Page 54 of Fake Out Hearts

“That tracks. You’ve been at this for a long time. But I noticed there was quite a gap in your resume where you weren’t dancing for a while,” Caroline says, and my heart skips a beat. I figured she’d ask about that at some point, but I’ve still been dreading the question. “Did that have something to do with your move to the States?” she asks, and I breathe a sigh of relief because that wasn’t at all where I was expecting her to go with it.

“Yeah, exactly. I took a bit of a detour where I worked on a TV show for a while, but that didn’t pan out, so I’m back to my first true love.”

“Ah, the classic Hollywood dream, huh?” Caroline asks with a warm smile, and we laugh.

“It’s a hard trap to resist.”

“Hey, I get it. We’ve all got big dreams. But honestly, dancer to dancer, I’m glad to hear you’re back in this world. I can already tell that’s where your heart really is.”

“It’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone say that, so thanks.”

“My pleasure. So like I said, we’re expanding pretty quickly here. We already have some educational programming going on, but honestly, I don’t really know what I’m doing with it. I’m hoping that’s where you might come in.”

“What are the age ranges you’re teaching now?”

“Mostly younger, ages ten and under.”

“I was hoping you’d say that. I love working with kids. Something about their excitement and enthusiasm makes me fall in love with dancing all over again.”

“I love that. You’d probably be teaching several classes a week, is that something you have the bandwidth for?”

“Definitely. My calendar is wide open right now, so that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Caroline smiles and nods. “Awesome. Honestly, that’s all the questions I had for you. Do you have anything you want to ask me?”

“Well, I do have one thing,” I start, watching her face. She raises her eyebrows slightly, showing she’s open. “Assuming it goes that far, my residency status won’t be a problem, will it?”

“We’ll figure it out. You were working in the States before, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Maybe just some extra paperwork, but nothing to worry about.”

“Great. Well, thank you so much for your time, Caroline,” I say and shake her hand again.

“Of course. We’ll definitely be in touch,” she says and walks me back out to the lobby. “Have a good day.”

“Same to you,” I say and leave the building with a smile and hope that nothing can take away. Teaching dance is something I’ve always wanted to do, but I put it off for so long. And all because Shawn never supported me in it. He didn’t like me doing anything at all that took my focus off him, and he never understood why I wanted to teach dance rather than be a dancer.

As far as Shawn was concerned, if I wasn’t doing the dancing myself, performing and getting all the awards and accolades—and making him look good by extension—then it was pointless. But I’ve realized what was actually pointless was trying to make him happy.

My phone buzzes in my pocket again, so I pull it out and find a text from Shawn. I laugh because it’s like my thoughts summoned him or something. I haven’t heard a peep from him since the night we broke up, which is fine by me, but I knew that would have to end eventually.

SHAWN: Is it true? Did you really marry Theo fucking Camden?

I hesitate with my thumbs hovering over the keyboard. They’re shaking, and I hate how much power he still has over me, even when he’s hundreds of miles away and can’t do anything to me anymore. I’m tired of this, of him, and I don’t have to put up with any of it.

ME: Yes. But that’s none of your business. Because I’m none of your business anymore.

I’m tempted to block him, but something in me tells me not to, so I mute his notifications instead and shove my phone back in my pocket. So much for the smile and hope I thought nothing could take away from me. No one can ruin my mood better than Shawn Kaplan, even when he’s removed from my life.

Frustrated, I head back to Theo’s condo in a hurry. Maybe a good workout will help me get my head back on straight. I just had a great interview, and I’m ninety percent sure I’m going to get hired. I have to stay focused on everything that’s going right for me, not the little things that are going wrong.

But my phone buzzes again. I’m all but convinced it’s Shawn using one of his crew’s phones to harass me, so I ignore it, knowing that there will probably be a flood of texts and I don’t want to read any of them. But they don’t come. So by the time I’ve covered a few more blocks, I pull out my phone while holding my breath, but it isn’t Shawn at all. It’s Theo.

THEO: How’d the interview go?

I tap to reply right away.

ME: It was amazing! The studio head was really impressed with my background.

THEO: Congrats! I’m sure you’ll get it. They’d be crazy not to hire someone like you with your skills and training.

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