Ronan (The Casella Cousins Book 6)

by Kathryn Shay

  “Just me.” As she came closer, he could see sweat on her face and what the leotard revealed of her chest.

  “I was awed. Every movement carried me away with it.”

  “Thank you.” She picked up a towel and wiped her face. “Do you need me for something?”

  “Now there’s a dangerous question.”

  She giggled like a schoolgirl. “About the play.”

  “Oh, yeah. Guess who called me?”

  “Sabrina York’s mother.”

  “How did you know?”

  “Practice with haughty teenage girls. What time is she coming in?”

  “11:30.”

  “Shall I take it alone? I was the one that dealt with her daughter.”

  “No, she called me. I think we both should provide a united front. In my office. Which, by the way, needs something on the walls, more color in the room. It’s pretty bland. Come in after you finish here?”

  “I’m done.”

  They walked back to his office.

  Eliza studied the room. “We can give it some pizzaz with new curtains. Maybe linen, in sage green. Then we can buy flowered arm chairs—green and an accent color I think—for the corner. We should put a coffee table between them.”

  “I like it,” he told her. “How about filling up those two walls?”

  “How much do we want to intimidate people? Especially those like Sabrina.”

  “Some.” He chuckled. “A lot, maybe.”

  “I saw posters of your Rebel movies at the lake.”

  “Right. One’s in the spare room where I was staying.” He’d moved back into his bedroom with her.

  “And I have some from my performance at Lincoln Center, one of Swan Lake.”

  He grinned. “Let’s do it.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Uh-huh. We’ll be good role models.”

  “Or braggarts.”

  He shrugged casually. “Maybe.” He took a few steps toward her and kissed her. Sensuously.

  She fell into it. When the contact ended, she grabbed him by the shirt. “No more of that in the playhouse.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah. After one more.”

  This time he pressed her against the wall, pressed his body into hers, and his lips devoured her. Yeah, one more time was good.

  * * *

  For an hour, Eliza worked out some steps in the room they’d use for dancing tryouts. But at 11:30, Ronan texted her to come back to the office. When she entered she saw a woman seated in front of Ronan’s desk, dressed in a skirt and blouse of pretty mauve, flourished with a multicolored scarf. Her hair was expertly highlighted with demure shades of gold. “Hello, Ms. York.”

  “Ms. Ellington.” Her voice was cultured.

  Eliza and Ronan took seats on either side of her in a semi-circle around the desk. He said, “Ms. York, you can start. Why are you here?”

  She held Eliza’s gaze. “Because of my daughter’s abominable behavior with you, Ms. Ellington. I didn’t bring her up to be so rude. I apologize for her.”

  Eliza relaxed at the supportive message. “You don’t need to apologize to us.”

  “Well, I think I do. Sabrina will do so, also.”

  “So, she wants to come back?”

  “Oh, dear Lord in heaven, yes.”

  “What did she say about the issue of her dress?”

  “I asked her to put on what she wore here. Of course, she didn’t go out of the house like that. She’d covered it with a long top.”

  “I see.”

  “The neckline revealed too much, and even though some girls dress to be sexy at school, the administration doesn’t approve. I don’t even know where she got the top. She never picked out those kinds of clothes on our shopping trips.”

  Ronan put in, “Thank you for taking that stand. I think it’s important.”

  “She asked if she could come in early to say she was wrong. That will be very difficult for her because she’s not used to being called on things. She’s so talented, I’m afraid she’s become arrogant. Her father and I talked to her about that, too. You’re aware she’s scheduled to go to The Ballet Company of New York in September?”

  “Yes, she told me. Is she going to college?”

  “She is. Second semester.”

  “I hope she does go.”

  “We do, too. We’re aware of how these dance troupes scoop up young dancers.”

  “I have a daughter myself interning in a dance troupe this summer.” Her heart turned over in her chest thinking of Taylor in the same situation as Sabrina. She caught Ronan’s expression of sympathy.

  “I hope she makes the right decision, too.” Ms. York stood. “So, that’s all I came to say. Except that if she makes the cast, I’d like to work on costumes. I’ve had experience at that.”

  “We’ll keep you in mind,” Ronan told her.

  “Thank you for listening.”

  Now, Eliza got a nod from Ronan.

  “Please tell Sabrina to come in at 4:30 before practice.”

  Ms. York nodded. “Thank you so much.”

  When they were alone, Ronan let out a breath. “Well, that’s a surprise.”

  “Parents can go either way with something like this, but I’m glad she took our side.”

  “What about the lead? Does Sabrina still have a shot?”

  “Of course. I’m taking the girls at five today. You can audition the others and I’ll join you at six.”

  “Sounds like a plan.”

  “I’m excited about all this.”

  “I am too. It was smart to do a play here.”

  “Thanks, love.”

  After more work on the ballet moves, she and Ronan ordered lunch from Fresh Bakery near the playhouse and ate salads and bread together in the office. Then he went off to do some errands.

  At 4:30, Sabrina came to the door. Eliza opened it. “Come in,” she said pleasantly.

  Sabrina walked inside. She wore black leggings with a long pink top over them, crew-necked with short sleeves. “Hi, Ms. Ellington. Thanks for seeing me.”

  “Of course. Sit over here with me.” She took the same chair her mother had.

  “I’m sorry.” The girl’s face was devoid of makeup and her hair pulled back in a bun. “I shouldn’t have worn the shirt, or talked back to you.”

  “I accept your apology. Why did you?”

  “Wear the shirt?”

  “For starters.”

  “I suppose to irritate people. Maybe impress Joe.”

  “Joe Johnson?”

  “Yeah. I kind of like him.”

  “And was he impressed?”

  “No. He told me I was a jerk.”

  “How about talking back to me?”

  She shook her head and glanced out the window. “I don’t know. Dad says sometimes I’m drinking my own Kool-Aid. Things come out of me that shouldn’t.”

  “Because you’ve already been so successful at such a young age?”

  “I guess.”

  “I do think that happens to actors and dancers sometimes.”

  “Were you?”

  “I honestly don’t remember. I loved ballet so much, I might have done everything expected of me so I could dance professionally.”

  When Sabrina’s face fell, she said, “But I will tell you that in my dance studio, I had many girls who drank their Kool-Aid, so to speak.”

  “I’ll bet you whipped them into shape.”

  “I did.” She checked the clock. “I’m happy we talked and you can come back to tryouts.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Go to the room labeled Barre.”

  Eliza watched the girl leave. Sabrina had said and done exactly the right things. Perhaps her attitude had changed.

  But overnight? Sabrina was the best actor in the whole group. She could very well have pretended to be repentant. Well, they’d soon see.

  Shaking it all off, Eliza joined the girls. “Hi, ladies. Let’s warm up on the barre. Then I’ll teach you a routine,
then ask you to do it on your own.”

  A hand raised. Carina Casella ducked her head. “What if we don’t want a dancing part?”

  “Of course, you can reject a part. No one would ever force you to do something you don’t want to.” She smiled warmly at the girl. “But this is how we discover talent, too. Some people pick up routines faster than others.”

  Carina nodded, but Eliza could tell she was scared.

  “All right, first I’m going to show you some ballet positions. Yes, even if you’ve had lessons, which I purposely didn’t ask. I’ll demonstrate, then you try each.

  “First position: Keep your heels together in straight alignment, and your knees touching with your legs straight. This is called the turnout position, the basic one for ballet.”

  She checked each girl individually. Only one struggled to keep her balance.

  “Second position: Keep your feet turned out straight like first position, but your heels should be at least a foot apart.”

  Maryann and Carina did both. But on position three with feet in first position, one foot in front of the other, the two girls seemed unbalanced. The last position was similarly aligned, so they had trouble with that, too. And for each, Sabrina was a natural.

  Eliza showed them a very simple routine. They practiced the steps again, then again, and finally joined the guys outside.

  At eight, while the kids took seats in the first rows, Ronan pulled her aside. “How’d the girls do?”

  “It’s obvious who’s had lessons. Carina and Maryann did okay, and of course Sabrina knocked it out of the park.”

  “We’ll know more after tomorrow.”

  They walked back to the group.

  “Ms. Ellington and I will discuss your performances. All of you are to come back tomorrow night, no cuts, but we’ll be auditioning you for specific parts then.”

  Ronan saw Gideon enter the auditorium. He motioned for his cousin to come down so Gid sat in a row.

  “That’s it everybody. Good job. See you at five tomorrow.”

  Carina met a boy in the aisle, then noticed her dad. “Hey, Dad. I’m going to walk out with Tim to the front while you talk to Uncle Ronan. I’ll wait for you there.”

  They started away. Gideon got up and met Ronan at the front of the stage. “What was that all about?” he asked.

  “I think it was a cloaked message to give my daughter some time with the boy.”

  “Ah, how is it having a teenage girl who’s dating?”

  “Mind-blowing. Anabelle says I’m getting better at it.” He looked to the back. “We had some rough times but we’re great now, so I can’t blow this.” He turned back around. “Speaking of Anabelle…when I saw her yesterday, she said she and Ali met Eliza and her date at DeLuca’s for lunch.”

  “Eliza? Ellington?”

  “Yeah, of course. Why?”

  “Um, who does she know well enough here to date?” Could it have been Craig?

  “She said he was the author of your play. Mitt or Mitch something.”

  “Mitt Rankin. He’s a little young for her to be dating.” And how could she date someone else after what they shared Sunday night?

  Gideon took a bead on him. “I thought you two were just friends.”

  “We are.”

  “You sure. You’re acting jealous.”

  “Am I?”

  “Dad, Tim’s gone home,” Carina called out from the back. “We can leave now.”

  “I gotta go. Call me if you want to talk.”

  Gideon headed out and Ronan scowled. What was wrong with him? He wasn’t the jealous type. He wouldn’t bring it up. He’d just go into the office and review their notes.

  When he walked through the door, Eliza was on the phone, her back to him. “Please don’t do this to me, Craig. I don’t want you in my life. I’m hanging up now.” When she did, she put her head in her hands.

  That was interesting.

  “Eliza?” She straightened and turned. She was biting her lip. “Hi. Did the kids get off all right?”

  “Yeah.” He watched her. “What was that call about?”

  “What I told you before. Craig’s unhappy. He’s got it in his head he wants to see if we can work things out.”

  “Is that what you want?”

  “No. Of course not. Never. You should know that.” Her frown became a scowl. “What’s wrong?”

  “Well, between Craig and Mitt Rankin, I’m not sure which I’m madder about.”

  “Mad? At me? And what about Mitt?”

  “I guess I’m mad at them. Anabelle told Gideon she saw you with the author of the play at Deluca’s. Why didn’t you tell me about that?”

  “Because it was spur of the moment. I bumped into him on the street and he wanted to grab something to eat.” She ducked her head.

  He stared at her. Assessing the truth.

  “What? You don’t believe me?”

  “I guess I don’t know what you expect of me.”

  “What does that even mean?”

  “Liza, you’re aware of how I feel about getting involved. I don’t trust easily if at all. Except I trusted you.”

  “Now that isn’t fair. I can’t help Craig calling and what I said about Mitt is the truth.” Anger flushed her face. “You know what, Ronan? You can take it or leave it.”

  She stalked from the window to the file cabinet, which she unlocked, withdrew her purse and slammed the drawer back in. She started to the door but he was quick and blocked her way. She got in his face. “Move.”

  Instead he reached over and turned the lock. “No. You’re not going anywhere.”

  She was incensed. “Why?”

  “Because of this.”

  He dragged her to the desk and literally swept everything off just like in the movies. Then he lifted her up onto it. “Tell me if you don’t want this. Really.”

  “I do. But it’s terrible. I’m turned on from fighting with you.”

  “We’ll talk about all this later,” he said, covering her mouth with his.

  Chapter 5

  * * *

  “Have a nice morning?” Ronan asked Eliza when she walked into the office at three the next day wearing cropped red pants and a white T-shirt. He’d expected her earlier. They’d been awkward with each other last night and the behavior spilled over into the early part of the day.

  “Yoga for two hours was heavenly.”

  That wasn’t what he meant. All during his meeting with the lighting guy, Ronan felt bad about what he said to her. She’d seemed to feel the same. Oh, they slept together, but hadn’t made love again. And the episode on the desk apparently hadn’t softened her toward him. Both had rushed out of the house not long after they woke up.

  “Lighting stuff go well?”

  “Yep. He’s very talented.” She locked up her purse and turned to him. “What next?”

  “Do you want to talk?”

  She glanced at her watch. “It’s a little late for that.”

  “I wasn’t the one who came in at three.”

  “No. And for your information, I wasn’t with François.”

  “Who the hell is François?”

  “My yoga teacher.”

  His brow formed a deep vee.

  “You seem to think I’m carrying on with men, so I wanted to assure you that he doesn’t get his box checked.”

  “You’re being a brat.”

  “Yeah, well, you’re being an ass.”

  “We can’t do this here, Eliza.”

  “You’re right. So let’s work.”

  Seething, Ronan pulled out their notes from the previous practice. They discussed the performances in tryouts right up until five when the group arrived. Without much enthusiasm, Ronan stood before them.

  “For the first scene, Joe Johnson, read the part of Linc. Mike Mason, you’ll be Tommy. Tim Case, you’ll be Jeb. Tyler Jones play Jackson Keene. You can use the book, of course.”

  Ronan pointed out the positions the characters should take. Whe
n they were set, Mike asked, “Do we stay here for the whole reading?”

  “Do what comes naturally.”

  Joe began. He had the book open, but Ronan noticed he didn’t use it much.

  SETTING A play within a play. The stage is a set with a stool, bright lights and a backdrop of a street corner.

  (Jackson Keene walks out.)

  The affable drama teacher was gone. In his place was a swaggering, grouchy and all-around dislikeable director.

  JACKSON: Places, everybody. (He claps his hands.) Chop, chop.

  (Characters scurry around the stage.)

  JACKSON: Begin, Linc. Notice, I’ll call you by your stage names. Start.

  LINC: (scowling) What did you say, Drake?”

  TOMMY: (leaning indolently against the wall) She’s got great tits.

  LINC: Don’t talk about Caroline that way.

  TOMMY: (takes a step toward Linc) Yeah, who’s gonna make me stop?

  LINC: Be more respectful.

  TOMMY: (moves in closer to Linc, who automatically backs up) Gettin’ ideas about her?

  LINC: Pull your mind out of the gutter, you jerk.

  TOMMY: (leaping on Linc and they tumble to the ground) Nobody screws with me, asshole. (He raises his arm in a fist.)

  JEB: (rushing on stage) Stop you guys. (tries to pull Tommy off)

  (Scrambling and yelling as the stage darkens.)

  JACKSON: Cut!

  Ronan wrote several things on his pad. He didn’t confer with Eliza yet, who took a seat on the right-hand side of the playhouse to get a different perspective. Ronan believed she didn’t want to be near him.

  Joe Johnson must have memorized the part of Linc last night. He’d even brushed his dark hair off his face, dressed preppie, like Linc would. Smart guy. His performance was superb.

  Tim Case, a slight blonde as Jeb might be, did well when he came on stage to break up the fight.

  And then there was Jackson, who’d also memorized his lines overnight. Again, as in the audition yesterday, he oozed evil. Funny, too, because his appearance was easy-going, nondescript in clothing, and a bit…shy. Not so as Jackson.

  But it was Mike Mason who lit up the stage most. Dressed in all black, his hair was messy, his dark eyes gleaming tension, Tommy stole the scene. Body language and movements matched the character’s demeanor. He seemed to fall into the inherently bad boy. Holy Mackerel. The kid could act.