Page 92 of Welcome Home to Ivy Falls

Chapter Twenty-Seven

PIPER

Small Hiccups

I’d fallen back into one bad pattern. For almost an hour, I paced backstage before the curtain rose on opening night. Even though I tried to focus my mind elsewhere, I kept coming back to all the ways the show could go wrong. Scenarios like the lighting not working, the musical score glitching, even how the kids might forget every single one of their lines.

Like she could sense my unraveling, Maisey found me falling to pieces in the wings. She grabbed my hand and tugged me to a quiet corner.

‘Pipe, you’ve got this. You’ve run through the tech half a dozen times. These kids are prepared. Ford, Silvio and Ferris have a team loading the sets in and out. The costumes fit everyone perfectly.’ She grinned. ‘Tessa and Manny are on hair and makeup. And to add to all that, the entire town is filling up the seats. It’s a sellout.’

‘What you’re saying makes sense, but I can’t keep my mind from racing.’

She narrowed her gaze, the corners of her mouth twitching. ‘This is about more than the show, isn’t it?’

Out of the corner of my eye, I caught Ford and Dex in a huddle. They were talking and doing some handshake with slaps and snaps that looked overly complicated but made both of them laugh.

‘It’s going to be hard to say goodbye,’ Maisey said in a soft voice.

‘Why did I think I could do this? Have an easy fling and be over it?’

Maisey stayed quiet, which was always a bad sign.

‘Say what you want, Maise.’

‘You’re not the same person anymore. These past years you’ve fought so damn hard to build a good life for yourself. To steady your feet on the ground. I don’t think you have it in you to do anything casually anymore.’ Her chin dipped. ‘I’m sorry if my shitty advice led you here.’

‘You were right to push me. To encourage me to take a chance. I don’t regret a moment I’ve spent with him.’

‘You don’t think he’d stay if you asked?’

‘I can’t. He signed a contract. The people on his ship are waiting for him. That’s more important than what’s happening between us.’

‘Don’t you at least want to ask? See what he has to say?’

‘I don’t want to complicate things for him. We agreed to part as friends and that’s what we’re going to do.’

She inched back. ‘I want to argue, but I’m going to be a good best friend and mind my own damn business.’

‘Thank you.’

A few kids called to her from the wings, pointed to their loose suspenders, and she raced to help them. I looked for Ford once more, wanting another glimpse of him, but he’d disappeared into the wings again.

Mary Poppins lost her umbrella. The dry-ice smoke didn’t work in the admiral’s cannon, and during the ‘Step in Time’ dance number a chimney sweep kicked her shoe straight into the audience where Diego quickly caught it before it hit anyone. Besides those small hiccups, the performance was perfection.

It’d been a huge undertaking, getting the kids to practice, organizing the music, lights, costumes, but this job had also stoked a fire within me. Made me think about what I wanted to do next.

In a quiet moment last week while Ford was snoozing beside me, I pulled out my laptop and did an hour of research. The local community college offered a few courses on theater direction. Working on the show had reminded me that I only felt whole when I was being creative. Going back to take a few classes would be a small start, but a start I desperately wanted.

After the final curtain call, I waited for the cast backstage. They swarmed me in a massive hug, cheered my name and presented me with the biggest bouquet I’d ever seen. Dex made a point of telling me he’d picked them out with Ford. The way his voice scratched said I wasn’t the only one thinking about Ford’s imminent departure.

Kids wandered back to the dressing area to change out of their costumes, and I walked to the front of the stage to make sure nothing was left behind. A rush of footsteps came from the wings as Miss Cheri raced toward me. Her bright green-and-purple dress swirled out around her, and before I could say a word, she had me wrapped in the tightest hug. ‘I knew you could do it. You were meant for this work.’

She pulled back and pressed her hands against my cheeks. ‘All those little ad libs you encouraged the kids to do. How you let them lean into the new choreography, making it their own, was genius. And Dex’s performance,’ she said with sunshiny glee. ‘I’m going to guess that was because of your loving support. When that kid first got here, he wanted nothing to do with this show, but, tonight, he was a consummate pro. I am so proud of you I could burst!’

‘This would have never happened if you hadn’t agreed to let me take this on. I can never thank you enough for trusting me, even when you had every reason not to.’

‘Oh, Piper, sweetie, you’ve had a rough go of it, but I’m happy that you came back to where you belong. That you’ve allowed the people here to witness the hard work you’ve done. To applaud how far you’ve come. You are just one of the many reasons why Ivy Falls is special.’