Page 55 of Last Dance, Second Chance

* * *

There weren’t any classes at the dance studio on Thursday, so Jessica had even more time on her hands. Time to worry about where Nathan was, and whether he’d be willing to forgive her when she finally got around to seeing him. Once more she stared at her phone, willing it to ding with a message from him, and debating whether she should send one herself.

Her mum was out helping her dad at the estate agent’s for the afternoon and Jessica needed something to keep busy. In the back of her mind was what Diana and Nathan had both said about her needing to come up with a plan for when she finished dancing. She was still determined to be dancing for many years to come — she had a long bucket list of roles she wanted to dance — but she had to admit it made sense to be prepared. She also knew she needed something else in her life when she returned to New York. It would take months to build up the strength in her foot again, and she needed something to take her mind off her convalescence when she didn’t even have helping Diana with her classes to keep her occupied.

The obvious job was for her to teach, but the more she thought about it, the more Jessica realised it wasn’t a good fit. She thought what Diana did was wonderful, and she saw what a difference Diana’s classes could make to the children and adults who attended them, and she was enjoying helping out, but doing it full-time wouldn’t be right for her, she felt. Neither would training professional dancers in a company. The politics involved behind the scenes of a ballet company were not something she’d ever want to be involved in. There was also the fact that she might not be able to if injury was what led to the end of her career.

She sat down with a cup of coffee, taking the opportunity to rest her foot before venturing around to Nathan’s house again later. She picked up her iPad and began scrolling through her favourite ballet Substack blogs. She was sort of glad that nobody from her own company ran one. Rehearsals would have started on Monday, and she wasn’t sure she was ready to see the photos. She remembered how much she’d loved reading about professional dancers when she was a teenager. She’d spend hours poring over entries detailing their daily lives and the exercises and practices they did. It had been amazing for her that she’d been able to read about dancers from all around the world, and seeing the photos and descriptions of them performing had encouraged her to keep going and to follow her dream, even when things got tough.

When it got to the point that Nathan should be home from work, Jessica got up and checked herself in the hallway mirror. Monty gave her a really pathetic ‘Will you take me with you?’ look.

“I’m sorry, Monty. I can’t,” she said. “But your dad will be home soon.”

Monty’s head fell.

“You really know how to make me feel bad, don’t you? I promise I’ll play ball with you in the garden when I get back,” she said as she went out the front door.

* * *

She walked as quickly as she could manage on her crutches to Nathan’s house and was thrilled to see his car parked outside. She rang the doorbell, steeling herself. She reminded herself that he might not forgive her right away, but she had to try her best. She waited but Nathan didn’t answer the door. She rang the doorbell a second time, but still nothing.

Feeling completely deflated, she walked back to her parents’ home again.

* * *

On Friday, Jessica decided to do herself a favour and not check Nathan’s house after she finished helping at the two dance classes held that evening. It was late and she was hungry, and she felt like she was going crazy trying to catch Nathan when she suspected he didn’t want to be caught. She wished she was spending the evening hanging out with him, but there wasn’t anything she could do about that now. She’d go back to her parents’ house, heat up some leftovers for supper, and veg in front of the television for a while to give her foot a rest. Maybe she’d even work out what she could say in a WhatsApp message to open communications between them again, as it looked like that was the best option.

Her mum and dad were both home and Andrew was with them in the kitchen.

“Hey, sis,” he said.

“Hi, Andrew, where are Molly and the kids?”

“At home. I just popped by to borrow Dad’s strimmer. Are you still OK to take the girls to ballet tomorrow?”

“Yeah, sure,” Jessica said, distractedly as she looked in the fridge for something to eat.

“What’s up with you, sweetheart?” asked Sarah, noticing her daughter’s peculiar mood.

“I’m all right. Just a bit tired.”

“Is your foot hurting you?”

“A little,” she admitted. “I’ll prop it up on the sofa in a bit.”

“Are you sure there’s nothing else?”

Jessica closed the fridge door. “Actually, there is. Nathan and I had a big fight on Monday. It was really stupid and I overreacted completely to what he was saying, and I feel really bad about it.” She hadn’t expected to share this but was immediately glad that she had.

“I was wondering why he hadn’t been around and why you weren’t spending time with him over the past few days,” said Joe.

“I really want to apologise, but I think he’s avoiding me. I’ve been to his house several times and he’s not answering the door, even when his car’s in the driveway,” Jessica explained.

“I saw him yesterday,” Andrew offered.

“You did? Where?” Jessica said, leaping on this information. “Is he all right?”

“He seemed fine.” Andrew shrugged. “He’s joined my five-a-side team and he came to training. He’s a lot fitter than the rest of us.”

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