Page 63 of Last Dance, Second Chance

“Oh yeah. Are you sure you’re not sick and needing to stay home?”

“Are you offering to come and nurse me?”

“On second thoughts, I’ll see you there,” said Jessica. “You experiencing my dreadful nursing skills would put you off me for life.”

She got out of bed and began searching for her discarded clothes.

“So, this is what your room is like...” Jessica observed. It was exactly as she’d imagined it: very neat and orderly, with minimal stuff.

“You saw it last night,” pointed out Nathan.

“I was a little bit preoccupied last night... Can I just say, you were very inventive. My foot didn’t hold you back at all.”

“Right back at you. I think your dress is somewhere over by the wardrobe.”

“Thanks.”

Jessica located her clothes and pulled them on.

She went back over to the bed. “I’ll see you later,” she said, kissing him before hurrying out.

* * *

Jessica walked as fast as she could back to her parents’ house, wondering if she’d be able to avoid bumping into her mum and dad as she slipped in. She was successful; it was a gorgeous morning, and she imagined they’d be enjoying breakfast in the garden. She crept along the hall and up the stairs and got changed into some shorts and a T-shirt ready to go to dance class. She couldn’t wait until her cast was off and she was able to wear leggings again. She came down the stairs on her bottom rather than struggling with crutches and was grabbing her bag ready to go, when her mum called out, “There you are, Jessica!” from the kitchen.

Jessica turned. “Hi, Mum,” she said. “I’m just on my way to the studio.”

“We didn’t hear you come home last night.” Her mum had a twinkle in her eye.

“No, it was really late by the time we got back, so I stayed at Nathan’s.” Jessica could feel her cheeks turning crimson.

“That was very accommodating of him.” Sarah was clearly trying not to laugh.

“Yes, anyway... I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later.”

“Will Nathan be joining us this evening?”

“Yes.”

“Lovely, I must thank him for looking after you so well.”

Jessica threw her mother a glare as she left.

* * *

“I went to Sadler’s Wells last night,” Jessica told Diana in a break between classes.

“How wonderful! What did you see?”

“The Bolshoi Ballet was performing their new Swan Lake. Their principal was excellent, though I think Petrov would have been a better choice to play Rothbart.”

“You certainly know your ballet,” commented Diana.

“I try to keep up with what’s going on.”

“Have you ever considered writing about it? Articles or blogs about the ballet world for people in the industry, but also for fans?”

“I read a few blogs from ballet dancers I like... I did have my own years ago and I loved writing posts for it, but never seemed to have the time to maintain it and it sort of fell by the wayside.”

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