Page 165 of Lovers' Dance: Vol. 2

The stiffening of my posture was instinctive. I also leaned back further. No telling what he would do and I wasn’t sure if I would punch him if he tried anything.

“I miss talking to ye, I miss our friendship,” he clarified before staring down at his shiny shoes.

My eyes travelled his form. The dejected set of his dinner jacket clad shoulders spoke volumes as he twisted his head sideways to peer my way. But it was the abject remorse on his face that got to me. Damn it. Why was I always so willing to forgive? Did I have a defective gene that made me so compassionate? Let’s call a spade a spade, I was a sap. Before I could answer, someone called my name. We both looked over to the harassed looking man.

“Ah, that’s me,” I muttered to Dougie as I grabbed my bag and stood up. What the hell was I going to do with these roses now?

Dougie stood too. “Can I,” He ducked his head then that crooked smile made an appearance again. “Do ye want me to come with ye?”

“Why not?” I said, handing over the bouquet. “You can hold these and apologize some more.”

“Aye.” Dougie beamed at me with his arm held out in a gentlemanly fashion.

I snorted under my breath and gingerly walked past him towards the doctor.

Inside the examination room the doctor got down to business, he observed the ballet shoes on my feet and quickly glossed over the assessment done by the triage nurse. Dougie sat quietly while looking around the room.

“So, Madison,” His smile was lacklustre. “You’ve injured your foot.”

“Yep,” I replied. “I think the second toe of my right foot might be broken.”

“Pop on the bed and we’ll have a look.”

I did as instructed and took off my ballet shoe. The doctor began to unwind the tape around my toes.

“Are you in pain?” he asked.

“A bit of discomfort now. I took some painkillers to help me through my performance.”

The doctor chewed his lips when my toes were free. “Can you wiggle your toes for me?”

I did attempt it, but they were swollen and the sudden bolt of pain in my second toe was a warning not to. “Uh, that kind of hurts now.”

He began to feel the bones of my foot. “You’re a ballet dancer.”

It was obvious. The shoes spoke for themselves, but I smiled politely and nodded.

“She was performing at the Royal Opera House tonight,” Dougiesupplied without being asked. “The Ice Queen and Princess.”

The doctor paused his ministrations and peered at me. “My wife got us tickets for that show, next week I think.”

Another polite smile with a nod this time came from me. I wanted to know if my damned toe was broken.

“Well, there is some swelling, so the best way to confirm if the bone is broken is an x-ray,”

The groan escaped before I could stop it. “How long will I have to wait?”

“I’ll send you over to get it now.” The doctor said. “Lucky for you, it’s not that busy tonight.”

Oh. That was good news. Squeezing my foot back into the pointe shoe caused more discomfort. The painkillers were wearing off. Dougie and I headed over to the radiology department where they took an x-ray then sent me back to the A&E reception to await my results. The waiting area had cleared up some.

“What happened?” Dougie, carefully holding my bouquet, asked out of the blue. We hadn’t talked much during my stint in the Radiology department.

“I think it was thegrand jetéwhich-”

He waved an agitated hand through the air. “I meant with Bradley.”

I averted my eyes, not wanting to get into it. Dante was the only one I had told everything to. The media had somehow found out about my estrangement from Matt a few days before his birthday. They didn’t have much to go on, just played on the fact neither one of us were wearing our wedding bands and the little speculative nugget of our separate living situation. And as the norm, they snapped an unfavourable photo of my ass. Damned paps.

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