls, and a table of desserts that would surely be the first to be picked clean.

When we were satisfied we'd taken a bit of everything to sample, Robert and I sat with some of his friends and their dates. Everyone was so excited, they all talked at once. I really was having the time of my life, and when Robert leaned over to give me a small, quick kiss on the cheek, I blushed and told him how much fun I was having.