Page 49 of Last Dance, Second Chance

“You sound just like your auntie when you speak to me like that!” said Nathan, laughing.

* * *

Supper was a relaxed affair. Joe had cooked a load of chicken drumsticks and sausages on the barbecue, and there was a rice salad, a green salad, boiled potatoes, and bread. The table practically groaned under the weight of the food.

The kitchen table wasn’t big enough for nine, so a large fold-up table had been set up in the garden for them all.

“It’s so lovely to have everyone here all together,” said Sarah, as they took their places with full plates of food.

Jessica looked around at her family. Her dad gave her mum a kiss. Andrew was helping Sophie cut up her food while Molly refereed between Peter and Emily who were trying to see which of them would be brave enough to eat an olive. Finally, her gaze fell on Nathan, and their eyes met. He was so lovely and kind playing with her nieces and nephew. He gave her a wink and turned to answer a question her dad had asked him. She needed more of this in her life, she realised. More time with people she loved and who loved her and genuinely cared about her because of who she was, not because of how well she could dance. How could she have been so blasé about seeing her family? Yes, there had certainly been plenty of times when she’d needed to work and couldn’t fly over to visit, but there had also been occasions when she could have made more of an effort. And maybe it would have done her good to have stepped out of her little ballet bubble once in a while. But at least she was here now, she told herself, properly appreciating what she had.

“Everyone,” she said to get people’s attention, “I have something to ask.”

Everybody stopped talking. “Madame Penny says she’d like me to help out more with her classes, as a paid assistant, so I was wondering if it would be all right for me to stay for a bit longer. At least until my cast is off.”

“Of course it is!” Sarah said, not even attempting to hide how delighted she was.

“Does that mean I can go to dance class with you?” asked Emily.

“If that’s all right with your mum and dad,” said Jessica.

“I’m sure we can sort that out,” Molly said with a smile, prompting an excited squeal from Emily.

“This is excellent news!” exclaimed Joe. “I’m going to get some bubbles out of the fridge to celebrate with!”

Finally, Jessica dared to turn to see Nathan’s reaction. He nodded and gave her a little smile which didn’t seem to meet his eyes, and then turned away to say something to Peter. What was going on? Nathan said he liked spending time with her. Why wouldn’t he be happy about her staying for longer?

* * *

There was time for a bit more of a kick around in the garden before Andrew and his family needed to head home to get the children to bed. There was no opportunity for Jessica to get Nathan alone and talk to him, but she was determined to before the evening was over.

Jessica went to the front door to say goodbye to her nieces and nephew.

“Can I really come to ballet with you, Aunt Jessica?” asked Emily as she gave Jessica a hug goodbye.

“Yes, of course. The class for you and Sophie is on Saturday morning at ten o’clock if you’d like to come.”

“I want to come!” piped up Sophie. “I can already do twirls,” she added, demonstrating her talent and nearly sending her older sister flying.

“That’s brilliant,” Jessica said. “I can pick them up and drop them back home if you like?” she said to Molly.

“Would you be happy with that, girls?” Molly asked.

“Yes!” the girls chorused.

“There’s a class for older kids that you could try out if you like, Peter,” Jessica offered.

The panic on her nephew’s face immediately told Jessica that ballet really wasn’t his thing.

“It’s OK if you’d rather not,” she said quickly.

Relief washed over him and he said, “I think I prefer football to dancing.”

“That’s cool. I’m sorry I can’t play football with you at the moment, but maybe I could take you all to the cinema soon?”

“Can we go and see the new Sonic film?” Peter asked. “It looks awesome.”

“Sure. Would you like to see that one too, girls?”

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