Page 51 of Fraud
“It gets better. And, yes, I asked for lessons. My dad—the big, burly, tough New Yorker—was totally against it. My mom loved the idea. I think she had visions of me becoming the next Fred Astaire. Naturally, whenever my parents disagreed on something, my mom would always get her way, so I was enrolled in the local dance school.”
“How charming.”
“It was. And I wasn’t that bad,” I said. “But then we got further in, and our instructor began talking about something called a recital.” Her eyes sparkled with keen understanding. “I wasn’t too concerned about whatever the hell a recital was because I thought I was a fucking star, like those guys on Broadway.”
“What happened?” she asked, eager to hear of my inevitable downfall.
“They put me in tights.”
She nearly choked as the laughter tumbled from her lips.
“It’s not funny. I was at a fragile age. And my entire family came. I’m half-Italian on my mom’s side. My dad’s Irish. Do you know how big our family is? We took up half of the theater! For years, I was known as Killer Twinkletoes.”
“Killer?” she asked.
“A nickname,” I clarified. “My little brother’s doing.”
“Well, I’m sorry your childhood was so traumatic. Really, I am.” She grinned as the waitress chose that moment to show up and take our orders.
Kate ordered a frozen margarita while I stuck with a beer on tap.
We continued to chat while our drinks were made. I listened to her talk about her day while I made up more lies about my job search.
“Something will come up,” she said. “I’m sure of it.”
I was about to nod in agreement when someone interrupted me.
“Kate?”
I looked up to see a tall man approaching the table. He appeared to be around my age with light-brown hair and a well-built body. I instantly felt warning signals going off in my brain.
“Brian!” Kate exclaimed before rising to launch herself into the guy’s arms.
My fists tightened at my sides.
“It’s so good to see you!” they both said in unison.
“How long has it been?” Kate asked, stepping back to get a good look at him.
“Too long,” he replied.
“Brian, this is Killian Townes,” she said. “Killian, this is my good friend Brian Chapman. Brian teaches at the local community college, and I was lucky enough to sit in on one of his courses a while ago.”
We stuck out our hands to shake, clearly sizing each other up.
“Nice to meet you,” I said a split second before he did.
“Won’t you join us?” Kate asked, making my eyes widen.
“Oh no, I can’t. I shouldn’t. I’m here with a couple of guy friends. Bachelor party.” He grinned. “But I wouldn’t mind a quick dance if you have a moment.”
She glanced over to me, clearly asking for permission.
Could I say no?
Because I really wanted to.
“I’ll wait for our drinks,” I finally answered.
