by Ashley Blake
“You know what, Alana, you’re right! Did you hear that Zane? I had every right to be suspicious!”
He looked back and forth between the two of us and shook his head. “Oh no, I think I have made a huge mistake by introducing you two!”
We all cracked up laughing and I felt really good about things. I really liked Alana, she was super cool and very easy to talk to. I felt like I had made a new friend.
“So, Alana, you must have recently moved to New York because I remember you weren’t living here three years ago.”
“Yeah, that’s right, my husband is from here so after we got married this is where I landed, and I absolutely love it. I got my realtor’s license right after I moved here and business has been really good. It’s a really huge bonus that my brother is also here, and he is becoming one of my best clients!”
I smiled at her. “That’s awesome.” I looked over at Zane and lightly touched his arm. “You said you had something to tell me today?”
His face completely lit up. “Oh, right! Logan and I got that space that Alana showed us last week, we’re going to be opening our third bar next year.”
“Zane, that is fantastic! I am so happy for you!”
Alana stood up and swung her purse over her shoulder.
“Well guys, I have to get going, I have an listing appointment in Midtown.”
I looked at her and I was completely confused.
“You’re not going to stay for lunch?”
“No, I grabbed something earlier, I just wanted to come here to meet you and help clear things up. It was really nice meeting you, Abby. I’m sure I’ll see you again soon.”
She gave Zane a hug and told him she’d talk to him soon.
Once she was gone Zane and I had a chance to really talk.
I reached out and gently held his hand as my eyes searched his.
“I am sorry that I didn’t believe you and that I didn’t give you a chance to explain. I should have trusted you, Zane. I promise you that going forward I will trust you. You have never given me a reason to doubt you and I admit that I let my insecurity get in the way, and that was not fair to you. I'm just grateful that you are willing to give me another chance. I love you.”
He leaned over and gently kissed me on the lips and smiled at me.
“Apology accepted. I love you too.”
Those words were music to my ears and I could not stop smiling at him. It was a perfect day. After my lunch with Zane, the rest of the weekend seems to drag on and I knew that it was because I was dying to find out the results that Monday.
When Monday finally arrived I think my eyes flew open at about 5:30 AM and I could not get back to sleep. Results were going to be posted at 9:00 AM, so I took a long shower and decided to curl my hair, which always took forever. I was ready by 7:30 so I swallowed what I could of my breakfast, which was about three bites of organic oatmeal, and I watched a morning news show for about an hour. Claire called me at 8:00 and said she’d meet me in the lobby of the studio and to wait for her before I looked at the results. At 8:30 my car was waiting for me downstairs so I headed over to the studio, my heart pounding as we got closer. My knees were reduced to jelly as I got out of the car and, thankfully, my sister’s smiling face met me right at the front door.
“Are you ready?”
I took a few deep breaths, trying to calm down.
“I think so.”
She grabbed my hand and smiled at me. “Here we go.”
My heart felt like it was trying to bang it’s way out of my chest with each step that I took, as the board loomed closer. A group of dancers were huddled around the postings and for a few seconds Claire and I could not see anything, and then the crowd slowly cleared away when they saw us. We walked up to the board and looked at the piece of paper that had the name of each character posted for everyone to see. My mouth was completely dry and my palms were sweaty. I tried to let go of Claire’s hand so that she didn’t have to feel my sweaty palm but she just held on even tighter.
My eyes slowly crawled to the top of the page where I saw Prince Siegfried listed first and Odette/Odile was next, followed by a few other characters. My eyes scanned the page from left to right and I nearly fainted when my eyes landed on the name of the person who would be playing both roles. There in black and white, clear as day it said:
Odette/Odile – Main - Abigail Hunter
Understudy - Claire Hunter
I was in complete shock. For the first time in my career I was going to be the lead in a major production. Claire screamed at the top of her lungs and threw her arms around me.
“I knew you could do it!”
Tears of happiness spilled down over my cheeks as I smiled and hugged her, and a bunch of people came over and congratulated me giving me hugs. It was a moment I would never forget.
I couldn’t wait to call Zane to give him the good news.
He answered right away, I could tell that he was waiting for my call and his voice was filled with excitement.
“Well?”
“I got it!”
His voice boomed through the phone. “Yeah! I knew it! I am so proud of you Abby! I wish I were there so I could give you a big hug and a kiss! Congratulations, baby.”
Even though he couldn’t see me, I could not stop grinning.
“Thank you.”
Just then an idea popped into my head and it was something I wanted to take care of right away.
“Hey Zane, are you free for dinner Wednesday night?”
“I should be asking you that, I want to take you out to celebrate.”
“You can still do that, but there is something that I want to do and I kind of need to do it now.”
“Okay, sure, Wednesday sounds great. What time should I pick you up?”
“How’s 6:30?”
“Sounds good. What time can I see you tonight?” The unmistakable lust in voice let me know it was going to be a very good night.
“I should be home by 5:30.”
“Perfect, I will see you then.”
The next call I made was to my parents but I wanted to wait to share the good news, and I had already told Claire to let me tell them.
“Hi mom, Zane and I are coming for dinner on Wednesday night at 7:00, I hope that’s okay. Can you please invite Nana Bunny?” I needed to have an ally and I wanted her to see us together.
“Honey, I don’t know if that is such a good idea, you know how your father feels about him.”
“This is important mom, can you please talk to daddy and make it happen?”
An exasperated sigh escaped her lips. “Alright, fine, I’m not even going to ask what this is all about, I’ll just wait to see what it is when you get here.”
My mom was serious when she said she wasn’t going to ask, she knew not to pry, and I’m sure she thought I was going to tell them we were engaged and that would be the last thing either of my parents wanted to hear. Nana Bunny would probably be thrilled. They needed to give Zane a chance and, hopefully with my good news about the ballet and Zane’s new career, they would be open. I was going to have to explain to them that he never did anything wrong, and it was me and my insecurity that ruined things between us.
That night when I opened the door, Zane picked me up in his arms and swung me around before gently setting me back down on my feet. His eyes were filled with love as he gently held my face in his hands and kissed me.
“I’m so happy for you.”
“Thank you. I probably sound like a broken record but your support really does mean a lot to me, Zane. Thank you for believing in me.”
He winked at me and I blushed like a teenager. “Anytime.”
Chapter 13
Zane was a nervous wreck as we walked up to my parent’s door. I kept reassuring him in the car ride over that everything would be okay and he held my hand tight as I opened the door. Their butler greeted us first and then my mom came over and gave me a big hug and a kiss.
“It’s good to see you,
honey.”
She gave Zane a cool stare but was able to manage to get out a very polite greeting.
“Hello Zane, it is nice to see you again.” She smiled at him and her smile did not reach her eyes, but hopefully by the end of the night that would all change.
“Thank you Mrs. Hunter, it’s nice to see you too.”
My dad came over to us and gave me a hug and a kiss.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
He looked at Zane and barely managed a hello as he set his jaw and fire flashed across his eyes.
“Zane.”
Zane cleared his throat. “Hello, Mr. Hunter.”
Thankfully, Nana Bunny came over to us at the perfect time giving us a warm smile.
“Hello darling, it’s good to see you. That goes for you too, Zane.”
He smiled at her. “Hello, Mrs…”
She shook her finger at him in a very playful way. “No, no…what did I tell you?”
Zane smiled at her. “I’m sorry. Bunny, hello Bunny.”
Nana Bunny only allowed people she really like to call her that, so it made me happy to know Zane was on her short list.
I smiled at her and gave her a big hug. “Hi Nana Bunny.” I whispered in her ear so that no one could hear me. “I’m so glad you’re here.”
She winked at me and patted my hand. “I think dinner is ready, shall we go sit down?”
We made small talk at the dinner table and you could have cut the tension in the air with a knife. My parents clearly did not want Zane there. When dessert was served I decided it was time to clear the air.
“So I asked for this dinner tonight because I need to clear something up and I also have some really big news.”
Anger consumed my father’s face and he slammed his fork down on the table. “If you are going to tell us that you are…!”
“Joshua Hunter!” Bunny’s voice was loud and stern. “Allow your daughter to finish!”
My dad instantly backed down and the only two people that could make him do that were my mother and my grandmother. Thank goodness for Nana Bunny.
“Sorry mother. Abigail, please continue.”
“I want you all to know that Zane never did anything wrong. I was extremely insecure about his lifestyle when he was in the band and it was very hard for me to see so many female fans around him all the time. I assumed that Zane was doing something that he was not and because of my assumption, I ruined everything between us. I want you guys to get to know the Zane that I brought home to you the first time because he is a really great guy. I told you both that I thought he cheated on me and I was completely wrong about that. The girl I saw him with was his sister and I met her and she is a very sweet person. We cleared everything up, I apologized to her and to him and I want you to give him another chance because he deserves it. I love him, I want to be with him and he’s going to be around so I would really like it if my parents loved him too.”
I winked at my grandmother. “Nana Bunny, I know I don’t have to worry about you.”
“Also, Zane is not in the band anymore. Dad, you might not believe it, but the talk that you had with him when you first met him really sunk in and he decided to focus on building a business.” I looked over and Zane. “Tell them Zane.”
He cleared his throat and looked at my parents and Nana Bunny. "Abby is right. I decided to go into business with my friend and we opened a bar/restaurant that is doing really well, we just opened a second bar and we recently signed a contract on the space for a third bar which we plan to open next year. Mr. Hunter I listened to everything you told me and, you were right. My businesses are thriving and I really have you to think for that.”
The look on my father’s face was priceless. He literally puffed his chest out with pride and I actually saw a hint of a smile. He crossed his arms and studied Zane.
“I want to be clear about something, Zane, all I care about is that you are able to make a good, stable living. If the band had worked out, that would have been fine too, as long as it was enough steady, reliable money that allowed you to support a family one day. I am very happy that I could help and I’m glad to hear that your business is doing well. Working for yourself is hard but is definitely worth it. I wish you nothing but continued success.”
“Thank you, sir. I’d like to say one other thing. Abby means the world to me and I would never intentionally hurt her. I want you all to know that. I love her very much.”
My mother put her hand on my father’s arm and smiled at Zane.
“That makes us very happy to hear that. You do understand that we are very protective of our children so when one of them is hurting, that hurts us. We haven’t been very accepting of you lately because of what we saw her going through. I’m happy to hear that you two have worked things out and we are looking forward to starting a new relationship with you, Zane.”
My dad gave him a quick nod. “Sarah’s right, Zane. Let’s agree to start new.”
“That sounds great to me, thank you for the second chance.”
Bunny smiled at all of us. "Well this just warms my heart, I'm so happy that you could all come to some sort of resolution. Now, Abby dear, you said you had some news for us.”
I smiled at everyone at the table. “Yes, I do.”
My father looked terrified and I almost laughed because I was sure he was thinking the worst, like I was pregnant or something.
My mother was literally on the edge of her seat. “We’re dying to hear what it is.”
“I got the lead in Swan Lake!”
All three of them jumped up, Nana Bunny not quite as fast as my parents, and came over to hug me.
“Oh, Abby! That is just wonderful!” My mom started to well up as she wrapped her arms around me. “I knew you had it in you, sweetheart, congratulations.” She was choked up and her words were reduced to a whisper.
My dad gave me a big hug and kissed me on the cheek. “I knew you could do it, I knew my girl was a star. We can’t wait to see you perform.”
Nana Bunny hugged me tight and I felt her tremble a bit. “Congratulations darling, I am so proud of you. You worked hard and you made it happen. I knew your day would come, I just knew it.”
When I saw the tears in my Nana Bunny’s eyes, I lost it. She was the sweetest person I knew, and to see her cry, even if they were happy tears, was my undoing.
“Don’t cry Nana Bunny, please.”
She patted my arm and smiled at me.
“They’re happy tears, dear. I know how badly you wanted this, so I’m happy to see that you are finally getting what you want.”
I smiled at her as I put my arm around her. “Thank you.”
“By the way, everyone, Claire is my understudy and I have never seen someone happier to be an understudy than she is. She really has been a huge help to me.”
My mother looked relieved.
“I am so happy you girls worked everything out. Life is too short to stop speaking to each other, you have to treat every moment as precious.”
I gave her a big hug.
“I agree, mom.”
She smiled at me. “This deserves a toast! I’ll ask the chef to open a nice bottle of champagne!”
A few minutes later we all raised our glasses as my father gave the toast.
“To our wonderfully talented and beautiful daughter, we wish you a wonderful run, many more starring leads,” he looked at Zane, “and lots of love and happiness!”
We all clinked our glasses. “Here, here!”
As I looked around at everyone, it felt really good to be surrounded by people who loved me. Life was good.
Chapter 14 – Epilogue – TWO MONTHS LATER
It was opening night, Claire ran over to me and gave me a huge hug and then held my hands in hers.
“Are you ready?”
I smiled at her. “I am more ready than I have ever been.”
“That’s what I want to hear. Now go show them what I’ve known all along, go show them you’re a star!”
I danced out onto the stage and did the thing I was born to do. It took me a really long time to get to that place, but I had finally made it, and it felt really good. A couple of hours later, as I took a bow, the crowd was on their feet yelling ‘Bravo!’ and it was an amazing feeling to see that they were clapping for me. For me! The energy in the room was palpable and it was a feeling that I would never forget. I glanced at my sister who was standing offstage and tears were streaming down her face. Once the curtain fell she ran over to me and held on tight, not wanting to let go.
