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Linda managed to look both relieved and guilty. “Yes.”
All of a sudden he was back in that booth across from Kacey with a K, watching Hayley dance for the first time. Watching Cal and Mimi on stage. Watching Hayley in the rehearsal room.
“It can be hard,” Nick said. “But I love it here. I love the people and I love what you do, because of the music and the energy and the dance—all of it. And I’m beginning to think I’m uniquely suited to appreciate dance, actually. I can’t do it like you all can, so I don’t take it for granted. So, no, I don’t think it’s insulting or cruel to invite anyone here, even if sometimes it does hurt to want to be more like you guys.”
Linda relaxed. “What about my other question?”
Nick stalled. “Has anyone ever given me reason to believe I don’t belong here.”
“Yes.”
“What would make you think that?”
“I hear things,” Linda said. “Like maybe someone who no longer works here told you that you can’t do what we can.”
“If he’s not here anymore, I don’t see how it matters.”
Linda was calm but firm. “It matters,” she said, “because that’s not the sort of attitude that belongs here. So I would want to make that abundantly clear, and think very hard if ever that person wanted to come back. Or anyone associated with that person.”
Nick tried to hide his surprise. This was an unexpected opportunity. If he didn’t want Hayley at Vivez, then this was how to keep her out. If she really was using him, he could make sure she paid for it. It was time to think hard and speak up. It was time to voice his anger.
His anger was gone.
It was like returning to an animal’s cage and finding it empty. Nick had been so angry at Hayley’s reaction, her preference for Kevin, her fear for her reputation. But now all he could see was someone who was quick to forgive a man she’d loved for six years, a man she probably still loved. Nick Freeman had a lifetime of experience studying people, and as hard as he tried, he couldn’t make himself believe someone who held him and kissed him and smiled at him like Hayley Burke had could ever think he was anything less than a man worthy of love.
“Kevin and I didn’t always get along,” Nick said, “but that wasn’t entirely because of his perspective.”
Linda nodded. “Maybe it had to do with a mutual friend?”
“It might have,” Nick said carefully. “If you’re concerned, I can tell you Kevin was the only one here who ever came close to treating me poorly, so I don’t think you need to talk to anybody. I wouldn’t rehire him if I were you, but I really don’t think he’s coming back. And as far as Kevin’s girlfriend is concerned, I think she would be a perfect fit here.”
Linda smiled. “I think so too. Thanks, Nick.”
“Thankyou,” he assured her. “It’s really been a pleasure working here.”
“Oh, the pleasure’s mine,” she said. “Especially since I can tell Ben I’ve made up for making a fool of myself last time.”
Nick looked at her quizzically. “You never did that with me.”
To his astonishment, Linda looked thoroughly embarrassed. “Okay,” she said. “I’ve been arguing with myself about whether to even tell you this, but I was so excited to meet you at the senior awards ceremony. Ben prepped me, you know—found pictures of all of his teachers in his yearbook and showed them to me, and I just could not wait. So we get there, and I justdescendon this poor man at the reception. I tell him I wanted to thank him for getting Ben so excited about learning and for showing my son how math could help him understand the world around him. I tell this guy he’s so incredibly inspirational for dedicating his life to helping kids like my son, and if I could ever do anything for him, anything at all, then I would be personally insulted if he didn’t ask. And of course this poor man is getting more and more confused, and it turns out I’ve been pretty much bowing at the feet of thewomen’s basketball coach. I was so intent on getting it all out that I guess I just went up to the guy who looked most like a math teacher!”
Nick was so mystified by her story that he’d started to unconsciously lean against the shelf behind him, and now he had to catch himself before he toppled the thing.
“You thought Tony Snyder was me?” he asked.
“I couldn’t tell you,” she said. “I’d just given this whole speech to the coach, and I was too embarrassed to do it again and claim that I thought so highly of you when I obviously didn’t even know who you were.”
Nick’s smile started slowly and grew until he was grinning from ear to ear. Linda had considered him inspirational before she’d ever known about his cerebral palsy. And if Ben hadn’t even thought to mention CP, Mr. Freeman must’ve been an excellent teacher.
Nick had been profoundly wrong, and it felt fantastic. “Don’t worry about it,” he told Linda.
“Oh, don’t be nice.”
“No, really,” he said. “Mixing me up with Coach Snyder was probably the nicest thing you could have done for me. That story is a gift.”
Linda smiled, still a little reluctant. “You’re going to have to explain that one to me,” she said. “And after you do that, I’ve got some easier questions for you.”
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