CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Cara
I didn’t have a lot of time to think about my relationship with Nora, or what she’d said, over the next couple of weeks.
For one thing, life quickly returned to normal.
I fell into my old routine, glad for the time being to work myself to the point of exhaustion each day before falling into bed at the end of the night.
Then I’d wake up to repeat the same pattern.
Wake, practice, perform, sleep, repeat. On loop.
For once, burnout was a good thing. It was easy to flow mindlessly through those days and let the familiarity of the rigor and sameness help me pretend there was nothing wrong. That there was no looming danger or imminent threat to be constantly on guard for.
At least, until I had to walk to my car in a dark parking lot.
But I wasn’t stupid; I hadn’t walked out alone since the incident with Monty.
And now? I made sure to grab another dancer if Nora tried to pair off with me to walk each other out.
I didn’t want to be alone with her any more than I did Monty. Maybe even less.
And then there was the other reason I didn’t spend a lot of time thinking about Nora—I was too excited.
Edward was coming back to town, and I couldn’t wait to see him again.
Once he’d let me know he could take a couple of days off with me after finishing up a conference in Columbia, I’d been buzzing around making preparations.
I’d bought a couple of new dresses I probably didn’t need, bought normal people food to have in my refrigerator for him, and cleaned my already spotless townhouse a few times.
And then he arrived. It was heaven. We spent an entire day in bed, and I realized my hunger for him, my attraction for him, wasn’t waning at all. It only grew. It’s like the more time we spent together, the more I wanted him.
I was almost late to practices and performances because I spent every extra second I had with him. That was the case when I gave him a quick kiss before leaping from my car, the weight of my tote almost making me fall as I gave him a quick wave and ran into the theater.
I knew I’d perform well with him in the audience. I couldn’t hide my smile as I rushed into warm-ups.
To my disappointment, the only available spot was beside Nora.
“Hey, bestie,” she said, sidling up to me while I was stretching. “Why were you late today?”
Her dark hair was swept up into a bun like mine. Her equally dark eyes had always been a little off-putting to me. They were so dark it made it difficult to see any emotion in them at all.
I shivered a little, looking at her now. I’d never been fearful of Nora. But that was starting to change.
“Just late,” I said shrugging my shoulders. She narrowed her eyes at me. I knew she could tell I was lying.
“Monty said he thought you had a friend in town.”
I frowned but tried to hide it. How the hell did Monty know Edward was here?
“Is it that yummy childhood friend of yours?” She asked as she stretched her leg over her head. “You know, Captain America?”
I was doing the same stretch. “He’s not just a childhood friend, Nora. He’s my boyfriend.” Damn. I realized she’d just manipulated me into telling her Edward was in town.
She grinned. “So, he is in town. Is he coming to the show tonight?”
“Yes,” I sighed. I didn’t see the point in lying now.
“Oh, good. He’ll really love tonight’s performance.”
I looked at her funny. It was the same ballet we’d been performing all month. Sure, Edward hadn’t seen it, but there was nothing extraordinary about it. It was a strange comment to make, but I shrugged it off and did a few more stretches. Then Kelisha came out to run us through the paces.
Later, backstage, I sent Edward a text warning him that the Harts knew he was in town and reminding him where his ticket would be.
For a moment, my mind went back to the awful conversation I’d heard a few days ago.
Nora Hart hated me. Had she always? Or had it happened slowly?
I thought back over the course of our friendship.
I’d been chosen for dance awards repeatedly.
Nora had only received a handful of nominations, and I couldn’t recall her ever winning one.
Did she blame me for that? Did she think if I’d been out of the way, she would have taken my place?
Because she wouldn’t have. In our dance cohort, she’d been somewhere around the tenth best dancer. I’d always worked my ass off to stay in the top three. There were plenty of other girls who’d have received awards before Nora even if I hadn’t been in school with her.
She just didn’t work hard enough. And Nora didn’t have a certain quality that set her apart.
I didn’t know if it was a talent thing or not, but I was more inclined to believe it was hard work and drive that was the difference between the two of us.
I had trained diligently at dance ever since I’d been a little girl.
Nora tended to slack off on training a lot to party or go out with friends—things like that.
She’d been irritated in college when I put in more hours at the studio instead of hanging out with her.
Looking for a distraction and tired of thinking about Nora, I put on “Busy Woman” by Sabrina Carpenter and hummed along while I put on my makeup with extra care, knowing Edward would be in the audience tonight.
He’d sent me roses again, this time with a basket of perfectly ripe and juicy apples, and I loved it.
I didn’t want to admit to him I thought it was the sweetest thing in the world that he had sent me roses, often along with some fruit, for every single performance since we’d gotten back together.
I didn’t want him to think he had to keep doing it, but I secretly didn’t want him to stop.
I stood up, examining my costume, makeup, and hair for any flaws.
I didn’t see any, so I went to my designated spot offstage to wait for my entrance.
I peeked through the curtains to see if I could see Edward, but the lights were too bright.
The music started, and the dancers flitted onstage while I waited for my turn.
My heart still pounded, even after all this time.
I would always get nervous and excited before a performance.
I’d asked Nora about it once, but she’d been confused.
She’d said she never got nervous anymore.
I wondered what that meant about our two distinct personalities.
The music changed, and I rushed onstage.
I soon lost track of myself in the dance and became one with the music.
It was like I could actually feel the emotions of the part I was dancing.
It had always been like that for me. Privately, I thought that might be the difference between Nora and I as dancers.
Technically, she was every bit as good as I was.
Maybe it was her lack of passion, or my abundance of it, that set us apart.
Every director or dance teacher I’d ever had commented it was easy to get lost watching me dance because I disappeared into the role I was performing.
Maybe that’s why I didn’t notice the other dancers moving aside or hear the creaking sounds that everyone described later. All I knew is that one second I was wrapped up in the character I was dancing, and the next someone was pushing me to the ground.
I screamed, thinking I was being attacked. I tried to push the person aside, but he or she was too heavy for me to move.
It was then that the noise rushed into my ears, and I heard something besides the music. It was like being dragged back into reality.
I realized it was one of the stagehands on top of me, but he moved off me quickly.
“Sorry, miss. I had to protect you.” He said, looking at me with concern.
“What? Protect me from what?” I looked around and realized that a set of four heavy stage lights had fallen from the rafters and crashed onto the stage roughly where I had been dancing just moments before.
“Oh my God!” I was horrified. There was a hole where the lights had crashed partially though the stage.
Those lights were heavy enough to have killed me if they’d hit me.
They definitely would have at least injured me badly.
I looked into the audience and realized people were being ushered out. The show was over for now. I stood up, looking around frantically for Edward.
And then he was beside me, pushing past a stagehand to get to me.
He pulled me into his arms, and I sighed with relief.
“I don’t understand what happened,” I said, shaking.
He just held me. “I don’t know, either, baby. I’m just so glad you’re okay. When I saw those lights coming for you…” he gulped and stopped talking.
“Hell of a thing!” Garrison Hart was suddenly onstage. “You okay, Cara? Hello there, Edward!” He clapped Edward on the back, practically knocking him down. “What brings you to town?”
“Cara,” he said simply.
“Huh. Well. Okay, then. Let’s get you somewhere safe, little lady,” he said to me and tried to usher me off the stage.
“I’ve got her, Garrison,” Edward said, and pulled me back to him. “Has anyone called the police?” Edward asked Kelisha. She was walking around in a daze, for once flustered.
“The police?” Garrison laughed, but I couldn’t help thinking he looked a bit pale. “Why do you think we need the police, son?”
“Do lights normally crash to the stage during a performance?” Edward asked, an edge to his voice.
“No, but it’s not unheard of,” Garrison said.
One of the stagehands had been listening. “Those lights and everything else were examined before the season started.”
We all knew the season was just over two months old. There was no way the lights should have fallen if they’d passed inspection so recently.
Edward cocked an eyebrow at Garrison, whose face darkened.
Kelisha touched Edward’s arm lightly. She might have been a tiny woman, but she was tough as nails and not at all scared to stand up to Garrison. “The police have been called. Cara, are you okay?”