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“Looks good on you.”
She narrowed her eyes and gave me a slow smile. “Giving me compliments again? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with me. You better be careful or I might start flirting back.”
I smirked. “I kind of miss it actually.”
Why the hell would you say that?
I cleared my throat. She raised her eyebrows before looking down at her necklace.
“Thanks. I’ll try to remember to keep it on.”
11
CALLIE
I heardBlake’s voice and a woman’s voice downstairs soon after he arrived, so I threw a T-shirt on over the tank top I wore and headed down.
Blake turned to see me. “Callie, this is my mom, Lisa. The most wonderful woman in the world, who just brought us a chocolate cherry pie.”
“Ooh,” I said. I shook her hand. “Lovely to meet you.”
“Same.” Lisa had smile lines and a tiny bit of white hair at her temples. Her dark hair was short and loosely curled, and she had the look of someone who felt at home in a kitchen and loved to see people appreciating her cooking.
“And this is my niece, Elsie.” Blake stepped aside to reveal a girl of twelve or thirteen with bright green eyes and her dark hair pulled back in a tight bun. Her mouth was filled with thin metal braces wrapped in rainbow-colored bands. She’d apparently been behind him with her arms around his waist, leaning against him while he cut the pie.
“Hi,” she said, bouncing toward me, her hand out. “I’m twelve. Uncle Blake insists I tell people that upfront, sort of as a warning.” She grimaced in his direction, and he scowled.
His scowl would give most grown men pause, but Elsie smiled about it.
“You don’t look like too much trouble,” I said.
“That’s what I say, but he disagrees.”
She wore a shirt that said “DANCE” on it, and given the bun in her hair, I took a wild guess. “I’ll bet you take ballet.”
Her mouth dropped open, and she spun on Blake. “Did you tell her?”
“No,” he said honestly. He hadn’t talked to me about much of anything at all, beyond all the things I wasn’t allowed to do.
“The shirt and the hair sort of give it away,” I said.
“Oh.” She laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. “Do you like ballet?” she asked.
I laughed and glanced at Blake, who frowned down at the pie. I guess he’d told them as much about me as he’d told me about them. “I guess I do since that’s my profession. I’m a member of Je Ne Sais Quo.”
“Uncle Blake! why didn’t you tell me?”
“I—”
“What’s it like to go on tour with a dance company that famous?” She had a grip on both my arms and was practically trembling in her excitement. “Does Madame Etou actually make you rehearse twelve hours a day? Does—”
“Elsie,” Lisa said. “Don’t bombard Blake’s guest with a hundred questions.”
“I don’t mind,” I said, and it was true. It was nice to have some exciting conversation for a change.
“Could you help me with an audition I have coming up?” Elsie asked, her eyes full of hope.
“Elsie!” Lisa said, shaking her head. “What have we said about things like that?”
