Page 118 of Say It Again
“Yeah?” He sighed. “Well, it is home.”
She shrugged a shoulder. “Join me?”
Dancing. Putting heart into motion. Nothing compared. Nothing nourished him or moved him or kept his Jell-O mold of a nervous system quelled. The old hardwoods beneath his feet didn’t mind if he showed up full of regret, unsure of himself, and dressed in another guy’s clothes from the night before. Just how it didn’t care if he showed up battered and heartbroken, yet somehow alive on the other side. It only cared that he showed up.
Their movements weren’t coordinated or matching, but they flowed. No music. Just harmony. She smiled and caught his gaze and they both bowed in an homage to the old hardwoods. In an homage to the principles themselves. A goodbye to a special studio that had held space for them over so many remarkable days. So many dances.
He gazed around the walls. “Are you going to miss this place?”
“With every bone of my body.”
“Same.” He nodded, his eyes watering a touch. “I’m so sorr—” He cleared his throat when it cracked. “Sorry I couldn’t make it work.”
“No.” She held her hand to his cheek, ever the gentlest of touches. “No apologies. Another door will open. Another page will turn. Dancing is your true love, and the thing about true love? It evolves, but it never dies. It’ll find a way to live through you.”
He pressed his palm over hers, grinning as he let his eyes soften shut for the briefest of moments. “How so very dazzling.”
Then she said, “There’s something different about you.”
He blinked his eyes open to find her brows pinched in. “There is? Like what?”
“I don’t know.” Her gaze swept over his face. “But it’s beautiful. Like a young man who trusts himself.”
She had no idea how deeply it hit, and it took everything he had to simply clasp his hands in gratitude instead of pulling her into him and demanding she stay. She nodded at the walls as she floated toward the front door. “I’ll give you a few minutes alone with it. Take care of yourself, Daniel.”
Take care of himself.
He smoothed his hand over the barre and drank it in. Dance studios smelled like sequence. And sequence smelled like thrill. Like bright lights and the high of the performance. He arced an arm toward the ceiling and pulled his gentle grip over the barre until it ran out.
His phone rang again with the same number from earlier as he gingerly sat on a stool behind the counter. He tilted his head down at it for a minute.
“Hello?” His voice sounded bizarre, cutting through the chilly darkness.
“Hi, I’m looking for a Mr. Daniel Greene.”
He wet his lips. “Speaking.”
“Hi, Mr. Greene, this is Todd with Capital Equity. I’m contacting you about your recent loan application. Is this a good time?”
Even though he’d likely crumble at more bad news, he said, “As good as any.”
“Great. Sorry it’s so late, but I wanted to catch you before the weekend.”
So he could ruin it. Everyone wanted to ruin his weekend.
“Congratulations, sir. Your application has been approved. Is there a good time for you to drop by next week and fill out some paperwork?”
Daniel tried to stand from the stool in a hurry, and like a baby bird flying for the first time, plummeted straight to the ground.
WHEN THE elevator dinged open, Aaron stumbled into a run and sped out the front door of his apartment building. He’d called Olivia twice in the past ten minutes and he’d called Daniel countless times. There weren’t that many places he could be. He could be at Olivia’s or the studio. He could be at his mom’s. He was probably at his mom’s, in which case, he’d need his car.
Aaron hung a hard left at the street corner and sprinted toward the parking garage, when a ring from his phone skidded him to a halt.
The glimmer of hope that sparkled was way too zealous, because of course it wasn’t Daniel. But it was the next best thing. He answered in a tizzy, out of breath, “Olivia.”
“Hi,” she said over wildly loud background music. “Is there a reason why y’all are blowin’ my damn phone up?”
“Do you know where Daniel is?”