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“Well, shit,” she muttered before kicking the blankets off. It would be so easy to throw her things into a suitcase and make the drive back down to Florida just to see what happened. She’d watched enough footage of the performances to know that the group's normal choreography was something she could realistically do for a season and then get her surgery.
Hmm…
Swallowing hard, she stared at her suitcases that were still in the corner of the bedroom and wondered if this was exactly what she needed right now. A little distance between her and Noah would give them both time to heal and by the time she moved back—ifshe moved back—they’d be fine with running into each other again.
“It could work…”
And if it didn’t, she could possibly reach out to Jax and see about tryouts for his team’s squad.
Padding into the bathroom, she quickly brushed her teeth and threw her hair up into a ponytail before getting dressed. On her way out the door, she grabbed her charger and barely made it past the hot tub when she caught sight of her father.
Crap.
“Hey, Dad,” she said as he jogged over and hugged her. “I was just on my way up to have breakfast with everyone.”
He held up a bag and grinned at her. “I brought breakfast to you.”
Double crap.
“Oh!” she said with a smile, even though she felt a lump of dread crashing into the pit of her stomach. “Let’s go inside. I’ll make us some coffee.” That gave her a total of thirty seconds to calm herself down without having to look at him. For all her big words about how she was going to sit her father down and talk to him about Noah, this wasn’t the morning she would have picked.
Actually, she would have skipped it all together because it was kind of a moot point now.
Liar.
Okay, even if they weren’t dating, she owed it to Noah to make sure her father didn’t give him any grief when they were all back in the office. With a soft sigh, she made them each a cup of coffee and finally turned to face him.
“I was wondering how long you were going to keep your back to me,” he said with a hint of amusement. “Thank you.” Taking the mug from her, he sat down at the small kitchen island. “How are you doing this morning?”
Deciding to stand on the opposite side, Lily cradled her mug in her hand. “I’m okay. Tired, but okay.” She took a small sip of her coffee. “Have you talked to the doctors this morning?”
He nodded. “They’re doing some tests today so we can all go up after lunch.”
“Oh. Okay. That’s good.”
Lucas simply watched her, looking as relaxed as he could be. “How’s your hip?”
Placing her mug down, she rested her hands on the island. “It’s fine. I’ve been dancing for over a week now with no issues.” Then she laughed softly. “Well, other than being a little out of shape and needing to soak in the hot tub every night.”
He nodded. “You know, back when I blew out my knee, I had two surgeries and things still weren’t right. I was never going to play football again with my knee in that condition.”
She immediately knew where he was going with this. “Dad, it’s not the same thing. You had a catastrophic injury. This isn’t like that.”
But clearly he wasn’t listening. “I suffered for two years because I was too stubborn to get the last surgery. I knew it wasn’t going to change my career—that was over. But it would have made a huge difference in my life and my mental health.”
This story wasn’t anything new. “You also might not have gotten together with Mom, so…maybe it was a good thing.”
Now he laughed. “Okay, you’ve got me there.” Then he let out a long breath. “I get the fear, Lily. I understand it. You want someone to tell you you’re going to go back to being exactly the same as you were before, or even better. But…there are no guarantees, and the way you are after this surgery may be an even better version of yourself. You’ve been pushing yourself so hard with dance ever since you were a kid. Our bodies aren’t meant to be punished like that. As we get older…”
“Dad, please. I’m hardly old…”
“You’ve been dancing since you were three,” he reminded her. “So you’ve been at this for well over twenty years.” Pausing, he took a sip of his coffee. “I get that you don’t want to do this, but the reality is that you need to do it.”
Lily huffed. “And I know that, but I don’t need to do it right now. I just got a text from a friend down in Miami about the tryouts. I’m thinking about going,” she rambled on. “I can dance and cheer for the season and then have the surgery.” She shrugged. “I know my body, and this will all be fine.”
Lucas nodded slowly. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course!”
