Page 4 of An Unexpected Home

“Uneventful. At least until I got here.”

“I really am sorry about Brandon. By the time you told me you were coming, Mel and I already had plans to paint the studio and I had forgotten I’d asked Brandon to come stay with Max.”

She waved her hand. “It was fine. I just took him by surprise.”

“He can be a pain-in-the-ass sometimes, but he means well.”

“He made coffee this morning, so pain-in-the-ass or not, I’m grateful to him.”

Carly laughed. “Let’s go inside so I can get myself some of that coffee.”

Leah refilled her own cup after Carly filled her mug.

“How are you doing really?” Carly asked.

Leah sighed. “Honestly? Pretty shitty.”

“I can’t even imagine what you are going through.”

“Wanna know the worst part?” Leah asked her friend. “It’s that I’m afraid to do or say anything that isn’t completely proper or normal. Which means all day, I have to think and rethink everything I say. Everything. Even to cashiers in stores. Because if I say one thing that could be misconstrued, I’m screwed.”

“You won’t have to worry about that here. No one is going to know who you are, especially now that you’re using your mom’s last name.”

Leah had decided, even before she’d chosen to move to Cedarville, that instead of being Leah Gibson, she was going to use her mom’s maiden name and go by Leah Britton. That way, even if people thought they recognized her face, they wouldn’t know the name.

“I hope you’re right because I’m ready to be myself again.”

“You’ll get there,” Carly said.

“So tell me more about the dance studio?”

“It’s going to be so amazing, Leah! I can’t wait for you to see the space we’re renting. It’s ten thousand square feet and we are going to have four separate studios. Right now it is just me and Mel teaching but we wanted more space in case we grow.”

“That’s good planning. When do you open?”

“We,” Carly said. “We open in two weeks.”

She knew her friend was trying to include her in the business but she wasn’t an owner. Just the manager.

“It’s your business, Carly, I’m just working there.”

“Fuck that, Leah.” Carly always loved to use the f-word. She swore up and down that dancers had the worst potty mouths. “You may not be giving us any money but I plan on working you like a dog. I am shit with books and management and so is Mel. All we have to do is teach; you have to do everything else. So yes, we are a ‘we’ and don’t you forget it.”

Leah wanted to cry at how nice her friend was being. But on her car ride to Cedarville she made a promise to herself that she was not going to cry anymore. She had done enough crying for a lifetime and she was done with it.

Happy was her new go-to emotion and she planned on using every tool in her arsenal to get there every day.

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