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Noah thought about The District and told Jax about it.
“That sounds like the perfect distraction. Are you going to ask Lily to join us?”
Was he?
“Nah. We’ll make it a guy’s night. You and I don’t get to hang out nearly enough.”
“Awesome!” Reaching for the box of brownies, Jax grabbed a second one and took a massive bite. “I will say this for her—she’s got excellent taste in desserts.”
Grabbing a brownie, Noah had to agree. But then again, there were a lot of things about Lily that were pretty damn great.
Unfortunately, his brother had given him far too much to think about and he had a feeling he was going to overthink it all.
And possibly ruin a good thing.
TWELVE
Lily keptherself busy for a few days by doing things she hadn’t been doing for a long time.
Namely, dancing.
She’d talked to enough doctors and physical therapists to know which movements were going to cause her the most discomfort, and worked on some choreography that simply avoided them. It wasn’t her favorite way to dance, but she was loving getting back into the routine. The only real issue she had was space.
Which the guesthouse lacked.
Oh, it was spacious enough to live in, but it really wasn’t conducive for dancing. That’s when she decided to be proactive and go online to find studio space to rent. Most dance studios offered space by the hour or even by the day, and if she could get in a couple of hours a day for the next week, she felt fairly confident that would help her decide whether or not she was going to get the surgery.
Basically, she was determined to prove all the doctors wrong and go back to her career with modifications to the choreography.
And if there was one thing Lily knew she was good at, it was proving people wrong.
“Okay, not the greatest trait to have, but there it is,” she murmured as she scrolled through dance studio listings. She was familiar with a lot of them since she grew up here and had been dancing since she was three, but there was one in particular that she really hoped offered space.
For years, she studied contemporary, tap, and jazz with Kiki Carter, and Lily knew if there was one teacher she’d love to reconnect with, it was Kiki.
She scrolled and scrolled and scrolled and then… “Bingo!” she said excitedly, immediately making the call to inquire about rental space.
An hour later, she was walking through the front door of Kiki’s Dance Studio and feeling more excited than she’d been in months about dancing.
The woman at the desk smiled as Lily walked in and then seemed to freeze. “Oh my goodness! Lily Montgomery, is that you?”
When she’d called earlier to reserve the space, someone named Carol had answered the phone. But the woman currently standing behind the desk was the same one who’d worked there all the years Lily had been a student and a wave of nostalgia hit her hard.
“Hey, Miss Zoey! How are you?”
“You know, still working here and watching all these talented dancers go on to do amazing things, just like you!” Zoey said with a big smile. She had to be almost seventy and the last time Lily was here, she had fourteen grandchildren. “I heard you danced with the Rockettes! How exciting!”
“I had a lot of fun, but after a year I realized it wasn’t creative enough for me. Then I went to Miami and was prepping to try out for the dance and cheer squad, but I got hurt. Now I’m home and trying to ease back into things, which is why I’m here to rent some space,” Lily explained cheerily.
Zoey looked at the computer screen at the desk and nodded. “Okay, you’ve got the downstairs studio for the next three hours. Wow! That’s ambitious! Remember to take it easy if you’re coming off an injury. Kiki will give you her famous lecture if you get hurt again.”
That made her chuckle. “I remember those lectures well and I don’t believe I’ll be needing it anytime soon.”
“Good girl.” She printed out a form for Lily to sign and went over the basic rules before saying, “You’re all set! Do you remember how to get downstairs?”
Nodding, she smiled. “Absolutely! See you in a few hours!” And then she practically skipped out of the lobby, down the hall, and down the stairs. The studio was one she spent a lot of time in back when she was taking tap, and for a moment she simply stood there and grinned, lost in her memories.
Then the eagerness to hear some music and start moving took over and she got everything set up. Her heart raced as she looked at her reflection in the mirrored wall, and it was like she’d been waiting for this moment for far too long. For several minutes, she stretched, doing everything she’d been taught to loosen up before dancing. Then the music changed, and in her mind, she counted, “Five, six, seven, eight…”
