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“Yeah.” Aidan sounded as if it wasn’t a big deal. “I mean, I don’t know what girls do at sleepovers, but Owen will bake. His brother is a jock and hardly home, but he is cool enough I suppose. If you need to rehearse for champs, I suppose we can move furniture and make space for you, or something.”
With a quick nod from his mother Jason had a smile on his face that rivaled Skylar’s. And a quick look over at her and the look she gave Aidan, it was safe to say her crush wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.
With another hug from both me and Noah, I left the kids to hangout knowing they were safe with Jason’s mother watching them.
I looked up at Noah, smiling. “That was nice of Aidan to make sure Jason was included.”
“Got to hand it to the kid.” He placed his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer. “He's playing a long game.”
“You’re so dramatic.” I bumped my hip against his. “Can’t he just be doing something nice without having an ulterior motive?”
He twisted his lip as he gave my question some thought. “It's not an ulterior motive. Not really. He saw that Jason being left out made Sky uncomfortable and he didn’t like that. He didn’t do it to make her like him. At least, I don’t think he did. He did it because it made her feel better. Big difference. That kid is making it very difficult for me to not like him.”
We arrived at the second floor waiting area, just as the doctors had come out of the OR. Mason was standing next to Logan. I got the distinct impression that he was keeping his best friend standing.
I hurried along as the doctor started speaking. He had taken off his scrub cap, and wore only his scrubs. “She’s in ICU and she’s stable. She’s not awake yet but the surgery went well. I’m not going to lie. Even for someone as fit as her, the recovery will be long. I’ll allow one person to see her at a time. She’ll wake when she’s ready, so please don’t be disappointed if you go in there and she’s still asleep.”
I let out a sigh of relief. My friend was going to be okay. She would bitch and moan through her recovery and want to rush things, but none of us would let that happen.
32
EPILOGUE - NOAH
TWO WEEKS LATER
It was the final dance number in the final section of the last day of the Southern California Dance Championships.
Sky and Jason had drawn the last dance of the evening. It would be the last year they could dance as juniors since Jason would be fifteen before champs started the following year. There was no chance they would not be partners. Not for Latin and Ballroom. But even in ballet and Hip-Hop they had awesome on-stage chemistry. There was no doubt they were meant to be dance partners.
Sky had opted to drop tap dancing in order to do cheerleading at school. Jason had started coming out of his shell. He joined the tactical training class for juniors that Nick started giving at the farm.
Their final dance was a Hip-Hop/Modern dance mix to Michael Jackson’sThe Way You Make Me Feel.The music started and Skylar appeared on stage. A few moments later, Jason appeared. They knew the dance by heart. Each one knew where the other was at all times. They were in sync as they moved from each of their solo bits back to being a duo. I moved with Sky as she danced. I knew the moves so well that if I wasany closer to the stage, the kids would be disqualified because I would be showing them the moves.
They moved flawlessly and their facial expressions were just right. Then there were the costumes. Generally, Sky showed less skin, and that made me more comfortable. Everly had shown her how to dazzle and Jason wanted matching costumes that didn’t make him look ridiculous. The kid was good for my daughter.
Despite the fact that they were a boy-girl dance duo, there were no lifts since Jason still lacked the muscle tone to lift Sky safely. The more I learned about the dance school Everly had chosen the more I respected their methods. The one my mother had enrolled me in was all about being flashy and whose kid could outdo whom.
The song came to an end with their backs together. The crowd erupted and the kids received a standing ovation. Of course, most of the noise came from the row behind Everly and me. Both Sky and Jason’s friends had shown up. They guys were just as excited as the girls. In the weeks that had followed that encounter in the hospital waiting room, I rarely saw those three boys alone. Aidan and Jason were a year older than Owen who was the same age as Grace and Sky.
The kids had walked off stage and the audience was still applauding them. Even the night when they did their first round, the duet had received a standing ovation. Once the crowd simmered and the house lights went back on, the head adjudicator made her way to the stage and announced the winners. Jason had won best junior solo performance. Sky had been better in the first round, but Jason had upped his game for the finals. Then in the order of the evening’s events, they announced the various winners. Their studio had won junior group dance. Some other dance school had won best trio and quartet. Then the announcement came for best junior duet.
The adjudicator smiled. “This was hands down the easiest one to award. The chemistry between the duo was great. You could tell it was more than just rehearsing a dance that made them so spectacular. These two had to have been dancing together for a long time. I would even guess that they are good friends. The best junior duet goes to dance number eight. Jason Wilde and Skylar Moore.”
My world froze for a moment.She took my name.
As the two dancers walked on stage, I looked over at Everly. Her smile lit my world as tears pooled in her eyes. “She wanted to surprise you. Of course, nothing is official yet. We still need to do the paperwork. But the organizers allowed it for tonight.”
Yeah. A lump formed in my throat. I had never been more proud about anything in my entire life. And not about the dancing. Or at least, not just about the dancing. I was proud that my kid wanted my name. She wanted the world to know that I was her dad. She was the coolest kid on the planet, and she bragged that she was mine.
It was only as we were celebrating with all of our family and friends at Bowzer’s that it occurred to me that I still hadn’t told my parents about Everly and Sky. My mother would be over the moon that I found a woman who wanted to be in the industry. But she wouldn’t be directing Everly’s career. Everly knew her mind and my mother would not have a say. I picked my phone up off the table and kissed Everly on the cheek.
“I need to make a call.”
She nodded as if she understood. I walked outside and dialed the number I had been avoiding for weeks. My mother picked up on the second ring.
“Noah, sweetheart. It is so nice of you to call.”
To anyone else they would think she was being sarcastic. Instead, I knew she was around people, and she was trying to sound unaffected.
