Audrey
I shook my head. “No,” I said. “I love Paris. I don’t want to leave any time soon.” I paused, thinking back over my time there. “The Global Traveling Dance Academy of Performing Arts is so amazing, Annabelle. They’ve helped me so much with my dancing, and—what?”
Annabelle was cracking up, and I tried to think about what I’d said. “The Global Academy of Traveling Pants, or whatever it is,” she said, giggling. “Do they make you say that every time you talk about them?”
I bristled, unable to help it. “The Global Traveling Dance Academy of Performing Arts,” I corrected. She giggled some more. “It’s one of the most prestigious dance academies in the world.”
“Sure,” Annabelle said. “Well, we watched that DVD performance that you sent Mom. Hate to say it, but it all just looks like ballet to me. I mean, really good ballet. But just ballet.”
I shrugged, looking down at my hands. I didn’t know what to say to that. I knew that no one here in Aberdeen would ever understand anything about my life as a dancer. They would never understand just how much I had sacrificed or why I had made those sacrifices at all.
On the flip side, I was never going to be able to really understand someone like Annabelle. She might be my sister, and once I had thought that she and I were more like twins than anything else, despite the three-year age gap between us. But to stay here in North Carolina for her entire life, living in the same room that we grew up in? Nope, I was never going to understand that.
I wanted to see the world, but more than that, I wanted to move the world. You couldn’t do either of those things here in Aberdeen.
I was saved from having to think up a response by the front door banging open. “I’m home!” Mom called, and suddenly, it was like I was a teenager again. I shook my head. It was going to be weird being back here, weirder than I had ever thought it could be.
Annabelle jumped up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out into the other room. “Look who’s here!” she announced when we were in the hall, and Mom quickly dropped her bags on the table by the door so that she could give me a big hug.
“You’re here!” she cried. “I mean, I hoped that you would be. We brought Chinese. I know that was always your favorite. Come on, let’s go into the kitchen. Oh, but before you do, this is Clayton. Clayton, this is my daughter, Audrey.”
She sounded so damned proud of me, even though I knew that she frequently wished that I had been a little less successful. That I, like Annabelle, had stayed right here at home with her. She had even gone so far as to once tell me that she regretted putting me into those dance lessons when I was a kid because it had taken me away from her. But then she’d followed that up with a laugh. She was happy to see how happy I was up on stage, she promised me. She just missed me.
Like Annabelle and everyone else in the town, she was yet another person who would never understand.
Anyway, right now, I was too busy sizing up the man holding out a hand to me to be thinking about that. He was tall and broad-shouldered. A former football player, probably. Hometown hero. The kind of guy who was still talking about his glory days at the local bar every weekend.
I shook his hand. “Nice to meet you,” I said, giving him a charming smile. Treat this like research, I reminded myself. That was what the director had told me to do.
The sooner I proved that I had learned something from this little break, the sooner I could go back to the academy.
We went into the kitchen. I stared down at the plate that Mom served for me. On the one hand, I was touched that she remembered my love for Chinese food. My former love. The truth was, I hadn’t eaten Chinese food for years now. My diet as a professional dancer was very strict. I knew that my dietician would have a fit if I told her about this.
On the other hand, it smelled delicious, and Chinese food wasn’t a very frequent occurrence in the Buchanan household. Eating out cost way more than things like boring meatloaf leftovers, and Mom budgeted carefully.
So rather than make a big deal about it, I decided that I’d just eat a little bit. I’d make sure to mention my diet to Mom before the next meal and suggest that I be in charge of my own meals for the duration of my stay. Mom would understand that, I was sure.
I took a few bites, trying to diplomatically answer the questions that Mom and Clayton asked about my return. But after just a little while, I set my fork down. “May I be excused?” I asked, faking a yawn. “It was a long flight, and I’m pretty tired.”
Mom looked taken aback, but then, she smiled. “Of course!” she said. “I’m sure Annabelle already told you about the bed situation.”
“I’ll camp out on the floor, and she can take my bed for now,” Annabelle told Mom. “We already talked about it.”
I nodded, even though I still felt bad about taking my sister’s bed, but Mom nodded as well. “We’ll see you tomorrow morning when you’re feeling better,” she said.
“Sure,” I said, getting up and escaping to my childhood room. I shut the door carefully behind me, trying not to feel overwhelmed by it all. I laid down on the bed carefully, not sure that I’d be able to sleep but not knowing what else to do with myself.
For a long time, I stared up at the ceiling, listening to the three of them chattering away out in the kitchen. There was plenty of laughter, and I couldn’t help but feel the distance between me and my family, even more than I could when I was all the way in Paris.
I swallowed hard and wrapped my arms around one of Annabelle’s pillows for comfort, willing myself not to start crying. I couldn’t help thinking about Paris and how much more I wanted to be there. If only I hadn’t rolled my ankle. If only the director had cut me a little slack.
I didn’t want to be here, but I didn’t know what else to do.
JesseI was expecting Dan to show up on Saturday morning, which was part of why I hadn’t wanted to draw things out with Joe the night before. Dan owned a restoration company in town, and he always came to me for lumber, tools, and other odds and ends for his crew. He was a big money-maker for the store, one of our best companies. I didn’t trust anyone else to handle business with him.That was partly because Dan was one of the most demanding customers that we had as well. I watched him run his hand down a piece of lumber. He looked up at me with knitted eyebrows. “This the best oak that you’ve got?” he asked. “We’re refinishing countertops and trim in some of those old cabins out by the lake, and the woman who has us doing it wants everything to last into the next century, not just the next decade. Look at all the knots in this piece!”I peered at the sample and then the piece of paper attached to the pile. Then, I nodded, jabbing my finger at it. “Yep, this is the stuff for the trim.
JesseJoe followed me into the back. “Maybe you should have hired the kid on probation,” he said.He didn’t say it loudly enough for Chance to overhear him, but I still gave him a look. “Everyone deserves a chance,” I said.Joe snorted. “Chance deserves a chance,” he said. “That’s really funny, Jesse.”I rolled my eyes. “Come on, get to work.” “Aye aye, boss,” Joe said, saluting me, his eyes twinkling.“Mixed metaphors,” I muttered under my breath, but I couldn’t help grinning as well.We hadn’t done much when Chance came running back to find me. “There’s not enough cash for me to give change,” he said, sounding panicked.I frowned. I had counted the drawer this morning, and unless someone was trying to pay with a really huge bill, there shouldn’t be any problem. Most people paid by card, so I doubted the drawer was already empty. We hadn’t had that many customers in there that morning, even.Joe gave me a look like “can you believe this fucking kid”.“I’ll be right back,” I told him
AudreyWhen I got up on Sunday morning, I could smell breakfast cooking in the kitchen. Bacon, pancakes, orange juice, and who knew what else. Mom always liked to go big on Sunday morning breakfasts, and I was sure going to get big if I started eating like I used to. I’d never get back to dancing again. I really needed to talk to her about that.I was surprised when I wandered into the kitchen, though. Mom beamed at me when she saw me, gesturing toward a plate. “I remembered when we were in Paris that you always ate those egg white omelets and fruit for breakfast,” she said.I knew the omelet had probably been cooked in butter, but I was touched again by the effort that she was making, even though I had just shown up here out of the blue. “Thanks, Mom,” I said, sliding into my seat at the table across from where Annabelle was already seated.“How are you feeling this morning?” Mom asked. “Better?”I nodded, and in fact, I somehow was. I was getting used to the idea of being here, at l
Audrey“That sounds like fun,” Mom said. “I bet you really would love it, Audrey. Maybe you’d run into some of your old friends. You could probably show them a move or two.” She winked at me, and I had to fight not to roll my eyes.Show them a move or two? Did she think I was going to bust out a few of my ballet moves right there in the middle of some small-town bar? It just showed how much she really thought of me and my career.“I’m not in contact with any of my old friends,” I said, hoping that would be the end of the matter. The last thing I wanted to do was go to a bar by myself. I didn’t want to be that desperate stranger standing off to the side, trying to attach myself to a group.I felt another pang of homesickness for my life in Paris. I hadn’t gone out alone in all the time that I’d been there. The other dancers at the Global Traveling Dance Academy of Performing Arts, the ones who had been there for a while, had immediately taken me under their wings when I had arrived, sh
JesseI mounted the sign back where it was meant to go and climbed back down, to applause from Tristan’s daughter. “You fixed it!” she said excitedly as she peered up at it.I grinned in spite of myself. “Wasn’t too difficult,” I told her, but I accepted the high five that she gave me anyway. I straightened back up and turned to Tristan. “That wind last night was pretty crazy, huh?”“Yeah, came up out of nowhere, too,” Tristan said, looking worried. “I’m afraid what that means for storms this year.” Then, his worry cleared as he clapped me on the shoulder. “At least I’m lucky enough to work right next door to the town handyman. You want to come inside for a piece of pie?”“God, that sounds great,” I said. I’d been going since dawn that morning. Not only did I have the hardware store to open, but I’d gotten calls from half a dozen people in town who all wanted to know if there was any way that I could help them with storm damage that they had suffered overnight.I’d left Tristan’s dine
AudreyI dug through my bag, trying to find some sort of outfit that would be suitable for a bar in Aberdeen. Annabelle and I had snuck out to go to shows in town when we were teenagers, with more or less success, depending on the night. What the hell had we worn back then? Jeans? I didn’t think that I had worn jeans in years now. Surely not in all the time that I’d lived in Paris.When we went out there, I was usually in a dress or slacks and a button-up blouse. But both of those things seemed too formal for wearing around Aberdeen. I didn’t really care about what everyone here thought of me, but I wanted to be comfortable and not look like a snooty rich girl out of her element. If this really was about research, that wasn’t going to help me one bit.“God, I wish I were as skinny as you,” Annabelle said as she came back into the bedroom after her shower with just a towel wrapped around her.I snorted. “You look amazing, and you know it,” I chided. “But if you want to give up on all t
Audrey“I’m in flat shoes,” I reminded her. Her shoes. She shouldn’t need reminding.Annabelle shrugged. “Come on, get in,” she said, walking over to the van.I stared at the door that she held open for me. I wanted to argue, but the words wouldn’t come. And anyway, I could tell that this was the kind of battle that I just wouldn’t win.I slipped inside. When Clayton put it in drive, the van lurched, and I winced. It made a terrible sound as it drove through town, and I felt more and more embarrassed. Finally, we came to a sputtering stop outside the bar. People were definitely staring as Annabelle and I got out.I cringed, but I was surprised to see that Annabelle didn’t seem to care about the attention. Instead, she smiled and chatted to a few people she knew, talking about how nice the evening was and how good it was to be done with winter finally.We headed inside. Gabby’s was nicer than Finnegan’s, but it was still definitely a dive bar by anyone’s reckoning. You would never find
JesseI glanced around as I walked into Gabby’s with Joe. I still couldn’t believe that I had let him talk me into coming out with him. The Long Blue or not, was it really worth it? Sure, this place wasn’t too terrible, all things considered. A bit loud. And probably only going to get louder as the night went on. I recognized nearly everyone in there. It was a pretty good crowd, though, especially for a Sunday night. Not like anyone had anything else to do on a Sunday night in Aberdeen.But I couldn’t help remembering what Joe had said about getting me to dance with someone pretty. I was so not interested in that tonight.We grabbed drinks first and chatted for a minute with Annabelle Buchanan. God, when had she gotten old enough to serve drinks behind the bar? I’d known her back when she was a kid, but she’d been so much younger than me that I’d known her sister better. But Audrey disappeared when she went off to further her ballet career, and I doubted we’d ever see her around town