The mother in Regina couldn’t help herself, and she gathered the child away from John’s grasp. “That doesn’t mean you still can’t look cute. Lord have mercy, look at these curls.”

Without Becca as his shield, John stood alone and looked sheepishly at the ground. “We got a late start this morning,” he explained. “I didn’t have time to help her in the hair department.”

Victoria shook her head. “You don’t have to explain,” she said in a low voice.

Regina wouldn’t stop. “You got this baby out here looking bedraggled.”

“Reggi...” Victoria said through her teeth. She knew what her friends were trying to pull and it was thoroughly embarrassing.

“Let me fix what’s going on here while you two chat about your little project,” Regina said leading Becca to the dressing room area. Paula and Penny picked up on what Regina was putting down and joined her, leaving Victoria alone with John. The two stood before one another uncertain of what to say.

“Honestly,” John started. “If we weren’t late, I would have helped her do something with her hair. I’m not completely inept.”

Victoria tried to suppress her grin. “They’re not concerned about Becca’s hair in the least,” she said in a quiet voice. “They’re preying on your insecurities as a white dude while they push us together.”

John gave a nod of recognition. “Gotcha. And why would they do that?”

“Because my friends are messy.”

“Right,” he said, biting his lip. “My best friend, Chris, might be as messy.”

Victoria ducked her head to hide her smile. In truth, she was happy to see him. She felt terrible for evading him since yesterday evening. Throughout the night, she’d considered texting him, but decided against it. Instead, she had opted to hang out with the girls to discuss yesterday’s events. She went to sleep thinking about John and woke up thinking about him. Victoria sighed before explaining herself. “I just wanted to spend time with my friends today. I was hoping to call you before seeing you.”

“It’s fine,” he said. “You were right. Today was a good day for me to spend time with Becca. As she said, she’s taken up kickboxing. Apparently, it’s life-changing.”

She glanced back at the group of women crooning around Becca and smiled. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“You look gorgeous,” he said, changing the subject. “That dress is amazing.”

When Victoria turned back to meet his intense gaze, her face heated up. “Thank you.”

“I know that I’m supposed to wait on you to call me, but I feel like acting impulsively,” he said. “Would you like to come by my house tomorrow? Becca is staying over at her friend Kelly’s house and the girl’s dad is going to take them to school on Monday. I think they’re still hammering out the details for their feminist manifesto.”