When I got up on Sunday morning, I could smell breakfast cooking in the kitchen. Bacon, pancakes, orange juice, and who knew what else. Mom always liked to go big on Sunday morning breakfasts, and I was sure going to get big if I started eating like I used to. I’d never get back to dancing again. I really needed to talk to her about that.
I was surprised when I wandered into the kitchen, though. Mom beamed at me when she saw me, gesturing toward a plate. “I remembered when we were in Paris that you always ate those egg white omelets and fruit for breakfast,” she said.
I knew the omelet had probably been cooked in butter, but I was touched again by the effort that she was making, even though I had just shown up here out of the blue. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, sliding into my seat at the table across from where Annabelle was already seated.
“How are you feeling this morning?” Mom asked. “Better?”
I nodded, and in fact, I somehow was. I was getting used to the idea of being here, at least for a little while. I was more determined than ever to get back to Paris. Sooner, rather than later. But maybe it wouldn’t be so terrible to be back home for a little bit.
Except that then I would think about what I would be doing back home in Paris right now, if I were still there. And I would think about how this family had become something almost unfamiliar in my absence. They all seemed to belong here. Hell, even Clayton seemed to belong here more than I did as he strolled into the kitchen and gave Mom a long kiss before helping himself to coffee and taking a seat at the table.
“Your mom showed me some of your performances,” Clayton said as he took a bite of his toast. “I don’t know too much about dance, but my sister was a figure skater, and I can tell that some of those jumps that you do are pretty darn incredible.”
I blinked in surprise. Who would have thought that out of all the people in this town who even sort of understood my dancing, it would be Mom’s new boyfriend?
“Actually, I got to do a lot of traveling when I was younger, through hockey,” Clayton continued. “I don’t know if your mom told you, but I’m not from around here. I’m from Minnesota originally. Anyway, I didn’t get to do nearly the amount of travel that you’re lucky enough to do, but I think it’s really amazing what you get to do.”
“What made you move to North Carolina?” I asked in surprise.
Clayton laughed and shrugged. “You know, I tried living in Minneapolis for a while, but I decided the city life wasn’t for me. I read some article about where the best living conditions were for day laborers, and North Carolina was pretty high up there when it came to cost of living and flexibility with work and stuff like that. So I packed it all up in my trailer and came down. And it’s sure gorgeous out here.”
Annabelle giggled. “And you met Mom,” she reminded him. “That helps, doesn’t it?”
“Sure does,” Clayton said, reaching over to take Mom’s hand as she sat down with us at the kitchen table for breakfast, putting a steaming platter of bacon in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves to.
For a moment, my mouth watered. God, it had been so long since I had had bacon. Surely, one strip wouldn’t kill me. But I knew just how much fat there was in that. I would have to work out for a while just to burn it off, and it would probably leave me feeling like shit anyway. It wasn’t worth whatever momentary pleasure I would get out of it.
Especially since I couldn’t train very hard at the moment. I still hadn’t managed to figure out how I was going to train here. I was used to having a state-of-the-art gym to work out in back in Paris, plus fitness trainers and the whole bit. Here, I’d be lucky if the twenty-four-hour gym three towns over was still in business, and even if they were, I doubted they’d updated their equipment any time in the last two decades.
“What are you up to today?” Mom asked Annabelle.
“I’m at the bookstore all day. Remember, we’ve got that reading this afternoon with the author who wrote up all the local North Carolina myths. And then tonight, I’m on the long shift at the bar.” She looked over at me. “Sorry, I was hoping I could get some time off today so that I could hang out with you, but it’s just one of those days. They need me. You should come by the bar tonight, though.”
“Finnegan’s?” I asked, surprised to hear that she was working there. That place had been skeevy as hell when I left. Surely, that hadn’t changed.
Annabelle laughed and shook her head, though. “Believe it or not, this town is big enough to warrant two bars now. Finnegan’s is still your classic drunken shithole, albeit with slightly better lighting and no smoking these days. Floor is still pretty sticky, though.” She grinned. “But I’m over at the new place, Gabby’s. Sunday nights are good fun. Drinks are half-priced, and there’s dancing.”
I made a face. I could only imagine what passed for fun here. It might not be Finnegan’s, but I was sure it would be all the same people as there were there. This town might be bigger than it had been when I left, but it was still a tiny town in the middle of nowhere in North Carolina.
Audrey“That sounds like fun,” Mom said. “I bet you really would love it, Audrey. Maybe you’d run into some of your old friends. You could probably show them a move or two.” She winked at me, and I had to fight not to roll my eyes.Show them a move or two? Did she think I was going to bust out a few of my ballet moves right there in the middle of some small-town bar? It just showed how much she really thought of me and my career.“I’m not in contact with any of my old friends,” I said, hoping that would be the end of the matter. The last thing I wanted to do was go to a bar by myself. I didn’t want to be that desperate stranger standing off to the side, trying to attach myself to a group.I felt another pang of homesickness for my life in Paris. I hadn’t gone out alone in all the time that I’d been there. The other dancers at the Global Traveling Dance Academy of Performing Arts, the ones who had been there for a while, had immediately taken me under their wings when I had arrived, sh
JesseI mounted the sign back where it was meant to go and climbed back down, to applause from Tristan’s daughter. “You fixed it!” she said excitedly as she peered up at it.I grinned in spite of myself. “Wasn’t too difficult,” I told her, but I accepted the high five that she gave me anyway. I straightened back up and turned to Tristan. “That wind last night was pretty crazy, huh?”“Yeah, came up out of nowhere, too,” Tristan said, looking worried. “I’m afraid what that means for storms this year.” Then, his worry cleared as he clapped me on the shoulder. “At least I’m lucky enough to work right next door to the town handyman. You want to come inside for a piece of pie?”“God, that sounds great,” I said. I’d been going since dawn that morning. Not only did I have the hardware store to open, but I’d gotten calls from half a dozen people in town who all wanted to know if there was any way that I could help them with storm damage that they had suffered overnight.I’d left Tristan’s dine
AudreyI dug through my bag, trying to find some sort of outfit that would be suitable for a bar in Aberdeen. Annabelle and I had snuck out to go to shows in town when we were teenagers, with more or less success, depending on the night. What the hell had we worn back then? Jeans? I didn’t think that I had worn jeans in years now. Surely not in all the time that I’d lived in Paris.When we went out there, I was usually in a dress or slacks and a button-up blouse. But both of those things seemed too formal for wearing around Aberdeen. I didn’t really care about what everyone here thought of me, but I wanted to be comfortable and not look like a snooty rich girl out of her element. If this really was about research, that wasn’t going to help me one bit.“God, I wish I were as skinny as you,” Annabelle said as she came back into the bedroom after her shower with just a towel wrapped around her.I snorted. “You look amazing, and you know it,” I chided. “But if you want to give up on all t
Audrey“I’m in flat shoes,” I reminded her. Her shoes. She shouldn’t need reminding.Annabelle shrugged. “Come on, get in,” she said, walking over to the van.I stared at the door that she held open for me. I wanted to argue, but the words wouldn’t come. And anyway, I could tell that this was the kind of battle that I just wouldn’t win.I slipped inside. When Clayton put it in drive, the van lurched, and I winced. It made a terrible sound as it drove through town, and I felt more and more embarrassed. Finally, we came to a sputtering stop outside the bar. People were definitely staring as Annabelle and I got out.I cringed, but I was surprised to see that Annabelle didn’t seem to care about the attention. Instead, she smiled and chatted to a few people she knew, talking about how nice the evening was and how good it was to be done with winter finally.We headed inside. Gabby’s was nicer than Finnegan’s, but it was still definitely a dive bar by anyone’s reckoning. You would never find
JesseI glanced around as I walked into Gabby’s with Joe. I still couldn’t believe that I had let him talk me into coming out with him. The Long Blue or not, was it really worth it? Sure, this place wasn’t too terrible, all things considered. A bit loud. And probably only going to get louder as the night went on. I recognized nearly everyone in there. It was a pretty good crowd, though, especially for a Sunday night. Not like anyone had anything else to do on a Sunday night in Aberdeen.But I couldn’t help remembering what Joe had said about getting me to dance with someone pretty. I was so not interested in that tonight.We grabbed drinks first and chatted for a minute with Annabelle Buchanan. God, when had she gotten old enough to serve drinks behind the bar? I’d known her back when she was a kid, but she’d been so much younger than me that I’d known her sister better. But Audrey disappeared when she went off to further her ballet career, and I doubted we’d ever see her around town
JesseAudrey cracked a smile at that. “Sounds great,” she said. “Thanks.”I got her drink ordered and then sat back, unable to tear my eyes away from her. “So how long have you been back in town for?”She grinned again as she took a sip of her drink. “Long enough to have lunch at the Sub & Surf, but not long enough to run into anyone I know, I guess.” I laughed. “So, what, ten hours? The sub shop was probably the first place you hit on the way into town, wasn’t it?”“Nah, I went by Mom’s first,” Audrey said, laughing. “I got here yesterday evening, but I was pretty exhausted. Long flight.”“Yeah, I’ll bet,” I said.“Wouldn’t have expected you to still be bumming around here,” Audrey said, peering at me. “Weren’t you voted most likely to, what was it? Get involved in an international bank heist and flee to a remote island with the authorities on your tail?”I gave a surprised laugh. “You remember that?” I asked. “I don’t even know how the hell that got into the nomination pool.”Audre
AudreyOf all the people to run into at Gabby’s, Jesse Miller was probably the last person I would have expected. I had never expected him to hang out around Aberdeen for as long as he had. I would have thought he would be long gone by now. But when he mentioned his dad dying and the fact that he had taken over the hardware store, it suddenly all made sense. Jesse had always been the sort of guy that you could rely on.And plans had a tendency to change.I tried not to be too gloomy, but I couldn’t keep thinking about my own change in plans. If I were back in Paris right now, I’d be asleep, just waiting for the next morning. Then I would get up, eat a light breakfast, do my stretches, and train like I did every morning. Part of why I felt so out of place here in North Carolina was because I was missing my routine. When had I become one of those people who couldn’t live without their routine? Where had my spontaneity gone?When Jesse asked me to dance with him, I leaped at the chance t
JesseShe kept talking as I drove her home.“I can’t wait until summer,” Audrey said. “I’m going to go to the beach every day. Maybe I’ll start surfing again. The director would probably kill me if he found out about that. All my focus is supposed to be on dance. But you know, he told me to use this time to focus on my other hobbies, so it’s kind of his own fault.”I blinked over at her in surprise. I hadn’t expected that she would be sticking around for that long. Her still being there for the summer made me think that she must be retiring from dance or something. But then she had said that thing about the director being mad if she was focusing on something other than dance, so she must still be employed. It made me wonder.Audrey was still chattering away. “Surfing’s just like dancing anyway, isn’t it? Just a dance with the waves. And I bet my balance is way better now than it used to be. Bet I can do all sorts of tricks that I never used to be able to.” She frowned. “Of course, I’l