If you can be embarrassed and proud at the same time, she was both. “I did,” she said. It was hard to picture her cutting loose like that with a whole lot of strangers around. My lady is all pantsuits. Even on the cruise she wore a one-piece. But I liked the picture.
“You gonna shake those hips for me now?” I said. I reached out and touched one of them.
“Huey!” She smacked me on the arm. “Are you serious?”
“Hell, yeah, I’m serious. Let’s see your moves.”
“You want me to?” I had never seen her so bashful. She bit her lip and stood up. She was in pants and a blouse, her gym stuff in her bag.
“You gonna lose that top?” I said. I knew there was a bra underneath, and it wouldn’t be that different from at the lesson, where the rule was that you had to wear something where the teacher could see your stomach, to make sure you were dancing right.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m your husband. I’ve seen it all before.”
“I don’t know.”
“Tawnya, you’re beautiful,” I said.
And so she took off her top and there was the bra and the belly, and it’s true that my wife has some belly to spare, but that’s my wife, and I love her just like she is. She breathed in and out for a minute, closed her eyes, and the whole room got very serious, and then all of a sudden she started shaking those hips—fast. It was like an explosion. I mean, wow. Then, just as sudden, she stopped. It must have been five seconds of hips.
“Wait,” I said. “You were just getting going.”
“You get the idea,” she said, putting on her blouse and buttoning it. “I don’t really know how to do it yet, anyway. It’s just the first day.”
“I could stand to see a little more.”
Tawnya sat down next to me. “I’m embarrassed,” she said.
“Embarrassed? I’m your husband! You just shook for two hours with a bunch of women from no-place!”
“It’s different with you,” she said.
“How can it be different with me?”
“Just wait until I get better,” she said.