“Thanks. I think both my men are looking pretty handsome.” She gave them both noisy kisses on their cheeks.
A flustered Marianne was half a dozen paces away. “Sorry. He keeps getting away from me.”
“Are you sad it’s nearly over?” Brody asked Corinne.
“No. It’s been fun. But it’s been so long since life was anything resembling normal, I’d kinda like to figure out what that looks like.”
“How did your test go?” Piper asked.
“Don’t know yet. I’ll probably have to take it again. I wasn’t in the greatest headspace when I went in.”
“That’s what I wanted to tell you earlier. The results came in.” Marianne pulled an envelope from her purse.
Corinne eyed it like it might bite her.
“You don’t have to look at it yet,” Tucker told her. “Enjoy tonight, wait until tomorrow.”
“But it’s there. I can’t not look at it.” Blowing out a breath, she took the envelope from her mother and tore open the flap.
With Kurt perched on one hip, Tucker reached out to press a hand to her back as she pulled out the sheet of printed paper inside. She skimmed the contents twice before lifting her gaze to his.
“Well?”
“I passed,” she whispered. Thrusting both hands into the air, she spun in a circle. “Thank you, sweet baby Jesus, I passed.”
More cheers and congratulations broke out. Kurt was juggled, kisses were given, shoulders were squeezed. Corinne glowed with relief and joy. Until she came face-to-face with her mother.
Marianne caught her by the hands. “I’m so proud of you, Corinne. Of everything you’ve done.”
Corinne swallowed. “But?”
Her mother winced. “No buts. No qualifiers. No suggestions for how you could’ve done it better. I’m just proud of you. Period. I should’ve told you that a long time ago.”
Corinne’s mouth dropped open. “Thank you, Mama.”
When Marianne moved in for a hug, Corinne didn’t stop her. The whole thing was stiff and awkward, obviously not something the two women were used to. But it was real. And Tucker hoped it was the start of a new chapter there, as Corinne had started so many others.
The emcee’s voice boomed over the crowd. “If our dancers will return to the floor, we have the final tallies to deliver.”
A few minutes later, the four of them stood before the judges as the emcee reminded the crowd of the individual performances and scores the two teams had earned over the course of the competition. “Through the entire process, these two teams have been neck-and-neck. So we turned over the decision for the final winners of Dancing With Wishful to you, our audience. Results have been tabulated from our in-house audience and online. And the winner of the first annual Dancing With Wishful competition is—” He paused for effect, looking out over the crowd. “Team Dinner Belles, Tucker McGee and Corinne Dawson!”
Tucker scooped Corinne up in a bear hug.
“We did it!” she shouted.
“We absolutely did.”
They turned to accept congratulations from Tyler and Cam. As the four of them traded handshakes and hugs amid the deafening applause, Tyler spoke up, “Hey, did anybody else catch that whole ‘first annual’ part of the spiel?”
“I did notice that,” Tucker said.
They all looked at Cam, who lifted his hands in peace. “What can I say? It’s Norah.”
~*~
Corinne slid a towering slice of coconut cream pie in front of Malika before settling across from her with her own slice of peach pie. A la mode, of course.
Malika forked a bite into her mouth. “Oh my God.”