Page 257 of The Life of Anna-Tenth Anniversary Edition: Act 1

“It’s okay.” Aaron shook his head and sighed. “C’mon. Let’s go.”

With a heavy heart, Anna walked with Aaron to the studio. Had going out with Ben been a mistake? But it had been so unexpected... She hadn’t been looking for a guy to date. She stole a glance at Aaron. His expression was unreadable, but she could sense his pain and it filled her with sorrow.

Aaron opened the studio door for Anna, then disappeared into the crowd. She blinked tears away as she looked around for Jenna. She spotted her friend across the room talking to some dancers she didn’t know. “Jenna!”

They made their way toward one another. Jenna’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. “Hey, how was your date?”

Anna glanced over her shoulder to see if she could see Aaron, but he was gone. She sighed, wishing... She liked Ben. A lot. But Aaron held a special place in her heart. He always would.

“Anna?” Jenna tilted her head.

She pushed the sadness aside and focused on Ben. “It was good.” She told Jenna what had happened over the weekend and Jenna squealed. “I’m so happy for you. He seems like a really nice guy.”

“Yeah.” She scrunched her face. “I hurt Aaron, though. He’s upset because he didn’t get a chance to ask me out.”

“I know he’d been looking forward to it.”

Anna sighed. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Jenna shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I forgot.”

Anna frowned. If she had known, would it have made a difference? She honestly didn’t know. She liked Ben. She liked how she felt around him.

“Wanna do lunch?” Jenna asked.

“Sure.”

“Okay, meet you at break.”

Anna made her way to the main studio where the soloists and principals gathered for their morning class. Travis spotted her as she walked in and hurried over to hug her hard. “Hey, partner,” he said. “Ready to be a professional dancer?”

Anna grinned, all her troubles melting away at the thought. “Yeah. I think I am.”

Chapter 121

Time flew by as Anna found her new routine. She lost herself in her ballet classes and rehearsals during the day and spent her evenings with Ben. The more time she and Ben spent together, the more she realized she was teetering on the edge of falling in love once more. She told herself it wouldn’t be wise, but she couldn’t bring herself to stay away from him. Devin didn’t mention her relationship, and she took his apparent indifference as unspoken approval.

Summer gave way to fall, and Anna’s life was beautifully quiet and predictable. For the most part. Anna relished her newfound freedom and “normality.” A few months into their relationship, Ben told her he loved her and Anna confessed she felt the same way. Although guilt nagged at her heart.

She was reluctant to share anything about her “other life.” Afraid of the magic ending because of the truth. Her solution to her Friday night absences was to tell Ben she had to spend time with “family friend,” which he accepted, as he was close to his own family. But when Ben wanted to take her out of town for a weekend, he didn’t understand why the “family friend” wouldn’t let her go. Anna suspected he didn’t completely believe her, but he didn’t push her too hard on the matter.

Devin took her to visit the leaders of the California government often, and they even traveled to the state capital of Sacramento several times. She became a favorite of the governor’s, and Devin made sure she spent plenty of time with him. He fell under Devin’s complete control, which made Devin very happy and more lenient with Anna’s busy schedule.

There were a few close calls when Ben nearly caught men visiting Anna at her apartment, but she avoided most of those situations by staying at his place. Fewer men seemed to visiting her than before, which she was thankful for, and she never saw Zach, which was even better.

In mid-November, Anna was getting ready for the day when her phone rang. Her heart leaped in her chest when she saw Alex’s face flashing on the screen. She bit her lip and tapped the screen. “Hello?”

“Hello, Schatzi.”

Anna squeezed her eyes shut as her heart fluttered. How long had it been since she’d heard his voice? Months. “Hello, Alex.” What did he want?

“I wanted to let you know that I am making flight arrangements for you to come visit me after Nutcracker closes.”

Anna’s mouth dropped open. “What?”

“I want you to come visit me. It has been a long time since I’ve seen you and I want you to meet my family and see where I grew up.”

Anna clenched her jaw. He wanted her to—A flash of anger shot through her body. “Don’t I get a say in whether or not I want to visit you?”

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