Page 50 of You're the Reason

She rushed toward him. “Was I off? I can start?—”

“You did great. Madame Laurent is happy with your progress and wants to see you back in two weeks.”

“Progress? I thought this was to audition to come back as Giselle.”

“Come back? She is not recasting Giselle.” His brow pinched as if the idea repulsed him. “This was just an update for Madame Laurent. You may go.”

An update? “I drove three and a half hours for a two-minute update?”

“Three and a half hours? You should have told us. We could have done it over video. Plan on that for the next update.”

With that, he rushed away, looking for another dancer.

How was she going to tell Seth that he’d wasted a day for nothing? That he’d gotten a three-hundred-dollar ticket for nothing.

But worse yet, what was she going to do with this new emotion inside her? Because everything in her wanted to run toward him and away from him at the same time. She needed to face the fact that the worst thing that could happen to her this summer wasn’t losing out on the next big role. It just might be falling in love with Seth Warner.

Grace hadn’t said a word all the way back to the car, and Seth had no idea what to make of it. Her dancing had looked beautiful to him. Sure, he didn’t know much about dancing, but everything had been so fluid and graceful. And when she leaped like that, he honestly didn’t know a human could go that high without the assistance of a spring somewhere.

Maybe he was biased—okay, he was definitely biased—he was falling for her all over again, and he couldn’t stop himself. He should’ve never rotated his hand or grabbed her fingers. It was too intimate. Too much. But it had been minor compared to how he wanted to scoop her up in his arms and hold her after the story about her parents. He’d never cared for Mr. and Mrs. Howell. Long before the Gregory incident, Gabe had offered many reasons for Seth to dislike them. But now?

Some people shouldn’t have kids. Then again if they hadn’t, there would be no Grace. And any scenario he imagined without her in the world was dark indeed.

He cast her a glance. Why had the director cut her off? He didn’t know anything about auditions either, but that didn’t seem like a good sign.

He started to unlock Grace’s door but froze. The door didn’t open from the outside. She had him so rattled he was forgetting his own car. So instead, he leaned his back against the car and laid his hands gently on her arms. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m so sorry.” She covered her face with her hands as her head fell onto his chest.

When she didn’t move, he leaned her back, loosely captured her wrists, and pulled her hands from her face, but she didn’t lift her gaze. “What are you sorry for? So you didn’t get the role. It’s not the last audition you’ll have. It wasn’t a waste.”

He looked at his large fingers still circling her tiny wrists and slowly let go. If he didn’t, he might just be tempted to do something stupid like pulling her back to him.

“That’s just it.” She finally met his eyes. “It wasn’t an audition.”

“What are you talking about? I saw you up there.”

“Oh, I danced. But evidently, I wasn’t auditioning. They just wanted to see the progress on my knee. I could’ve done that via video.” She stepped back, finally lifting her head.

“Okay, so no audition, but were they happy with your progress?”

“Yes, but don’t you understand? I could’ve done that from Heritage. You wasted your whole day. I don’t blame you if?—”

“Hold on. Are you crying because you’re disappointed about the part or because you think I’ll be upset?”

When she didn’t answer, he walked to his side of the car, climbed in, and popped her door open from the inside and waited for her to get in. “Are you afraid of me, Grace?”

Her head whipped toward him. “Why would I be afraid of you?”

“Why else would you be so upset with the idea you wasted my day? I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not going to hurt you or yell at you. The only person I am mad at right now is whoever put it in your head that you aren’t worth people’s time unless you produce results.”

“I am not afraid of you. I just know you had plans and—” Her voice cracked again.

“And I’d gladly cancel them again to drive you down here. You’re worth people’s time. Even when it’s just an update.”

She stared at him. The tears gone. Replaced with an intense look he couldn’t quite decode. He didn’t know what she wanted from him, or what he wanted from her, all he knew was that he wasn’t ready to go back. And all he wanted to do was make her smile again like she had on the way down. “What’s your favorite thing to do in Chicago?”

“What do you mean?” She blinked away whatever she’d been thinking.

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