Page 60 of Wounded Dance
“I’m so sorry,” I say. “I shouldn’t have come back here once he found me.”
“I’m really not sure it would have helped. He comes here whether it’s your day or not. He sat out there yesterday while we tried to get the order done.”
“You think Gabriella won’t even do the private lessons?” I ask.
Danika lets go of me and sits back in her chair. “It’s interesting, Livia, that you and Blitz have taken such an interest in her. What motivated you to do that?”
My face flushes hot. I fumble with my answer. “Blitz saw a lot of potential in her when they did the video. She’s really expressive.”
Danika nods. “Well, that is true.” She slides a few of her papers around. “I’ll let you know if she decides to come back. I would assume her private lessons are also canceled for now. But I can check if you would like.”
“Okay, thank you,” I say. But I already know the answer. If Gwen doesn’t want Gabriella to come to class, she won’t want her to come to the academy at all.
Denham is costing me my daughter.
I have to do something.
Chapter 21
I walk slowly back to class. It seems so forlorn in the studio with only four girls. I can’t believe Gabriella is gone. I worked so hard to get her here.
I stand outside the window a moment. They can’t see me there, as the window is a mirror on their side. Blitz is busily helping Janel show the girls a new routine. There’s still twenty minutes in class.
I don’t second-guess what I have to do. I march straight back down the hall, through the foyer, and am out the door before anyone can even say anything.
The police officer is still by his squad car, writing something on a notepad.
I can’t see Denham, but I know where he is. I make it to the sidewalk and look down. Sure enough, he’s moved another block to get outside the three-hundred-yard protective zone.
“Can I help you, Miss?” the officer asks as I pass, but I hold up my hand. Nothing is going to stop me from talking to Denham. I’m so angry. So absolutely outraged at what he has cost me. I can’t believe I ever loved him. He’s my biggest, worst, most absolute enemy at this moment.
Denham messes with the orange reel. Piles of kinked-up measuring tape are resisting going back on the roll. My ballet slippers are whisper quiet, so I’m right up at him when he notices me.
I shove his shoulders. “What is wrong with you? Why can’t you just leave me alone?”
His face is smug. “Y’all are mighty jumpy in there for people who don’t have anything to hide.”
“You went crazy in there! Shouting and carrying on like a psycho. Of course Danika called the police.”
Denham sniffs, his attention back on rolling up the reel. “I aim to find my baby girl.”
“She isn’t at Dreamcatcher,” I say. At least now it’s the truth.
“Then I reckon you better get right on with telling me where she is so I can be on my way. We don’t have to have a thing to do with each other.” He shakes the reel hard to knock out a kink in the tape. “I’m over all that, Miss Fine and Dandy.”
“You cannot mess with her life,” I say. “That isn’t fair. You haven’t been out of jail more than a few months at a time anyway. What is she supposed to do when you go back in?”
The tape unsnarls and rolls up, snapping against the case.
“I’m a changed man. I got obligations now. I intend to live up to them.” He gives me a dark glance. “Not pawn them off on somebody else.”
My head wants to explode. He thinks I wanted to give up my baby?
“I had no choice,” I hiss. “I was fifteen with a father who was off-the-rails angry.” I step forward and poke him again, making an indentation in the black leather jacket. “You were the one who wasn’t there.”
“I believe your father took care of that,” he says calmly. The reel hangs loosely by his side.
“You didn’t even try,” I say. “You didn’t show up at school. You weren’t anywhere. I was stuck with what you did.”
