Page 84 of Perfect Enough
She sighed and sat down on the sofa. “It’s been a crazy, weird day.”
“Want to talk about it, or would you like to go out and do something?”
She tilted her head. “What did you have in mind?”
I shrugged. “We can go play miniature golf, see a movie, or take a walk. We still have some daylight left.”
“The walk sounds lovely.”
Sophia stood, and I followed her lead as I said, “You might want to grab a sweatshirt, though.”
A few minutes later, we walked down toward the pasture leading to the ranch. I waited for Sophia to start talking, since it seemed like she was carrying a heavy weight on her shoulders.
“I had a parent email me and tell me I wasn’t fit to teach dance.”
“What?” I heard myself practically shout. I hadn’t seen Sophia dance in person, but I’d seen a few videos fromperformances, when I’d googled her. “That’s insane. Why in the world would she even say that?”
She shrugged. “I’ve gotten emails like that before, but they’ve never bothered me. This time, I was so bothered that when it came time for class, I put on a little…show…for lack of a better word. I knew the mom would be watching, and I wanted to prove I could dance. Then afterward, I regretted it. But something else happened.”
I stopped walking and gently took her arm, turning her toward me. “What?”
Sophia cleared her throat, let out a breath, and looked out over the pasture. “I decided I wanted to stop teaching dance.”
My mouth fell open. “What did you say?”
Sophia smiled—a genuine smile that lit her eyes. “I want to make a change. I’ve been dancing my whole life, and for the longest time I thought it would be my whole career. Don’t get me wrong…I love it, and I love seeing the little ones finding joy in dance…but I feel a change of season is in order.”
I nodded. “Okay. Do you know what you want to do?”
She laughed. “I have no idea! Oh, and I have other big news to share.”
“There’s more?”
“More indeed.”
“Let’s start heading back before it gets too dark.”
She nodded and we started back toward the house.
“My mother came to talk to me earlier today. She’s selling the studio.Andher house. She wants to travel, and the dance studio was her and my father’s dream together. She’s ready for a change, too.”
“And it won’t bother her to give up something she and your dad created?”
She shook her head and her expression sobered. “That’s not all. She decided to tell me everything in one fell swoop. My fatherwas having an affair, and he felt so guilty about it that instead of coming clean to my mother, he took his own life.”
I stopped in my tracks. “Holy shit, Soph! How many more bombs are you going to drop today? Are you okay?”
Holding her chin up a bit higher, she slowly nodded. “Actually, Iamokay. One of the hardest things I’ve had to deal with is not knowing why my father did what he did. My mother admitted she lied to me about my dad not leaving a note, which did upset me. But she said she didn’t want me to think less of him. She also—while I’m dropping bombs—admitted she’s been up in my business way too much. It was a morning of many, many revelations.”
“I’d say so.” I took her hand in mine. “What’s going to happen next?”
“Well, we worked on an email and letter to send to all of our clients, to inform them we’ll be selling the dance studio as soon as possible. Mom has an appointment tomorrow to meet with a realtor, to discuss listing both the house and the studio.”
“And how do you feel about all of this, Soph? Didn’t you grow up in that house?”
“I did.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. “I’m not sure what I would do if my parents told me they were selling the home I grew up in.”