As students arrive, my heart flutters with nerves. I’m waiting for Hayden and Lily. I haven’t seen him since the night he broke my heart. I couldn’t even bare going back to give Lily a private lesson. Guilt plagued me at the thought of disappointing her. How can I face Hayden when he told me he loved me one minute, and the next, he took it away? He may not have said the words, but his actions did.
I’ve spent the past week focusing on teaching and my audition, trying to get Hayden out of my mind. It hasn’t worked. He’s all I think about. He’s the man I love, and he ripped my heart from my chest. How can he tell me he loves me and place me inthe same category as Rachel? A woman who would abandon her baby for him to raise alone.
When they arrive, my heart clogs into my throat. Our eyes lock from across the room. My gaze drinks him in like I’m dying of thirst. God, I’ve missed him.
He walks toward me. “Alyssa.” My name on his lips washes over me. I’ve missed the sound of his voice.
Taking my eyes off him, I turn to Lily. “Sweetheart, run inside and get ready for class. We’re doing the routine you like.”
“Yes!” She bobs up and down on her toes with excitement before racing into the studio.
Being mindful of the other parents and their curious gazes, I pull Hayden to the side of the waiting room. “Hayden, I—”
“Why haven’t you answered my texts?” he interrupts with an annoyed expression on his face.
I glance over my shoulder, checking to make sure that no one can overhear us. “I told you I needed time to think about what I want,” I say, keeping my voice low.
“What do you want?” he asks.
For the nightmare to disappear. For me and Hayden to go back to telling each other we loved one another. For a future together. “Trust.”
“Alyssa, I do trust you. It’s just—” He puts a hand on my shoulder.
I go to step away, but he doesn’t let me. “Parents will talk,” I say.
“I don’t give a fuck if they do,” he says through thin lips.
“What if it gets back to Lily? Do you want her asking questions about us? Especially when things have changed?” Now that the relationship has died before it got started. My chest raises up and down as tears sting the backs of my eyes.
Hayden drops his hand from my shoulder. “We need to talk. Can we meet after you finish your classes? Once Lily has gone tobed?” Sadness is etched on his face. The distance between us has been hard on me this week. Has he felt it too?
“I’ll be there.” I can’t keep avoiding this conversation. Although, I’m not sure if there’s much to say. If there’s no trust, what do we have?
He nods. “See you later.”
The next hour drags on. Even though things aren’t great between me and Hayden, I still crave to see him. I can’t touch him, hold him, but I can look at him. For now, that’s all I can have.
The students practice their positions, pirouettes, arabesques, and the dance routine for parent watch week for the end of the term. Finally, Nikki takes the class through their warm-down. I’ve never been so happy for a class to end. One down, two more to go.
Out in the waiting room I see the woman who had inquired about the studio a few days ago. I hadn’t seen her again and assumed she’d chosen a different school for her daughter. Leaving Nikki to finish the class, I make my way over to her. “Hello again. Will your daughter be joining us today?” I glance around the waiting area in case I missed seeing her from the studio. There’s no one out here but us.
The smile she gives me is stiff and…smug? There is something about this woman that makes the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. I don’t know what it is, but she can take her daughter elsewhere.
“My daughter is already in the class.” She looks over my shoulder and into the studio. “I’ve come to pick her up.”
I turn my head to look into the room. The kids have finished their warm-down and are heading out. Had I been so preoccupied with Hayden on my mind that I’d missed a new student? Surely not.
“Who is your daughter?” I ask.
When Lily enters the waiting area, the woman’s gaze lands on her, and the woman’s face lights up with a huge smile. “She is.”
What the hell is she talking about? Is this woman crazy? Then my heart drops to the floor. They have the same eye and hair coloring. The same creamy complexion. Something in the way they both smile looks similar. No…it can’t be. Is this Lily’s mother?
Over the woman’s shoulder, I see Hayden stop at the top of the stairs, all color draining from his face, standing so still he could be mistaken for a statue. The death glare he’s throwing at the woman confirms my suspicions.
This is Rachel.
When Hayden breaks free from his shock at seeing Rachel, he storms over and growls low and deep, “What the fuck are you doing here?” The vibration from his body is palpable.