by Olivia Miles
Sounds like someone I know, Ivy thought with an inward grin.
“Well, I should get going. We’re offering some new classes at the dance studio tonight. I guess I’ll see you there, Grace?”
“Ballroom dancing,” Grace explained, grinning. “I’m really getting married!”
Jane barely managed a smile as she turned and left. Ivy stared at the door long after she had disappeared through the paned glass. Something was going on with Jane, and she suspected it unfortunately had little to do with Henry being in town. She’d talk to Grace about it. But first, she’d finalize the plan for Grace and Luke’s wedding, once and for all.
CHAPTER
17
Shuffle. Hop. Step. Shuffle. Hop. Step.” Jane brushed the toes of her tap shoe against the floor, slowly demonstrating the move, then repeating it again, a bit faster. “See?” She glanced up at the mirror, catching the confused expressions from the row of middle-aged women behind her.
“I think I have it.” Mrs. Griffin, frowning with great concentration, brushed the toe of her shoe against the floor, then stepped, then hopped.
“Almost!” Jane smiled in encouragement. “Let’s try again, this time with the music.” She pointed the remote at the stereo, waited for the cue, and then began shuffle-hop-stepping.
“That’s too fast!” Mrs. Griffin cried out. She set her hands on the waist of her hot pink leggings and let out a huff. “Too fast, do you agree, girls?”
The “girls” all nodded in unison, and so, stifling a sigh, Jane turned off the music. So far, even her four-year-old class was easier to handle than this crowd. Announcing they were taking their third water break in half an hour, the women dropped to the floor and fanned themselves over their Spandex leotards. Mrs. Griffin readjusted her neon leg warmers, smiling demurely when some of the other ladies complimented her on them. Jane stared them down, waiting for them to stand up again, and then looked up at the clock on the wall. Had the minute hand always moved so slowly? She had ten minutes to motivate the group and give them a reason to return next week.
Next time she’d remember to bring some eighties hits with her, but for today, they’d have to stick with jazz.
“Why don’t we just shuffle for a while? We’ll do eight counts with the right foot, then eight with the left.” Jane demonstrated. “Ready?”
In the mirror she saw ten pairs of arms shoot out at a ninety-degree angle, and ten pink-, aqua-, or shiny fuchsia-clad legs poised for position. They shuffled, at their own pace, some moving their arms like helicopters to keep their balance, others stepping down between each shuffle to readjust. One woman, whom Jane recognized from Rosemary’s book club, gripped the barre with two hands, as if she might fall over at any moment.
Jane glanced at the door to see Rosemary staring through the window, her blue eyes wide, her mouth agape.
“Don’t make me laugh,” she said to Rosemary when the class finally finished. Jane sunk into one of the white slipcovered armchairs in Rosemary’s office and took a sip of water from her plastic bottle. “They worked really hard.”
“Oh, they worked hard all right. Hard at making a lot of noise.” Rosemary pinched her red-painted lips. “Well, I shouldn’t complain. They’re paying students and I must say the turnout was impressive.”
Jane leaned forward to peer at the sign-up sheet for The Nutcracker. “How many kids are auditioning?”
“Sixty,” Rosemary said. In years past, they had a cast of more than one hundred children. “Not terrible, but not as many as I would have hoped. It seems that kids are diversifying. Maybe their parents are limiting the number of activities they can do after school. Whatever the case, it’s hard not to feel disappointed.”
“Still, it’s enough for the show.” Jane felt her spirits lift.
“We’ll have to double up on some of the dances, but yes, the show will go on.” Rosemary flipped open her compact and studied herself in the small, round mirror. “I must say that Henry Birch was looking handsome the other day.”
Jane tried to keep her expression neutral. He’d slept on the armchair last night, and she’d woken before him, smiling at the way his arms were crossed around his broad chest, the way his breath was thick and steady, until he opened one eye and cracked a grin across the room, like they shared a special secret. Sophie had come bounding in the room then, demanding breakfast, and happy to see him, and he’d sleepily followed her into the kitchen and let her instruct him on the proper way to dice fruit for the waffles, sparing Jane a wink when he caught her watching.
Jane sighed. “I suppose.”
Rosemary plucked the silver cap off her lipstick tube. “I saw you and Sophie leave with him after the festival. I might say he’s taken a special interest in you, Jane.”
Jane felt herself blush. It had been Henry’s idea to give Sophie’s waffle a funny face made out of apple slices and raisins. She’d never eat breakfast the same way again. “He’s just a friend,” Jane stressed.
“So? Remember what I told you and Anna, Jane. The best relationships start out as friendships. Look at Mark and Anna now! They were best friends before it developed into something more special. Oh, sure they had a little bump in the road, but it smoothed itself out.” She gave a mysterious smile. “I knew it would.”
Jane laughed under her breath. “You succeeded in bringing Mark and Anna back together, but I really don’t feel like being pushed into dating again.”
“Who said I’m pushing? I simply mentioned that you can’t rule out Henry just because he’s your friend. With those dazzling blue eyes and that smile…” She waggled her eyebrows.
“He’s not just my friend,” Jane said pointedly.
Rosemary’s expression fell and she popped the top back on her lipstick. “Love is never easy, is it?” she sighed.
Jane considered her sisters’ ups and downs, and shook her head. “No.” But then, somehow, how did everyone else seem to be able to find a happy ending?
Rosemary stood and smoothed her skirt. “Time for ballroom. You ready?”
Jane set down her water bottle. “We have six couples registered, and we’re open to drop-ins. Grace and Luke are coming.”
“Good. They’ll need some practice for their first dance. Can you believe the wedding is only six weeks away?” Rosemary beamed. “When I think of it, I don’t even worry about the studio. The studio is just a business, and in time it will work itself out, but when it’s your children… Well, you understand.”
Jane did, and more than Rosemary knew. But unlike Rosemary, her professional concerns were linked to her personal life.
Plucking her angora wrap sweater from the chair, Jane slipped her arms through and carefully tied the pink ribbon at her waist. She exchanged her shorter skirt for a longer one that seemed more appropriate for teaching the waltz and showed a little less leg. There was no one to impress, so why bother drawing attention to herself? She felt a little depressed just thinking of all the happy couples she was about to greet. Couples getting married, couples who wanted to hold each other close, take up a hobby together.
Well, luckily Grace and Luke would be there to cheer her up. She was counting on Luke to be her demonstration partner. Not that he knew that yet, but she doubted he’d have the nerve to say no, not in his mother’s studio.
“There you are!” Grace was standing outside the studio entrance, holding Luke’s hand, when Jane finally dragged herself out of the office a few minutes later.
Jane’s eyes lingered for a beat, allowing one small pang, before she brought her gaze to her sister’s. “I hope you don’t mind if I steal your fiancé for a bit tonight. It would seem I’m in need of a dance partner.”
“Henry can do it,” Luke was quick to offer.
Jane frowned. First Rosemary and now her son? From the hopeful gleam in Grace’s eye, it seemed everyone was determined to make more of their friendship than was there. Just because an eligible and, okay, handsome man was spending time with her didn’t mean he was dating material.
Grace of all people should understand why.
“I don’t understand why everyone keeps saying things like this. Why would you say that?”
She crossed her arms and stared at Grace and Luke, waiting for them to explain. Finally Luke said, “He’s here. I just assumed that meant he was your partner.”
Jane felt the blood drain from her face. Henry was here? In the studio? The lobby was so packed and loud that she hadn’t even seen him. She shifted her eyes to the left, but a voice in her right ear made her jump. “Hello.”
God, he really was cute. That grin, the dimple, that spark of those sky-blue eyes. Jane straightened herself, pinching her lips together. She couldn’t even look at Grace or Luke right now, but from the corner of her eye she could see their grins. Nice that they found this so entertaining. If they had any idea what was really going on in her life, she doubted they’d be concerned about the status of her love life. She certainly wasn’t. Well, not entirely.
“Are you… taking the class?” Jane tipped her head and held Henry’s gaze, trying to understand why she suddenly felt sweaty and nervous and completely flustered. His hair was just as tousled now as it had been this morning, when he’d sat at her kitchen table and regaled her and Sophie with funny stories from his travels, until somehow Briar Creek and all the problems in it didn’t exist for a while.
When she’d returned from dropping him back in town, the house had felt quiet, like something was missing, only this time it wasn’t the father of her child or the man she had once loved. She’d finally left the house and taken Sophie to the park, just to get away from the reminder, and the wish for something she couldn’t have.
She blinked up at him, suddenly hoping he was sticking around for the class, wishing that his time in Briar Creek was more permanent than she knew it would be.
“I thought I’d check it out, if that’s okay. It might be something to mention in my article.”
“How’s that coming along?” Jane asked as they all moved into the studio.
His mouth quirked, revealing a hint of that dimple. “If I’m being honest, Briar Creek does have a little more to offer than I originally gave it credit for.”
Jane grinned and led the group into the studio. She stood at the front, her back to the mirror, and scanned the room, recognizing just about everyone in it—classmates from grade school, now married; a few elderly couples, looking nervous; and of course her sister and Luke. Now, if she could only get Anna and Mark to join… Jane quickly dismissed that thought. They were too busy with the restaurant. Unless—
From the half-open door Jane saw two figures appear in the lobby, barely visible in the shadows. She decided to give them a moment to take off their coats before she got started with the introductions and used the time instead to pop a CD into the stereo, so it would be ready for the first part of the lesson. Behind her, the door creaked open wider. Jane turned, smiling pleasantly, but the grin fell from her face when she saw Adam and Kristy.
Grace shot her a look of alarm, and Jane swallowed hard, clasping her trembling fingers as she tried to remember what she even planned to say to the class. Since when did Adam have an interest in dancing?
She glanced at Henry from the corner of her eye. He gave her a wink.
She drew a deep breath and hoped to God Luke was right about Henry stepping in as her dance partner. Was there anything more humiliating that being the single girl in a room full of happy couples? There was, she deduced. Being the only single girl when your ex-husband’s pregnant fiancée was staring at you with a smug little smile.
Jane hoped her ankles swelled.
Somehow, she made a brief introduction, explaining what they would be working on in the first class, but she couldn’t shake the thought that this was a six-week course, and while enrollment was flexible, there was a very real possibility that Adam and Kristy were going to make a weekly habit of this, showing up to torture her, casually coming and going as if they weren’t trying to destroy her life. All eyes were fixed expectantly on her as she spoke, and she stopped to clear her throat every few seconds, wishing she was better at public speaking and that her voice didn’t quiver. Her cheeks felt warm, with anger, or fear, she didn’t know anymore.
She didn’t have a choice. “Henry? Would you mind…”
He looked perplexed, but only for a moment. Quickly, he set his notepad and pen on the chair beside him and came to stand next to her. Across the room, Jane noticed Adam frown, and Kristy whisper something to him. Jane looked up at Henry. He was staring back at Adam, his gaze steely.
Her stomach rolled. Maybe she’d overstepped.
“We’ll work on the box step first, so if everyone could just take their partner…” She set her arm on Henry’s shoulder, feeling the warmth of his body through his cotton shirt. Her breath caught as his hand went to her waist, and not gingerly. Nope, no hesitation there. Henry knew how to hold a woman, how to make her feel with just one touch that he was exactly where he wanted to be. Slowly, she lifted her other hand, and he took it in his, holding it firmly. A wave of exhilaration shot through her as she looked up to meet his gaze. It bored through hers, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips.
Right. Time to demonstrate. She swallowed hard and tore her gaze from his, looking at Grace, so she wouldn’t be tempted to indulge in further masochism by glaring at the man who was single-handedly trying to ruin her life, or meeting Henry’s sharp blue eyes and daring to imagine how it might feel if his hand dropped a little lower.
“One, two, three, four.” Jane counted out the steps, over and over, and soon all the couples in the room were stepping within their own self-created boxes, many already laughing or whispering to each other.
“We haven’t done this in a long time.” There was a hint of a smile in Henry’s voice.
Jane looked up to find his gaze trained steady on hers, his lips parted in a half smile. Her heart skipped a beat, and she looked down, watching their feet move in perfect unison.
“You’ve been practicing,” she observed now, trying to steer the conversation back to something more professional, but it was no use, not when his eyes were sharp, hooked with hers, refusing to let her go.
Was it just her or did he press himself a little closer?
Her heart flipped with pleasure, and she fought the instinct to pull back, to not let herself get too close. His body felt warm and safe next to hers, and she closed her eyes, listening to the beat of the music, letting herself forget that there was anyone else in the room other than the two of them. His hand slid down her back, looping around her waist, his fingers tracing a pattern on her hip.
The music suddenly stopped and, red-faced, Jane pulled back. For God’s sake, she was teaching a class, not enjoying some moonlit waltz!
She marched across the room to the CD player, fumbling to remember the correct buttons to press as her mind spun with emotions. Too much was going on at once, and she couldn’t even think straight.
She wondered if Rosemary was still in the building. She’d claim she wasn’t feeling well, let her boss stand in her place…
She glanced at Henry, her pulse kicking a notch. He was waiting in the center of the room, and he wasn’t waiting for Rosemary, or just anyone. He was waiting, she realized, with a sudden smile, for her.
The music started from the top and the couples began again, improving on their basic steps. Jane averted her gaze from the corner of the room where Adam and Kristy stood, but for some reason she didn’t even care in that moment that they were here.
She had her dance partner. And maybe, just maybe, for more than just tonight.
CHAPTER
18
Adam was outside the studio when Henry left Jane chatting with Grace and Luke in the lobby. He tensed, thinking of the confrontation at the Harvest Fest. He needed to get Adam out of here before Jane came outside. It wouldn’t help her cause to exchange heated words with him again. But then, maybe that’s what Adam was banking on, Henry thought grimly.
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��Did you know Jane was teaching the class?” he asked mildly, trying to give his oldest friend the benefit of the doubt, even though it appeared the guy was hell bent on showing Jane no consideration in the slightest.
Adam just shrugged as they reached the parking lot. “You know Kristy and I are getting married in a few weeks. We’re practicing for the first dance.”
“But you know Jane works here.”
“Briar Creek is a small town.”
Henry pushed back his temper. “All the more reason to try to give her some space.”
“We paid for the class; we didn’t cause problems. What are you trying to say?”
Henry kept his gaze steady, but anger coursed his blood through his chest. He tried to keep his tone mild. Tried to reason. “Jane’s going through a lot right now. She loves her daughter.”
“And I don’t?” Adam shook his head, his lip curling with warning. “You’re out of line.”
He should walk away now, before things got worse, but he couldn’t, not this time. Adam’s jaw pulsed with thinly controlled rage, but Henry couldn’t back down. Not yet. “I’m just suggesting you be a little more considerate of what she’s going through, that’s all.”
Adam gave a low, mirthless chuckle. “Damn, Henry, after everything my family did for you, I expected a little more loyalty.”
The fist at Henry’s side tightened. Now that was just plain low. In all the years he’d known Adam, payback had never come up. The kindness the Browns had bestowed on him was unspoken. Now, his worst fears were confirmed; the sense of being an outsider, a leech, not a real member of the family. Just a charity case.
“Don’t say that,” Henry spat. “This isn’t about you and me. Jane’s my friend, too.”
Adam turned to Kristy and handed her the car keys. “Why don’t you go ahead and get the heat started?”
