Page 69 of Wounded Dance
The message reads “My new client is wondering where her dance teachers are.”
“Oh my gosh!” I say. “We have to go!”
I drag Blitz by the shirt to the elevator. He tries to respond as we run down the hall and into the elevator to grab our car. We’re still in the gray one.
Blitz races down the road to Dreamcatcher. I’m so glad we are staying close.
When we pull up, I instinctively look for the green truck, then shake that off. Denham is gone.
But Gwen’s SUV is there. I don’t wait on Blitz but run across the parking lot and burst through the doors.
Suze looks up. “They’re in the studio,” she says. “I think Danika is helping her.”
I hurry down the hall. Blitz still hasn’t caught up.
I slow down as I approach Studio 3. Ted stands outside the door. He nods at me.
“You’re guarding her now?” I ask.
“Danika suggested it,” Ted says. “Since her mother was nervous.”
I glance in the window. Danika is taking Gabriella through the five arm positions. Gwen is inside today, sitting on the bench on the other side of the wall.
Blitz approaches. “Ted! You keep showing up like a drunk uncle!”
“Apparently you’re enough trouble for a full-time gig,” Ted shoots back.
“That I am.” He takes my hand. “We going in?”
I nod and flash a smile at Ted as Blitz opens the door.
Gabriella looks up. “Benjamin! I have a special dance for you!” She rolls up to him.
“You do?” he asks.
“Livia taught it to me,” she says. “Do you have the music?”
My throat is too tight to speak. I just nod and head to the audio controls in the corner.
As I plug in my phone to cue the music, I watch Gabriella circle around Blitz. Danika sits next to Gwen, and they say something to each other and nod. They are smiling.
My fingers tremble as I punch the buttons to find the song we chose for Gabriella’s dance. I haven’t lost everything. It’s all here. Right in front of me.
The song begins and Gabriella gasps and rolls away from Blitz.
“The sparkle stick! Livia!” she calls out.
I grab one from the box on the floor and hurry it over to her. She takes it and strikes the opening pose, waiting for the first movement of the dance.
She turns the baton and tosses it into the air, catching it neatly. Gwen and Danika clap as Blitz cheers.
Danika catches my eye and nods. I wonder if she’s figured it out, that Gabriella is my daughter. If that’s why she brought Ted and convinced Gwen to come back to lessons.
I nod at her in return. Maybe we’ll speak of it. Maybe we won’t.
It doesn’t matter right now as Gabriella does her dance.
She beams at Blitz as she turns her chair, spinning the baton. Light flashes off the sparkles that float inside the stick, sending a pattern across the mirror that reflects back into the room.
