Page 12 of Easy Rumba

Chapter 5

Elise

Idon’t think I’ve worked so hard in a long time. Every muscle in my body aches, but it feels damn good to have learned so many basic steps in an afternoon. It’s not been as easy for all the celebrities as I’ve found it. Some like me are stretching out and wanting to continue practicing, but most of them are now lying flat on the floor moaning about what a terrible mistake they’ve made.

Several of the professional dancers are rehearsing a routine for the first show, and I can’t help watching Leo as he moves around the room gracefully. His partner, Angelique, is adorable. She’s funny and stern simultaneously. Whoever is partnered with her will have a blast on the show. A part of me really hopes I’m partnered with Leo. We’ve been working together for a bit this afternoon, and I’d forgotten how charismatic he is. Not to mention patient when I couldn’t get a basic step correctly mastered straight away.

I can’t believe he’s here. It’s been so long since I last saw him. The inevitable drifting away from each other happened when he traveled to Europe, and I moved to Hollywood. Our lives took different paths, and although there were several times I wondered what he was doing, I didn’t think about him much. I feel guilty for that now, standing watching him.

The tall, slender teenage boy has gone. He’s really grown into his body and filled out, muscles upon muscles. A tattoo sleeve runs down his left arm, and I long to explore what’s on it. But it’s his hips that have captured my attention the most. The way he moves them is like he’s making love right then and there on the dance floor. I can’t help wondering what he’d be like in bed now, and that’s so unlike me. Since I left Simon, I’ve not wanted to even think about another man. They’re all the same in my eyes, tarnished. But something about Leo is drawing me to him, and I can’t take my eyes off him.

My phone rings from within my bag. Reaching down, I pull it out and check the caller ID. I don’t recognize the number. Answering it, I step out into the hallway, hoping there’s nothing wrong with Izzy. Gabby said she could stay with her after school today much to Izzy’s delight as she wanted to play baseball with Rhys and Sam.

“Elise Landry.”

“You never had any intention of using my name, did you?” I almost drop the phone when Simon’s voice comes from the other end. “Have you changed my daughter’s surname yet?”

“S-Simon,” I stumble over his name as I walk farther away from the dance studio. Thankfully, the corridor is quiet. “What do you want? I thought we weren’t supposed to contact each other?” I’d changed my number when I moved here, so he wouldn’t be able to call me.

“I think I can do whatever I want, Elise. You owe me that after what you put me through.”

I swallow deeply. After I left Simon, I had counseling for several months. My confidence was, and still is, at rock bottom. I needed to accept I wasn’t responsible for his abuse. One thing the counselor advised me was to never rise to any taunting from him if we were in contact again. That was where Simon’s power over me came from before I left him—the fact that he could provoke a reaction from me. I needed to stay calm and placid in the face of whatever he was about to throw at me.

“Of course, Simon. How can I help you? If it relates to Izzy, we should go through all the proper legal channels.” I inwardly high five myself for my response.

“Why would I want anything to do with her? You’ve had a year to poison her against me. She’ll be as useless to me as you are now. Besides, my new girlfriend is pregnant with a boy. At least she can get that right. She’s so much better at everything than you. She doesn’t try to show me up in front of all our friends or answer back when I pull her up when she does something wrong. She just gets on with it. And she’s a far better fuck than you ever were. She lets me take her in the ass and everything. Doesn’t just lay there like it’s her duty to have my dick inside her—she actually enjoys it. Makes it so much easier to come when the other person is willing.”

Simon’s words cut deep. I always knew he wanted Izzy to be a boy, but fate decreed otherwise, and he blamed me for it. I love the fact she’s a girl with her own mind and personality, and I wouldn’t have her any other way. But that independence and individuality is what Simon truly hates. As for his comments on his new girlfriend, I wonder what she’d think if she knew her lover talked to his ex-wife about her in that way.

“I’m glad you’ve found someone more compatible.” The words stick in my throat like a lump of coal, “Congratulations. Izzy will be thrilled to have a half-brother. I’ll let her know.”

“Why? She’ll never meet him. Don’t even bother telling her. I want nothing to do with my bastard child now.”

I fall silent. I can’t answer that comment.

He’s trying to get a rise out of you.

Don’t give in to it.

The door to the dance studio opens, and one of the other celebrities hobbles out with a personal assistant in tow. The diva rock star screams about needing a spa bath and painkillers before they disappear down the corridor.

Turning my attention back to the phone call, I simply say, “Simon, I’m in the middle of something. Would you mind getting to the point of your call, please?” The words probably come out bitchier than I intended. So much for staying calm, but there’s only so much nasty talk about my daughter I can take.

“And what are you in the middle of?” he replies sarcastically. “It can’t be anything important because you’re not supposed to be working.”

“We agreed I wouldn’t work for a year. That time’s over now.”

“And you had to jump straight back into the limelight, didn’t you? One of the biggest shows on television invites you to take part, and you can’t say no. What about the story we spun of you not wanting the Hollywood life anymore? It’s another example of you trying to make me look stupid.”

Well, gossip travels quickly in the movie industry. I wonder who it was who let him know. If I ever find out, I’ll…

“I’m not after a Hollywood life. The show is being filmed down the road from where I live in New Orleans.”

“But it will get you back on the big screen. You were supposed to fuck off and be the boring little housewife mothering our daughter to death.”

“It will only allow me to return to the big screen if I choose to take up an offer. Besides, the contract you made me sign, giving me full custody of our daughter so you couldn’t hurt her, won’t allow me to work in Hollywood ever again.”

I flip. The calm person inside me has gone. I can’t believe he’s doing this. We’re divorced now. He has no say in my life. As long as I stick to the rules, which I am, he can’t come at me. I won’t let him try to control my life any longer. This show won’t reflect on him in any way, and I don’t plan on doing anything else after this. Appearing on this show is simply a way to improve the confidence he destroyed.

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