Page 112 of Just Like Home

And look at that—they got it. They’d listened.

By the time they struck their final poses, Charlotte nearly burst with pride in these boys. They were going to be amazing. The audience would eat them up. And more importantly, Jules would be so proud.

The music ended and they held the moment for a beat. Then, after a pause, Cole started applauding, and the boys let out a cheer. High-fives wound their way around the group, and she dared a glance at their coach, to find him smiling. She really wished he’d do that more often.

“Wow,” he said. “You guys killed it.”

“We have a good teacher,” Hotchke said. He draped an arm around Charlotte’s shoulder and Charlotte slunk out from under it.

“You need a shower, Hotch,” she said, eliciting laughs from the others.

“I can take a hint, Miss Page,” he said.

“It wasn’t exactly a hint,” Asher said. “She came right out and told you you stink.”

“All right,” Charlotte said. “That was pretty good.”

“Pretty good?” Dunbar’s tone was incredulous. “Miss Page, we killed it.”

“You did pretty good,” she repeated. “But there’s always room for improvement. Some of your moves were sloppy and, Greg, you were completely lost in section three.”

“You saw that, huh?” Greg asked.

“I saw everything,” she said. “That’s my job. Remember, if you’re on the stage, someone in the audience is always watching you. So, you can’t slack off.”

A quiet murmur worked its way through the room. “Promise me you’ll practice this before our next rehearsal?”

“We’re getting together tonight,” Asher said. “In the parking lot of the high school.”

“Okay, but don’t let anyone else watch,” Charlotte said. “We want it to be a surprise. You’re dismissed. Good work today.”

They congratulated themselves as they gathered their things and filtered out, saying goodbye to her and to Cole as they did.

Once the room had emptied, she found herself alone with Cole, and her nerves let her know exactly how they felt about that.

“Wow,” he said. “How’d you do that?”

She picked up her water bottle. “Do what?”

“Get them to work together like that? That’s the most cohesive I’ve ever seen them.”

She shrugged. “I try to make it fun.”

He held her gaze. “Fun.”

She nodded. “It’s taken me a long time to realize it, but fun is a great motivator.”

“Obviously.” He studied her for a beat. “Do you have fun when you dance?”

She shook her head. “I don’t want it to feel like that for these boys. I want it to feel like it did for your sister. She always had the time of her life, every time she took the stage.”

He half-smiled, but it was enough for her to spot a dimple in his left cheek. She hadn’t noticed that before. It was nice.

She motioned for Cole to take a place on the floor. “We’re going to pick up where we left off.” Where they’d left off had been nowhere because once they learned Amelia wasn’t coming to their last rehearsal, Charlotte had called it on account of her jittering nerves.

Would they betray her again today?

He slipped his hand around her waist.

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