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“Hello?” I answered.
“Hi, Bethany. I’m so sorry to tell you this, but Valentina has pneumonia. She won’t be able to dance.”
“Oh, no. How awful.” I rubbed my temple. Shit, shit, shit. “Tell her I hope she feels better soon.”
“What are you going to do?” Luke asked when I hung up.
I worried my bottom lip with my teeth, thinking. “This isn’t New York. We don’t have twenty other girls lined up to take over. No one else knows the part.”
“You do,” Luke pointed out.
That was true. I did. I knew it like the back of my own hand. I had danced Sugar Plum’s dance so often that it was ingrained in my muscles. In my soul.
“Could your ankle take it?”
I wiggled it experimentally. “The doctor gave me the go-ahead almost a month ago. I can dance.”
“Do you want to?”
Did I?
A quiver of excitement ran down my spine.
“Hell, yes, I do.”
Chapter 22
Luke
Thewholetownshowedup, and then some. The Hart’s Ridge Community Center was packed on Christmas Eve’s Eve when I took my third-row seat between Ethan and Eli. Max and Kate were further down the row, along with Michael and Nora. Suzie and Sam had managed to score first-row seats since their four-year-old, Carly, had a minor part in the opening scenes.
Emma had wasted no time spreading the word that this year’s performance of theNutcrackerwas going to be extra special, because renowned ballerina Bethany Albright would be dancing the role of Sugar Plum. People had come from the fancy ski resort in Evergreen, plus lots of students and instructors from Bethany’s old ballet school in Asheville. Everyone who knew anything about ballet was excited to see her dance.
Hell,Iwas excited to see her dance, and I didn’t know the first thing about ballet.
As mayor, Emma made some opening remarks about the importance of the community center to Hart’s Ridge citizens of all ages. She followed that with a plea for donations and then took her seat in the front row. The curtain rose, revealing an old-fashioned living room decked out for Christmas.
Ethan nudged my shoulder with his. “Good job on the stairs, bro,” he whispered.
I nodded, proud of the work I had done. But that was nothing compared to how I felt watching the kids dance their hearts out. This was the third year Emma had invited—forced—us all to attend theNutcrackerand, to be honest, it had always been kind of a shitshow. A funny, adorable shitshow, but a shitshow, nonetheless.
This year it was not a shitshow. It wasgood. There was no doubt in my mind that Bethany had made all the difference.
And then the music changed to something sweet and delicate. Recognizing the music, Ethan straightened, whipping out his phone to capture the stage on video. This was it: Bethany’s dance as Sugar Plum. I kept my phone in my pocket. I didn’t want to look at her through a little screen, not when the real thing was right in front of me.
So fuckingbeautiful.
Every step, every gesture, was a work of art.Shewas a work of art. She wasn’tmyBethany when she was on that stage. As Sugar Plum, she belonged to everyone. This dance was a gift for all of us. It humbled me, sitting there in the audience. It was a privilege to bask in all her talent.
But it was more than talent that kept my eyes glued to her. It was the joy and confidence that radiated from her as she danced in perfect time to the music. She looked so damnhappy.
Like she knew she belonged there, on stage.
I was an idiot. Had I really believed that Bethany could be happy here in Hart’s Ridge, teaching ballet at the community center? No way was that enough for her. She was too damn talented to waste it on a small town with more cows than people. She belonged in New York, where there were hundreds of thousands of people who could truly appreciate her.
She wasn’t going to stay here. Maybe she had thought she wanted more, but that was when she hadn’t really danced in months. She had been scared, probably. The injury had messed with her mind. But now that she was back on stage, she would remember how it felt. It was obvious to everyone in the audience, especially me, that dancing on stage was where Bethany belonged. She had to realize it, too.
I wanted her to be happy. Even if that meant leaving me behind.
