Matthew tried to tamp down the odd feeling of butterflies in his stomach.

Butterflies.

Wings fluttering. The whole nine yards of whatever the nine yards were.

He wanted to say it was from the questionable Gyros truck he’d gone to for lunch, but he didn’t get to where he was in contracting by lying to himself.

It was just confusing.

And downright scary.

Since they’d lost Aimee to a virulent strain of the flu a few years before, he’d spent his time taking care of Juliet, dedicating his time and energy to her. That didn’t mean that he didn’t notice beautiful women.

He had eyes.

It was just that he hadn’t had a real interest in any of them.

Until today.

When he’d taken one look at Laura Chun and wondered how he hadn’t noticed her before.

“Dad,” Juliet was shaking his arm, trying to get his attention, but for some reason he couldn’t seem to pull his focus from the woman sitting across the table from him.

And he was sure Laura, rather, Miss Laura as Juliet called her, had noticed his loss of control.

The blush coloring her cheeks certainly said so.

“Dad!”

“Yes,” he swung his head around, “yes, Juliet?”

Rolling her eyes in another championship-worthy gesture, his darling daughter hammed it up at the table.

“Now that the waiter has our order, do you think you can stop staring at Miss Laura long enough for me to tell her the news?”

He latched onto the suggestion like a castaway at a life preserver. “Yes! Good idea.”

Juliet set her grown up purse on the table and opened up the magnetic clasp. Matthew recognized it as one of her mother’s favorites and felt a warm feeling in his chest. The two of them were constantly trying to keep the memory of her mother in their daily lives.

Taking out a folded letter, Juliet gazed down at the paper in her hands for a moment before she handed it to her very first dancing teacher and then watched Laura’s expression like a hawk.

So did Matthew. He knew what a big thing this was for his daughter. It would gut her if Miss Laura wasn’t as excited as she was.

Opening the letter, Laura’s eyes widened at the letterhead for a moment before she held the letter out toward the votive holder at the center of the table and squinted a little as her eyes moved back and forth over the paper, moving faster and faster and faster as her lips parted more and more until…

“Oh my! Party Scene!” Laura turned to Juliet and the two of them were suddenly sporting near identical ear-to-ear grins. “Congratulations, Juliet!”

Wrapping their arms around each other for a hug, Juliet was pulled from her seat and settled in Laura’s lap as they giggled and whispered together.

The candle at the center of the table paled in comparison to the two incandescent souls across the table from him.

Juliet beamed as Laura placed a kiss on her forehead.

“I knew it!” Laura brushed a stray hair back from Juliet’s face. “You’ve been working so hard, haven’t you?”

Juliet nodded, still grinning. “Dad put a mirror and barre in my room and I stretch every morning and ever night before bed and-”

“Whoa there,” Matthew laughed, “I think she gets the point.”

Juliet sighed happily and leaned her head on Laura’s shoulder. “I wanted you to be the first to know… besides me and Dad.”

Laura held Juliet gently in her lap, arms wrapped around the almost-teen as if she was a little girl. “You were always so serious about dance. You worked so hard even when you were one of my littles. I am so proud of you, Juliet. So very proud.”

Matthew’s chest tightened as he heard the tears threatening in Laura’s voice. Tentatively he lifted his gaze to her face and saw her eyes swimming with tears.

“You can count on me being in the audience for every show. So, as soon as they’ve done the blocking, you tell me where you’re dancing and I’ll pick my tickets so I can see it from every angle, okay?”

Laura looked down at Juliet, waiting for an answer, but Matthew saw his daughter bite into her bottom lip before turning to look at him.

He didn’t even have to move his head to see Laura’s expression. She was so close to Juliet, he could see them both clearly. He saw the confusion in her eyes, bordering on worry.

“Juliet,” he gently cautioned, “don’t you have something to ask Miss Laura?”

He watched Laura steel herself and he wanted to reach out and set a comforting hand on her shoulder. Looking down he realized that he’d even lifted his hand from his lap unconsciously. Shaking his head at his own silliness he set his hand back in his lap, taking hold of his napkin to give himself something to do.

“Miss Laura,” Juliet’s voice was a little higher than normal and she bit into the corner of her lower lip for a moment before she continued, “for the last few years, the Richardson Ballet has asked the parents of all the party girls to appear onstage. I was hoping that you might consider being my mom.”

Matthew bit the inside of his cheek. When they’d practiced how she would ask, she’d used the same wording over and over, but just now, she’d left out a few words, but he didn’t want to interrupt. Not when he could see how hopeful Juliet was.

They just had to wait for an answer.

Laura opened her mouth to answer and then closed it again, turning to look at him.

Again, those same butterflies from earlier woke up in his middle and started divebombing at his stomach.

When Laura spoke, he hoped that he managed to keep some kind of outward calm, because his insides were a mess.

“I guess you spoke to your father first, right?”

Juliet scooted off Laura’s lap and walked around to the other side of the round table to lean against him. “Of course! And dad is totally cool with it.”

If only his daughter knew how ‘uncool’ he was feeling. In fact, the longer Laura looked at him, the more he felt heat crawling up his neck.

Laura’s lips curved in a soft smile. “I promise that I won’t step on your toes.”

“Oh, but,” Juliet looked between the two of them, “Dad’s got huge feet, so you can’t guarantee that.”

He and Laura laughed a little.

“And I’m not necessarily the most graceful guy on my feet,” he added in, “I barely made it through the first dance at the wedding without crippling Aimee.”

Juliet’s smile dimmed just a bit and he wanted to kick himself, but when she looked up at him, he felt her hand reach down and squeeze his. “You and mommy looked so pretty in the video, like one of those cake toppers.”

Smiling through the sudden wash of tears, Matthew pulled her closer and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “Love you, baby.”

“I’m not a baby, Dad!” He could feel Juliet rolling her eyes. “But I love you too.”

Loosening his hold on his daughter, he turned back to look at Laura and saw the happy smile on her face.

“I may need some help from the best ballet teacher ‘ever.’” He mimicked his daughter’s tone from the thousands of times that Juliet had said those very words about Miss Laura. “I can promise to walk without tripping, but I’m told there’s an actual dance involved and the last thing I want to do is shame my daughter.”

Laura’s smile widened and she leaned on the edge of the table. The look in her eyes encouraged him to copy the movement. Juliet at his side did the same, making it look like the three of them were about to share a deep dark secret.

“I can teach anyone to dance if they are willing to listen and learn.”

Juliet turned slightly and looked at him. “It’s true, Dad. She taught Annabel to dance and Annabel’s mommy said she was born with two left feet.”

“Oh,” he had no idea what the appropriate response was so he didn’t make one. Turning back to Laura he nodded. “I can do both of those things and I’m motivated to keep my daughter from being teased. So, crack the whip. I’m ready.”

Juliet looked at Laura with true concern in her eyes. “You use a whip?”

Laura gave him a pointed look, but the smile on her lips made it all seem like a joke. “No whips, sweetie. Your father’s being silly.”

“Oohhhh,” Juliet grinned and skipped back to her seat, “Dad’s always silly.”

“Are you willing to put up with the two of us for the next month?” Matthew almost couldn’t believe that he had the courage to just put it out there, especially when he was almost afraid that she’d say yes.

He had no idea that he’d be attracted to Juliet’s old teacher, since that’s what he’d had in mind when she’d asked him, ‘old.’ When Juliet was in Laura’s class, Aimee had been the one to take her to and from class and he was ashamed to say he didn’t remember ever seeing her teacher until today.

But now that he knew that she was as beautiful as Juliet had said she was nice, he was in real danger of starting to feel something more, much more, than gratitude for Laura Chun.

He just had to keep things simple and completely platonic. He was doing this for his daughter, and that’s what he had to focus on.

There was nothing more important than the excited bounce of energy in his daughter’s step and the look of adoration in her eyes.

This whole thing was for Juliet.

If he could remember that, everything was going to be okay.