“I made a mistake, baby. I got caught up in the heat of the moment during rehearsals.”
Lori knew all about heat now, about how strong a pull another person could have on your life. That when you were meant to be together, no amount of common sense, no attempts at self-control, made any difference.
Grayson had told her that she forgave too easily, but she couldn’t imagine going through life holding onto grudges that would eat away at her. Even when someone clearly deserved the grudge.
“I forgive you,” she said, and relief immediately moved across Victor’s features. He was opening up his arms for her as she said, “Now, get out of my way.”
He stood there, his arms still reaching toward her, a stunned look on his face, but she was done with him now, so she simply sat down and started to go through the paperwork laid out across the table.
Just as quickly as he’d put on the charm, her ex stripped it away. “You’re the one who walked out on the show, not me,” he sneered. “Instead of admitting it was too big a production for you to handle, you ran off crying like a little girl who got her feelings hurt in the sandbox. No one thinks you’re good enough to manage a show this size. And no one wants you back.”
Without acknowledging anything he’d said, she pulled out her cell phone and dialed the show’s producer. “Neil? Hi, it’s Lori Sullivan. Yes, I really am sorry for leaving so suddenly, and I promise I’ll make it up to you, but now that I’m back, I just wanted to do a quick check-in with you about firing V—” When she was cut off, she listened for a moment, then said, “Yes, I’ll take care of it now and then I’ll see you backstage tonight after the show.”
She disconnected. “Looks like it’s time for you to take another break,” she told her ex, then really did completely put him out of her head as she started calling her dancers one by one to let them know about the emergency rehearsal she was scheduling for that afternoon.
Now that the nearly two-year break she had taken from clear and rational thinking was finally over, Lori Sullivan was back.
And she was going to be better than ever.
* * *
Ten hours later...
God, she missed Grayson so much.
Lori had wanted to call him all day, but it had been one thing after another. When she realized that everything really had gone off the rails on her show, she’d known she had to spend as much time with her dancers as possible, both to reassure them and to get them excited again about their performance. And of course she’d had to deal with Gloria’s tears and apologies ad nauseum, too.
Lori was just pulling her phone out of her bag to finally call Grayson and tell him she loved him, and that she was going to miss him every single second of the week it took her to come back to him, when it rang in her hand. The name on the screen was one of the biggest producers in the business.
“Hi, Carter. How are you?”
“I’m freaking out!”
Lori grinned. Carter was always losing it over something. A man he had a crush on. A slightly pulled muscle. The sky not being quite blue enough to suit him. He was flamboyant and funny and brilliant. Getting to work with him a couple of times this year had not only been the highlight of her career, but even better, she’d made a very good new friend, too.
“Poor baby,” she murmured, “how can I help?”
“The International Exhibition of Modern Dance is next week and the lead in the central piece came down with mono.” Lori was already racking her brain for someone she could call to help him out, when he said, “I need you to come to New York immediately and save my exhibition.”
“Me? But you know modern dance isn’t my specialty.”
“Trust me, you’ll be perfect for the piece. And I’ll be sunk without you!”
“I’m flattered,” she told him, and she really was, “but I can’t leave Chicago until my show’s over next week. And then there’s somewhere else I really need to—”
“I just emailed you the videos,” he said, cutting her off before she could actually get to the part of the sentence where she said no. “You can rehearse in Chicago, and then the second your show wraps, we’ll get you on a jet and into dress rehearsals with the rest of the troupe. You’ll have forty-eight hours to fine tune before the show. It’s one night only. One very important night where I need you.”
Everything was happening so fast, which was just the way Lori had always liked it. And she still did, she realized. Only, it felt like she was spinning farther and farther away from Grayson with every minute.
“Well,” she finally said to her friend, “I suppose I could look at the videos and let you know if I think I can do the piece justice.”
Carter whooped and told her he adored her to pieces before hanging up.
Lori had told herself it would be easy to head straight back to Grayson, that she had simply come to Chicago to tie up some loose ends. But look how easily she’d been pulled back into not just one show, but two. She could have said no, but the truth was, she wanted to dance. Of course, she wanted to be with Grayson, too. And now she felt like she was being yanked in two completely opposite directions.
Grayson had clearly seen this coming, had obviously thought they wouldn’t be able to put their two worlds together. She’d sworn he was wrong.
But was he?
Two weeks ago, she’d avoided going to her mother for advice, simply because she hadn’t been ready to hear it. Now, as she dialed the top name on her cell phone’s favorites list, she prayed her mother was home.
“Hi, sweetie,” her mother said as she picked up. “I was just out in the garden thinking about you.”
“The garden? How could that possibly make you think of me?”
“When you were a little girl, you loved to come outside and help me with your little plastic shovel. You’d pick out worms and be so thrilled with every carrot, every potato and tomato. Do you remember the dance you used to do around the vegetable bed?”
Lori smiled as she thought back to those wonderful summer afternoons out in the backyard, when she had her mother all to herself and lots of nice, soft dirt to play in. “I can’t believe I thought that dance I made up would help the plants grow faster and bigger.”
“It did work,” her mother told her. “Nothing has ever grown as well since you moved out of the house and into your own apartment. Ever since then, I’ve always thought what an unexpectedly perfect fit gardening and dancing are.”