Chapter 34
Scottie
I HEARD THAT
After hopping off a video call with my agent, I look down to find my phone lit up with notifications.
Four missed calls.
Two Texts.
One voicemail.
All from Gavin.
I was with him just a few hours ago.
My stomach plummets to the floor. He doesn’t usually call.
Gavin
Call me when can.
No one is dying.
I snort, as if he read my mind that I would be freaking out.
As soon as I’m in my car I call him back.
“Hey,” Gavin answers on the second ring, sounding out of breath. “I’m really sorry to ask this. I know it’s last-minute.”
“What’s going on?”
“There’s a production emergency in Woodinville,” he says, exhaling hard.
“One of the glycol chillers failed, and they’re mid-fermentation on three tanks of Syrah.
If the temp spikes too much…anyway, the details don’t matter.
I have to leave in the next hour. My parents are out of town, and they’re usually my go-to when I need a babysitter.
Lily gets out of dance at five and—” He hesitates.
“Can you get her? Just for tonight. I’ll be back late.
I hate to ask, but you’re one of the few people I trust with her. ”
“Yes,” I say quickly. “Of course I can.”
Relief slips out of him on a quiet breath, and warmth blooms in my chest. He came to me. He could’ve gone to Elyse or one of his other siblings, but he came to me.
“Thank you. I’ll make it up to you, I promise.”
“Gavin.” I laugh softly. “You don’t owe me anything. It’s not like watching Lily is a burden. We’ll have fun. Girls’ night.”
He’s quiet for a beat and I wonder if we got cut off until I hear a hum pass through the phone.
“I’ll text Kathleen that you’re the one picking her up.”
Kathleen. Just hearing her name sours my insides.
I hate that he even has her number to text. Even if it’s for completely appropriate reasons.
It still makes me irrationally jealous.
“Okay,” I say brightly. “Please drive safe and text me when you get there. And don’t worry about Lily at all, I’ve got her. I Lov—”
I freeze.
Shit.
“—drive safe!”
I hang up so fast I practically slap myself in the face with my phone.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.
I almost said I love you.
It just flew out of me so naturally even though we’ve never said it before.
My phone chimes. It’s a text from Gavin.
Gavin
I heard that.
I type back quickly.
I don’t know what you’re talking about.
Gavin
Mm-hmm
We’ll talk when I get home.
When I get to the studio, rehearsal is still going, so I stay in the hallway just outside the double doors.
Through the glass panels, I spot Lily immediately—hard not to, given she’s the only kid bold enough to wear leopard-print tights in a sea of pale pink.
She sees me and gives me a small wave with a smile—cheesy and absolutely adorable.
I might be biased, but Lily is objectively the cutest seven-year-old to ever exist.
A handful of parents linger around me—some scrolling their phones, others watching like I am. One woman I don’t recognize stands beside me, eyes fixed on the dancers. After a minute, I feel her glance my way.
“Which one is yours?” she asks softly.
My chest squeezes. It’s a perfectly normal question. She assumes I’m one of the parents. Why would she think otherwise?
The truth rolls off my tongue a lot easier than the lie I should tell. I point to Lily. “That’s my stepdaughter. The one in leopard.”
The woman smiles and gestures to her own daughter—same eyes, same freckles, sporting some very cool hot-pink ballet slippers. “That one’s mine. We just moved here, so I’m hoping this helps her find friends.”
“It will,” I say, confident. “I danced when I was her age and made some great friends that way.”
Before she can respond, Kathleen’s voice cuts sharply through the room like a whistle.
“All right, girls, gather up!”
Her tone has that clipped, performative sweetness—the kind that isn’t sweet at all.
The dancers immediately form a semicircle, little ballet slippers scuffing softly against the marley floor. Lily’s shoulders straighten, face bright with concentration.
“That was good, but it wasn’t great,” Kathleen says as she walks the semicircle, eyes skimming over each girl in scrutiny.
Then she stops in front of Lily, and my pulse picks up.
“Lily,” she says, pursing her lips. “Your arms looked strong today, but your focus,” She taps her own temple. “Remember, ballet is about discipline. If we want to dance like professionals, we can’t get distracted by visitors.”
Kathleen’s gaze slides to me.
I didn’t realize she noticed I was here.
She’s such a bitch.
I’m a girl’s girl, but that doesn’t mean all girls deserve it. Some are just rotten to their very core. And Kathleen is one of them.
Lily’s spine stiffens, but I see the tiny flicker of embarrassment.
And fuck if it doesn’t make me want to bust through these doors and drag Kathleen out by that stupid long ponytail of hers. I’m pretty sure it’s mostly cheap extensions anyway.
Kathleen claps once. “Curtsy, and you’re all dismissed.”
Twenty tiny knees bend, their small heads bowing.
They’re all trying so hard, trying to perfect it even though they’re lacking in skill.
Parents start filtering in. Shoes squeaking. Backpacks being collected. Lily beelines toward me.
“Scottie, did you see the part where we did the turning jumps? Did you see when I got up on my toes? Did you see—”
“I saw everything.” I bend to meet her. “You were incredible.”
She beams, cheeks glowing rosy. “Miss Kathleen said you were picking me up because Dad has work.”
I nod. “Yep, I sure am. We’re going to have a girls’ night, just me and you.”
Before we can make our escape, Kathleen appears.
“Scottie.” Her smile is thin and fake. “Acting as Gavin’s nanny now, I see. First his maid and now his babysitter. Soon he’ll start paying for your services by the hour.”
I tap Lily’s shoulder and lower myself to her ear. “Why don’t you go use the restroom before we leave?”
The last thing I want is for her to hear Kathleen’s evil bullshit, even if she doesn’t fully understand.
“Okay,” Lily says happily, and runs down the hall.
As soon as she’s gone, my smile drops.
“I’m not his nanny. We’re friends.” The word feels so wrong in my mouth I almost think I pronounced it incorrectly. We’re a lot of things. But just friends isn’t one of them.
“Did Gavin tell you about proper pickup protocol? Parents aren’t supposed to stand in the hallway. It’s distracting.”
She’s full of it. As if the other parents weren’t doing the exact same thing.
“I’ll keep that in mind,” I tell her with a sticky-sweet smile before stepping closer to make sure I’m out of everyone else’s earshot. “Don’t ever single Lily out like that again when it has nothing to do with her dancing, and you know it.”
She rolls her eyes. “And what exactly are you going to do about it?”
I straighten my shoulders. “I’ve been recommended to take over as theater director,” I say, keeping my voice smooth.
“Which would make me your boss. And I’ve heard through the grapevine that you’ve already been blacklisted from every other dance studio in a twenty-mile radius.
” I let that settle, watching the shift in her eyes.
“Word is you were sleeping with your students’ dads, and their wives were understandably not thrilled.
” I tilt my head. “And you had the audacity to call me a slut? That’s a little pot-and-kettle, don’t you think? ”
After Kathleen showed up at Gavin’s with a very thinly veiled excuse for her visit, I did some poking.
Made a few calls. Kathleen and I danced together; the community is small and nothing if not full of gossip.
It took me almost no time at all to dig up some dirt, and all I did was file it away until an opportunity to use it presented itself.
As for the threat to potentially become her boss—it’s not a lie. It’s not the truth either.
But I have been seriously considering it.
Walking away from my dream—or, really, my mom’s dream before it became mine—isn’t something I take lightly. Because I do love it. There’s nothing like being on stage when the only safety net is your instincts.
That electric, tightrope feeling of stepping out there with no script, no plan, no idea what the audience is going to throw at you, and making something magic out of it anyway.
The rush when your scene partner says something absolutely unhinged and you have one second to either tank or take off running with it.
The way the audience laughs because they know it’s happening in real time. How you have to trust yourself, trust the moment.
It’s like flying blind. Sometimes you miss. But when you land? The high is better than anything else I’ve ever known.
It’s the same kind of rush Gavin used to chase—adventure for the thrill of not knowing what comes next.
I get it.
I understand it.
And maybe that’s part of why I’ve fallen for him.
We’re people who’ve been chasing the same feeling, just in different ways.
But maybe the chase is over.
Maybe we’ve found it in each other.
When I think of walking away from Gavin—leaving what we have behind—I’m not sure I’m capable of it. It’s new, and we did it all backwards, but it’s also special. Precious.
The more time we spend together, the more I can’t imagine a life without him.
Sometimes dreams change. They evolve. They make room for more than one thing. More than one version of you.
I just have one loose end I need to tie up before I can actually move forward.
And I’ll deal with that. Eventually.
My smile is polite as Lily races back toward me.
“You have a good day now,” I tell Kathleen sweetly. I nudge Lily. “Say bye to Miss Kathleen.”
Lily waves with a smile. “Bye, Miss Kathleen.”
Just as we start for the hallway toward the exit, I hear my name being called.
“Excuse me!—sorry, sorry—Scottie, right?”
I turn.
It’s the same woman from earlier, the one whose daughter had the hot-pink shoes. She’s slightly out of breath from chasing us down.