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“No need to thank me,” Kenneth says. “Thank yourself, and your talent. This is not charity, Emma. This is me spotting someone unique and with potential. My entire job is to find exceptional potential dancers, and I think I’ve done my job well today. I have found the exceptional exception. Now, I need to find where I parked my car outside, because I may have lost it.”
“Not again,” I laugh.
“I hope I’ll be seeing you at the school, Emma. No more disappearing acts, okay?”
“You sure will,” I reply.
After a handshake with August, the judge promptly walks out of the dressing room, leaving me staring dumbly at the doctor.
Diana squeezes my hand in solidarity. Faith mouths a wow.
“Hey, August, I didn’t expect you’d actually freaking bring someone on the audition panel of the dance school here,” I mutter. “How the hell did you manage that?”
He winks again at me.
“I’m a Penmayne, Emma,” he replies cheekily. “There is not a director of an arts institution in the country that I don’t know. I just had to make a few phone calls, that’s all.”
“Ah. Yourcontacts.”
“Yep.”
“And you got him to offer me a place at the school?” I ask him.
“No. That certainly wasn’t me. Didn’t you hear him? That was all purely based on your talent, Emma.”
“I really do think I’m going to have a heart attack,” I murmur, clutching my chest.
Faith reaches out and hugs me tight.
“Please don’t,” she whispers into my ear.
“Is this all really happening?” I ask her.
“Yep,” she replies. “It is. You better believe it.”
“Maybe don’t have a heart attack right away,” August says. “I do have one last surprise guest for you, Emma.”
I shake my head at that.
“Are you insane, August?Anotherperson watching me today?”
“Yep.”
“Who the hell could it possibly be?”
61
AUGUST
“I’m no betting man,” I say to Emma, “but I am going to bet you know who I’m talking about.”
The exhausted dancer sits in her dressing room chair next to Faith and Diana with utter shock written across her face, clearly curious as to who I might be talking about. I have to admit, even though it’s seemed like some kind of ridiculous game show with me revealing guests one by one, I’ve gotten a lot of pleasure from surprising her with everyone today. Oh, it’s great that Emma didn’t expect anyone else watching her in the audience other than me. Sure, I lied to her about it being just my sorry ass, but it’s been a very satisfying lie.
And I have been saving the very best guest until last.
Even I was surprised when Kenneth Thompson offered her a place at the dance school just then in the dressing room. That proposal from him came out of nowhere with absolutely no pressure from me at all. And that’s the truth. Well, I’m not shocked by the offer; Emma really is that talented. She absolutely deserves that place after the incredible performance today. She really was breathtaking on that stage, in my humble opinion. Transformed.
“Who is it, August?” she asks me. “Who are you talking about?”
