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Maybe it’s because I’m stuffed with red meat and potatoes, but the show is a hell of a lot more entertaining than I expected. Complete with live horses and dancing and corny jokes. It’s hokey and the perfect choice for our North Dakota stop. As the musical comes to an end, fireworks light the sky.
Under the stars with the scenic Badlands spread out before us and white block letters spelling out Medora on the mountain behind the play backdrop, like the Hollywood sign, I take Nova’s hand. “I’m not all that good at opening up to people.”
She doesn’t pull away like I feared she might, swiveling her head to me instead. Her gaze probes, but she doesn’t speak, and I keep my eyes on the colorful display above us, appreciating her silence because this is hard enough to confess.
“I didn’t mean what I said. I think I’m only now processing how much damage my dad’s leaving did. How he changed my life. It has always hurt, but I’ve been triggered a lot more recently, especially with him turning up at Willa’s last fall.” Swallowing, I lower my stare. “I didn’t want to like you, Nova. Not like this.”
“Like what?”
With my free hand, I wipe the sweat peppering the back of my neck. “More than I should, considering the different paths we’re on, and considering I have no experience with this feeling.”
Her sapphire eyes flare before they drift to my mouth, only inches from mine, as she leans in, feathering a swift kiss. It’s a dangerous advance in the battle brewing between us, and I refrain from pursuing more.
“It doesn’t have to mean anything life-changing, Dev. We can enjoy the time we’ve been given, and when we get to California, this will be an amazing story to tell people about that summer you traveled cross-country with an insanely awesome girl.”
A smile twitches the edge of my lips. “I like that,” I whisper against her ear, wrapping my arm around her waist, tugging her into my side as the fireworks explode.
Back in the hotel room, tucked into our beds, Nova and I face one another with only the light of the sconce on the wall between us.
“Don’t lie. You loved the musical. I heard you laughing.”
I smirk. “It wasn’t terrible. Maybe you should be a dancer in that show.”
She snorts. “I don’t know that professional dancing is my thing.”
“You don’t want to be on Broadway like your mom?”
“I only dance because I destroyed her dream.”
Huh?
“She might have been thirty, but she’d just found her big break landing a lead role when she got pregnant with me and had to stop.”
Sounds like Mr. and Mrs. Pratt didn’t know how to practice safe sex. That’s their fault, not Nova’s. Before I can point out the obvious, Nova continues.
“Besides my dad, dancing is her one true passion, and I took it away.”
She can’t think that. Willa talks about Ruby and Brett Pratt like they’re superheroes. “She still dances though, doesn’t she? She’s running her own dance studio. That seems pretty successful to me.”
“I mean, what other choice did she have?”
I roll to my back while keeping my head turned her way. “So, why do you dance? For her or for you?”
“I figured the least I can do is carry on her dream if she can’t.”
“I don’t know much about dancers, but athletes’ careers aren’t forever. Your mom was going to have to stop eventually. I can only imagine what a professional dancer’s body goes through. The toll it takes.”
“Yeah, but she should’ve been able to quit when she was ready. Not be forced into it because of me. She’s the reason I’m going to Berkeley, you know.”
“She went there too?”
She huffs a laugh. “No. She was supposed to. The blame for that is on my dad—he convinced her to go to NYU—but I thought maybe she’d like seeing Berkeley through my eyes. Like I can make up for her missing Broadway by giving her a front row seat to something she didn’t experience.”
“Nova.” I chide with a light chuckle to not offend. “I think there’s some misplaced guilt here.”
“You try living in Ruby ‘The Legend’ Pratt’s shadow.”
“I guess I wouldn’t know.”
