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“Fine,” Mel grunts while shaking her head. “I will support you in this but let me tell you one thing; if I see these pictures on any gossip sites, I will tell him myself. Whether you want me to or not. That man deserves to know these exist no matter how awful it feels.”
I nod, not saying a word because I know she’s right, but the pit in my stomach is ruling my decision-making skills right now, and I need to figure out how to deal with this.
“Fine,” I mutter, opening the door to the gym and making my way into my office, ignoring all the weird looks and eyes on my back. I can’t get the sinking feeling to leave the pit of my stomach and as much as I wish I could just pick up the phone and talk to Josh, I can’t bother him with this. I’ll fix it.
I have to.
I spend the next few hours going through the never-ending piles of paper on my desk when Mel pokes her head through the doorway. I motion for her to come in and sit in her chair that will now always remind me of Josh, no matter who sits in it.
“How’re you doing?” she asks but I just shake my head because there is no accurate way for me to describe the storm raging inside me right now.
“Okay, I guess?” I glance up at the ceiling, avoiding her gaze. “I really don’t know where to go from here,” I admit as she gives me a sad smile. All of a sudden, I remember the reason I texted her this morning and I shoot out of my chair.
“I totally forgot I texted you this morning for a reason!”
She sits up straight, her eyes widening.
“Oh ya! I completely forgot about that,” she says as I get up and wave Henry into my office since he was listening outside my door anyway.
“When you told me about your studio, I spent the next few days trying to figure out a way for me to help.”
Mel shakes her head, confused.
“We have some spare space upstairs that is up for grabs, and I’ve talked to Henry, and we’ve decided we’re going to transform it into your own dance studio.” There’s a deafening silence for a good minute, and I wonder if I broke my best friend.
“Are you kidding me? Please tell me you’re not kidding…” she whispers, getting up and looking between Henry and me.
I promise her it’s real as she runs over and wraps her arms around me.
“You’d do that for me?”
I shake my head, wondering how she doesn’t know I would do just about anything to make sure she’s happy.
“You’re sure it’s not too much? Obviously, I love the idea but are you sure?”
I nod again as she looks toward Henry who is just standing there like a proud father.
“This is something I can give you, please let me do this.”
She wipes a stray tear from her eye as Henry clears his throat and Mel laughs, turning to hug him as well.
“Are you sure about this, Henry? I know Harper thinks she runs the place…”
“Hey!” I yell mockingly.
Mel grins at me but then looks back at Henry. “I need to know that you’re okay with this.”
Henry looks down toward my best friend and for a split second I wonder if he only agreed to do this because he knows it will make me happy, but when he smiles and his eyes glimmer, I know everything is fine.
“My sweet girl,” he says, laying his hand on her shoulder. “This is fine with me. Harper has some great ideas and I think it will be a win-win for me in the end. And if I’m honest, a happy Harper is always best.” He winks in my direction as I roll my eyes at him.
“Go on, old man, leave the details to us.”
He lets go of Mel and walks out of my office and into the gym to make his hourly rounds. I turn and hold out my hand, leading us out onto the gym floor and toward the back stairs.
“Come on, let’s go check out your new studio.”
“You have no idea how happy I am about this. I’m so grateful for you and Henry, but as your best friend, I want to make sure that you’re okay now that you know about the pictures.”
