Chapter 18
CHAPTER 18
Winnipeg
Tuesday
“O h my gosh, Poppy. This is insane.” Bailey leaned back in her chair in the studio’s tiny office, the emails she had to respond to numbering in the hundreds. Hundreds . She’d already done a quick delete of the obvious spam ones, but there were so many enquiries for dance lessons, from little kids wanting to learn, to adults inspired to return to dance or finally take up lessons as a long-held dream. Overwhelmed didn’t begin to cover it. Amid all the lesson enquiries had even been a few sponsorship opportunities from local—and national—businesses, as well as all the comments on the studio’s social media platforms. Even her YouTube channel had hit the magic number of subscribers to finally earn money. “I don’t know how you’ve managed these past weeks.”
Poppy stretched. “I’m really glad you’re back now. I was keeping on top of things before, but it’s just been hectic since Sunday night.”
So many phone calls. So many interviews. She and Luc had returned yesterday and since then she’d barely seen him, apart from a bunch of interviews this morning, before he’d had to rush off again. He’d been swallowed up in hockey prep, stuff with his training and his team, and she’d been caught in the maelstrom of the studio, and discussing with Poppy how they were going to go forward now her name—and her studio—had national attention. Even their waiting lists had waiting lists, and trying to juggle all of this, along with the usual business stuff she’d put on hold for the past six weeks, was exhausting.
“What are we going to do?”
Poppy studied her. “I think a lot depends on what you want to do about next season.”
Next season. Her heart tensed. Joanne Mascieski had told her on Sunday night that Dance Off ’s production wanted her back for next year, and possibly a spin-off tour that would take in a bunch of the major cities across Canada and northern US. It was a dream to even be considered for such an opportunity, especially after only one season, but Joanne had told her that Bailey had been the most talked about dance pro this season, and they wanted to capitalize on that while they could. “And you should be doing all you can to make the most of it as well,” Joanne had advised.
Coco had agreed. “Come on, it’d be so fun having you dance with me again.”
“But the studio—”
“Get Poppy or your mom to run it.”
“But Luc—”
“He’s an adult. He’ll have work he needs to do, so you don’t need to factor him into anything.”
But part of her felt like she did. And the fact she didn’t know how to express this to him, that they’d barely had a chance to talk since Sunday night, made it feel like the conversation was getting bigger than it needed to be. And now she had exposure to this world, she wondered just how much she would cope. She might’ve given Luc some confidence in his dancing, but he’d also given her confidence in things as well. She’d always wondered if part of the reason she had failed at ballet was because she’d been too soft. She might be competitive, but she wasn’t ruthless, and didn’t possess the hard edge as so many pros did. And while she considered Coco a good friend, even Coco held an edge that Bailey wasn’t sure she ever wanted to possess.
“Bails?” Poppy asked.
“I still don’t know. I could only do that if I had someone I could trust to run the studio here.”
“What about your mom? She could probably run things okay.”
But asking her mom to run things was a bit like returning to live at home. Bailey might be close to twenty-five, but sometimes it felt like her parents still weren’t ready to let her go. Which was understandable, considering what had happened to her sister, but sometimes their help felt a little too much like smothering. And after all the debt issues, she also couldn’t help but wonder if some of her dad’s financial advice hadn’t been so sound, after all. And knowing her mom was always inclined to bow to his wishes over hers, such as giving up dancing when Chrissy was born, she didn’t think her studio would be as safe as it would be in Poppy’s hands.
“Mom hasn’t taught professionally for years,” she said instead, “and we both know I trust you, and that you can obviously do this standing on your head. But I don’t want to interrupt your own plans, especially with what you were doing at the Calgary dance school.”
Poppy shrugged. “I don’t think my boss would miss me. I think Melissa has me there more because of my brother’s name than because she values me.”
Bailey winced. Franklin was nice, but she now understood how being associated with a famous hockey player might influence how others saw her. Hence all the emails needing attention.
“So, are you saying you’d be happy to stay working here?”
“I told Melissa that I’d need six weeks, and she was glad as that was most of the summer, when enrollments dropped anyway. But if you want me to stay then I can.”
“Oh, God bless you. I’d love for you to stay.” As much for Poppy’s sensible head as her dance skills. Things were so chaotic she barely trusted herself to make wise decisions anymore.
“Have you talked to Luc about this?”
“No. He’s been so busy. I’ve barely seen him since yesterday.” And the second-guessing had started as soon as he’d kissed her goodbye after dropping her home after the airport. Was this real, or had this just been a romantic bubble for a few weeks? He might’ve said they were a couple, but she would’ve thought he’d contact her by now at least. The fact he hadn’t made her wonder just where this was going.
“You need to make the best decision for you,” Poppy said. “And I know you might think you love him, but just be wise, okay?”
Love him? She hadn’t said those words, and he hadn’t said them to her either. And really, how could anyone know they truly loved someone after the intense pressure of those few weeks? He might know a few things about her, but she didn’t know too much about him.
Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it. Unknown number. There’d been so many of these lately. “Hello, this is Bailey.”
“Bailey, this is Stella Jones from the Winnipeg Post . I’m confirming an interview with you and Luc Blanchard tomorrow at ten at your studio.”
“Um, I beg your pardon?”
“Did Luc not tell you? I was in touch with him and he said he’d talk with you.”
“Well”— he hasn’t , she didn’t say—“I’m sure we can make that happen. What time was it at the studio tomorrow?” She motioned to Poppy.
“Ten.”
“Ten,” she repeated, eyeing Poppy, who glanced at the calendar and nodded. “Okay, see you then.”
“Great.”
The call ended, and she sighed.
“What’s happened?”
“I’ve got an interview here with Luc tomorrow, apparently, which he didn’t tell me about.”
“Maybe this will be a good chance for you two to sort a few things out.”
Like what a relationship would look like. In the real world. Because it sure didn’t feel very real right now.
She glanced at her phone. She could call him. She should call him. So she did. And got his voicemail. Which she hung up on, not knowing how to say what she wanted without sounding pathetic. She then toyed with how to word a message that didn’t sound too needy, but the phone rang again. Another unknown number.
“Hello, this is Bailey.”
“Bailey,” a male voice asked, “do you teach adult classes?”
“I do. What style of dance are you interested in?”
He described a style she definitely did not teach, thank you very much, and quickly ended the call, her fingers shaking.
“What is it?” Poppy asked.
She shook her head. “Just another nuisance call.”
Coco had said to expect a few of those, along with random people wanting to slide into her DMs, which was why she was wary with some of the unknown numbers pouring in. But she couldn’t afford to ignore all of them. Like, literally could not afford to ignore them, as some of the unknown numbers had proved to be endorsers and local businesses that had wanted to partner with her for greater exposure. Coco had advised that Bailey find herself a publicist, but even that felt ridiculous, like she was one of the celebrities she’d been paid to dance with. She wasn’t. She was just plain Bailey, even if others seemed to see her differently now.
“I can talk to Hannah about finding you an agent or someone to help with that if you like,” Poppy offered. “She knows way too much about the need to screen calls and deal with the weirdos out there.”
Bailey had learned a little more in recent weeks about Hannah’s situation, and some of the challenges associated with being a female sports reporter. How insane were people to throw food at a woman who was simply doing her job? “Maybe. I don’t know. My head is in a whirl, and we haven’t even sorted out our schedules going forward.”
“Then let’s do this. You’ve got time to do the other stuff later.”
She nodded, and they started compiling the enrollment forms that had come online from the basic website she’d created four years ago. Even the website needed updating, but she didn’t have the time or energy or skills to update it, let alone the money. Thank God—and she did, every day—that the debt outstanding at the bank had been paid, but she still needed to repay Poppy, and expanding like they were doing required more financial outlay. They could run back-to-back classes from eight to seven, six days a week and still not fit in all of the applicants. And while that was a good problem to have, Coco had once again advised that Bailey needed to get on top of things now in order to capitalize on this wave of show-induced recognition and enthusiasm, before people forgot her name. She probably should’ve been doing this while on the show, but had instead been caught up in all that was going on with the show and their routines. And with Luc.
Luc. Her heart tensed. She glanced at her phone again, picked it up to text him, when an image flashed across her screen. She gasped, then flung it away.
“Bails?” Poppy picked up her phone.
“Don’t look at it,” she pleaded.
“What is it?”
Something gratuitous. Something she’d certainly not seen before. Something she’d bet good Christian girl Poppy hadn’t either. “Maybe you should contact Hannah, after all.”
“Bails.” Poppy glanced at the screen, then her face stiffened. “Unbelievable.”
“Just delete it.”
“No.” Poppy held up Bailey’s phone. “You need to report this to the police.”
The police? She closed her eyes. Lord, help me .
* * *
“And yeah, it’s been crazy.”
Pastor Josiah Abrahams nodded. The Chicago-based pastor had started this online Bible study with Jai and a few of the others, like Mike, Dan and Brent, a number of years ago. Josiah didn’t join as much as he used to, but was always available to provide spiritual counsel along the way. His vacation with family in Florida had meant he’d not been privy to as much of what had been happening in Luc’s world as the others, not until he’d watched the finals, so it had been good to fill him in a little now.
“How were your coaches?” Mike asked.
“Mostly okay. The social media team was happy to see my improved numbers, anyway.”
“Not surprising, considering all you’ve been posting lately,” Ryan said, smirking.
The video group chat was kind of weird. He’d been in the room with most of these guys only a few days ago, but here he was again, talking about himself yet again. He’d never talked as much about himself as he had in the past forty-eight hours.
This celebrity stuff was exhausting, and almost enough to make him question whether he should’ve agreed to the captaincy. But the coaching staff had seemed pleased when he’d showed up, after rushing through three interviews with Bailey in the morning. Apart from the strength and conditioning coach, who’d been more than a little alarmed at the weight Luc had lost.
“This ain’t good,” he’d said, tapping Luc’s leaner frame. “You might’ve done okay with keeping up your cardio, but you need to get the muscle back, and you’ve only got four weeks until training camp.”
“I’ll do it.”
He was given strict protocols: weights sessions alternating with days including both speed and mobility, with only Sundays as his day of rest. Combined with the extra media and team and organizational stuff he had to do, he’d barely had a moment to think, let alone see how he could touch base with Bailey.
He glanced at his phone, itching to call her. He kind of felt like there was something he was supposed to say, but the past two days had been a blur, and it had slipped through the cracks of utmost importance. He’d barely seen her, or spoken to her since their dance on Sunday night. She’d slept most of the plane trip home, and knowing he’d see her this week he hadn’t thought he should wake her.
“So, what’s next with her?” Jai asked.
“With Bailey? I don’t know.”
“Is she going to do another season?” Mike asked. “Bree said she saw the producer talking with her on Sunday.”
She had? Man. Now he really needed to talk with her. “She hasn’t said anything to me yet.”
“Okay, well, I’m sure you’ll get the time soon.”
“Nothing to be sure of there. My trainer has got me working hard to make up for the past few weeks. That show was good for my cardio, but not so great for my strength, so I’ve got to build the muscle mass again.”
“Yeah, seeing you throw Bailey around doesn’t give that impression.”
“She weighs next to nothing, and you know a lot of that is because of momentum and stuff, right?”
Judging from those blank expressions they hadn’t. Judging from Chris’s smirk, he knew what was coming, so he had to get in quick. “Actually, no, she weighs a ton, and I tried to convince the trainer of that but he wasn’t buying. So there you go. Hey Chris, I know this will be hard to believe, but I’m actually getting tired of talking about myself. I want to hear what’s going on with Zac Parotti.”
“Zac Parotti?” Josiah asked. “Last season’s MVP of the Stanley Cup playoffs? Why, what’s going on with him?”
“Last we heard he was having real conversations with Chris about God,” Mike said.
Chris shrugged. “Keep praying. The man still seems open.”
“I still can’t believe it,” Ryan said. “Like, the man has everything.”
Luc nodded. Skills, money, looks. “Has he got a girlfriend?”
Ryan laughed.
“What?”
“Ah, it’s just so funny hearing you ask something like that. You, the man who always, always complained about hearing us talk about relationship stuff, and now you’re as bad as Mike and Jai.”
“Hey!” Mike and Jai protested, while Chris and Josiah snickered.
“Look, we just know that a man who finds a wife finds a good thing,” Mike said.
“Amen,” Jai said.
A wife? Luc coughed. “It’s a bit early for a wife. I think you need to focus your energy on Ryan here.”
That shut Ryan up quick, as he coughed. “Anyway, moving right along, I don’t think Chris answered the question.”
“About whether Zac has a girlfriend? I know he’s had a few in the past, but I don’t think he’s looking.”
“A man can have a lot of success but still miss what’s really important,” Josiah said.
Chris nodded. “I think that’s what he’s found recently. He was definitely the biggest factor in us winning the Cup but he’s still feeling a little empty. Not that he’s said it quite like that, but that’s the impression I’m getting.”
“He needs God to fill that emptiness.”
Luc leaned back in his seat. “Well, we’re praying.”
“And we’ll be praying for you too,” Josiah said. “It sounds like there’s a lot going on in your world right now.”
“So much.”
“And we’ll be praying for Bailey too, huh?” Ryan said.
“Go for it.” Luc crossed his arms.
“Does anyone else think Luc is looking a little defensive?” Jai teased.
“I’m not feeling defensive,” Luc said, then caught the joke as the others laughed.
Okay, maybe he was feeling a little defensive. It seemed like there were an awful lot of jokes being made at his expense. Not that he’d ever done anything to deserve it. He rolled his eyes at himself. Yeah, right.
“Bree says to tell Bailey she says hi,” Mike said.
“I thought she’d be able to tell her herself seeing they followed each other on Instagram,” he snarked.
“It’s not the same as the message being passed on in person, so she says.”
No. Messaging someone never was. “Fine, I’ll pass it on.”
“Yeah, say hi from me and Sylvie too,” Ryan said, grinning.
“And Diana and me,” Chris added.
“And I’ve never met her, but Gloria loved her dances in the final and I’m sure she’d love to pass on her good wishes to your young lady too,” Josiah said.
“Ditto from Allie and moi,” Jai said.
“I love how you all seem to like her more than me,” Luc grumbled.
“There’s a reason for that. She’s much nicer than you,” Chris teased.
“And much prettier,” Bree’s voice sang in the background.
“That’s for sure,” he said, thoughts spinning to her smile. His heart clenched. And he now couldn’t wait to see her tomorrow.
Tomorrow! “Hey guys, sorry I can’t stay for the study. I just remembered something I need to do.”
“A Bailey something?”
“Yep. Hey, good to see you Josiah. Catch you next time.”
He switched off his laptop and grimaced. He so should’ve spoken to Bailey before now. But life was so busy and he was caught in such a whirl that he barely knew what to do. He pressed her number, but she didn’t pick up. Then sent her a message, but it got no reply. And he wondered whether she was okay, or if, like him, busyness was consuming her life, too.