Chapter 30 #2
Luca smiled at Annabelle beside him. “We don’t usually do big holiday celebrations with Marcy’s family because they bring food with wheat in it.
It’s hard to avoid,” he said, running a hand down Annabelle’s hair, “and she’s still too little to not eat something accidentally.
I wouldn’t want to intrude, given Annabelle’s allergy.
It can make it hard, and it’s not fun for her.
Thanks for being so kind to make sure that everything was okay for her today. ”
“Oh, my goodness!” Olivia’s mother said, as if shocked and disgusted. “It was no trouble at all. We can easily skip wheat for Thanksgiving.”
Pop ate a slice of the buttered rolls that Luca had brought with them. “I’ll ask Pearl for this recipe,” he said, gesturing. “It’s real good.”
Pop was at the end of the table, and Annabelle was seated at his right hand. “We don’t need that pesky wheat anyway, do we, darlin’? Now make sure to put some butter on your roll. I handmade it for tonight.” He helped her navigate the butter knife onto her roll.
Luca had gone silent. He looked like he was fighting through emotion, though no one else seemed to notice. Pop and Annabelle chatted about her schoolwork as Wells and her mother chattered about his business travel.
“You okay?” Olivia whispered, putting a hand on his thigh underneath the tablecloth and squeezing his knee.
He gulped and nodded as he fought to keep his face neutral. “Yeah,” he said. It came out a husky whisper. “That would be really nice,” he said finally, replying to Martha. “We’d love that.”
“Ooh,” her mom said, getting an idea. “We could invite Reed and Pearl as well, and the Parker sisters, and all their hunks. Make a whole party of it. Oh, my goodness.” She clapped her hands. “My house is going to look like a firefighter calendar.”
She giggled as Pop chuckled at her and leaned over to place a kiss on her cheek. “You can be January, Herbert. All these handsome men mashing potatoes, pumpkin-ing pie, and gravy-ing our dressing,” she said, throwing a subtle wink at Olivia.
“Oh my god,” Olivia muttered, dragging her hand down her face.
They passed plates around, and an overwhelming feeling built up at how amazing it would feel to be home with her family, surrounded by her friends and the man she’d fallen in love with.
It had been over a decade since she’d been home for Thanksgiving.
She’d forgotten what it could even feel like.
She’d had Friendsgivings that were casual, wine-infused events the one day off they’d have between rehearsals.
Nutcracker season kicked off in earnest the day after Thanksgiving, so there had been no time to travel back and forth.
She got misty-eyed thinking about a home-cooked Thanksgiving again, with her two favorite people, and Pop cooking in their house like he always should have been.
“Are you okay?” Luca asked her, surprised.
“Yeah,” she said. She looked at her phone camera to check if her mascara was running and saw a text come through from Henri, an old colleague from Salt Lake. It had been ages since they texted.
Henri
Hey, sorry, this is super random. Do you have five minutes to talk ASAP?
Olivia
Everything okay?
Henri
Yeah, just too busy to text. Call when you have a minute.
She excused herself from the table and called Henri. He picked up within one ring.
“Oooliiiviaaaaaaa,” he dragged out in his French accent. “Oh, my god. I am so glad to talk with you.”
“Hi,” she said, bewildered as to why an old coworker would ask her to call urgently on a Thursday night. “You need bail money?” she said, laughing.
His laugh was despondent. “I wish. I am desperate for your help.”
“Name it.”
Henri had always been very kind to her when she’d understudied the Sugar Plum Fairy.
The role had a duet dance with a prince-like character that Henri had played for many years.
Most dancers found it beneath them to practice with an understudy, but he’d gone out of his way to be kind.
It had been a rare commodity in her career, which she’d treasured.
“You said you were in Pennsylvania, right?” Henri asked.
“Yes, I’m so excited to see you dance soon. Pittsburgh is just a few hours away.”
“Well, my fucking fairy is grounded,” Henri said, in a tizzy.
Olivia squinted in confusion, trying to keep up.
“All the flights are canceled, and she cannot get here in time for tomorrow’s performance. The new director here insists on doing the Gregorovitch version of the choreography. There was a miscommunication, their understudy only knew the Ivanov version, lalala, you get the picture.”
That was code for she got fired.
“Oh, no,” Olivia said, putting all the pieces together.
“Marie cannot get back in time, and we started performing The Nutcracker last weekend.”
Olivia looked at the calendar on her mom’s kitchen wall. “It’s barely after Halloween!”
He huffed out a sad laugh. “They wanted to cash in and be the first to do performances, so we started doing every weekend in November. Marie thought she’d do a quick trip to LA, but now here I am, Sugar Plum Fairy-less. It’s a nightmare. Truly an epic disaster,” he wailed dramatically.
All right, Olivia thought, maybe not a disaster. I mean, this is just ballet we’re talking about.
“You are the only one I trust within driving distance. Could you go on tomorrow?” he said in a pleading voice.
“Oh.” Her heart leaped out of her chest. It hadn’t even occurred to her that he’d ask her.
“And,” he continued, “can you send me a video so I can show the director? You’d need to rehearse tomorrow morning with us if he says yes.”
“Uh, yeah,” she said, scrambling. “I just filmed an audition for somebody else.”
“Perfect. You are an absolute lifesaver. Can you imagine if we did The Nutcracker with no Sugar Plum? Quelle horreur! I knew I could count on you.”
“Yeah, I’ll send it right now.”
“Olivia, I will name my firstborn child after you.”
She laughed, and they hung up. She texted the video link to him.
“Everything okay?” Luca said, walking into the living room.
“Yeah, I think…” She stared at her phone, dumbfounded. “...Every one of my dreams just came true?” she said, laughing as if it was ludicrous. “I might have to move our date tomorrow, though. A friend might have me fill in for the Sugar Plum Fairy in Pittsburgh.”
“Just tomorrow?” he said, confused.
“There’s a flight issue, the same thing that Wells is dealing with. I feel so bad—I know we were really looking forward to it.”
“Olivia, I will wait until the dead of summer when no one can even think about the Nutcracker ballet if it means having a date with you.”
What even was this? A man who was perfect standing in front of her, her family laughing with the cutest little girl in the next room, getting to dance out her most treasured role ever after feeling like she was the sludge at the bottom of the ballet barrel.
“You’d be shocked how many men do not agree with you,” she said, wiping a tear from her eye, feeling overwhelmed with everything in her life right now.
“Thanks.” She leaned up and kissed his cheek.
“I should… go? No, that’s crazy.” She shook her head.
“I need to finish dinner. And then if they say yes and want me, then I’ll go home and pack. ”
He hugged her, but his eyes were sad. “I’m really proud of you.”
She laughed, and she squeezed him back. “Let’s see if I get—” Olivia’s phone buzzed.
Henri
You’re in. See you tomorrow at 9:00 AM.
Olivia felt lightheaded looking at the text.
Henri
Paperwork and details will be emailed.
OLIVIA
Thank you.
“I got it,” she whispered, trying to process it.
“Yeah?” Luca laughed with her, a loud booming laugh that filled her up. He wrapped her up in a hug and spun her.
“What’s going on?” Her mom peeked in from the dining room.
“I think we’re going to have to cut dinner short,” Olivia said, the smile bursting on her face.