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“All she wanted was you,” Nick said, “and you couldn’t see it. After all those dances …” Nick trailed off.
“Damn it, Freeman, raise your glass. To dancing with your heart.”
“It’s how I communicate, Nick. It’s how I touch the world around me.”
He had danced with Hayley too. For a brief moment, all she’d wanted was him. And he hadn’t seen it any more than Kevin had.
“I think you can feel it. Our rhythm.”
Dancing was give and take. Reacting, sparring, movement … But Nick had missed something.
“Just trust your partner.”
Dancing was surrender.
Hayley had given all of herself. She’d trusted herself to Icarus, to Kevin, even to Nick, because dancing with true, unfettered joy meant leaping into the air and believing her partner was going to catch her. How many times had she fallen to the ground? How many times had she nursed bruises from people who just wanted to take from her? Nick had been so obsessed with helping her, protecting her, keeping her—but he’d never trusted her with the decision to stay. He’d never believed she’d catch him if he leaped.
“Oh my God,” Nick said softly. “And she thinks it’s her fault.”
Kevin stared, uncomprehending. “It’s notmyfault.”
Nick was barely listening. “Don’t you get it? We want the spotlight, and she just wants to dance.”
He locked eyes with Kevin, who seemed to be getting more uncomfortable by the second.
“We want the spotlight,” Nick repeated. “You and I want someone to tell us we’re amazing twenty-four hours a day because otherwise we don’t believe it. Hayley wants theconnection. We want to take from the crowd, she wants to share with them. She just wants to know she matters. She wants to be seen.” He stared at Kevin intently. “Did you honestly think I could take her away from you? Did you think anyone could?”
Kevin didn’t look too sure of anything at all. “You did.”
“Oh, for shit’s sake!” Nick exploded. “You didn’t actually think she’d leave with the first guy who smiled at her. You were just afraid she’d figure out she could do better than you.”
Nick looked around at this place Hayley had called home. Somehow he couldn’t imagine her warmth here.
“Don’t you get it?” he said. “She’s so good at seeing what’s good in other people that she actually thinks it’sherfault when things go wrong. I told her she was beautiful, and she looked at me like she never knew. It doesn’t matter how much youtellher, Kevin. She needs someone tochooseher. She had to leave here because she was giving her all to this place, and all it gave back was a spotlight.”
Nick remembered where he was and quieted a little.
“Look,” he said. “Nobody makes Hayley do anything, Kevin. The best part of dancing with her is knowing she wants to. You have to believe she wants to.”
Kevin wasn’t angry anymore. If anything, as he watched Nick catch his breath, he looked a little sad. “You should go,” he said.
“The show. Right,” Nick said. “Are you going to call her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, if she calls you, don’t hang on too tight. Let her lead.”
Kevin hesitated. “Why are you helping me?”
“Because it’s her choice,” Nick said. “And I want her to be happy.”
Nick was nearly at the lobby before he realized Denise was following him. “Can I hitch a ride?” she asked.
“Aren’t you in the show?” he said.
“Nope,” she said. “Just a choreographer this time around.”
“So you want a ride to Columbus,” he said, just to be sure. “With me.”
