Page 5 of Single Dad's Second Chance

My wage here at Dunn Enterprises was manageable for a standard cost of living, but it wouldn’t ever get me out of debt and able to breathe. My income from dancing at Danger was certainly higher than what I made here. It paid well, and the offer to take more shifts was there. In fact, Gina, the dancer manager at Danger, was desperate for me to do more hours.

But I can’t leave.On a heavy, exasperated sigh, I sat up and sought out the picture sitting on my desk. In the photo behind the frame was a shot of me with Henry, goofing off at last year’s company picnic. He was caught laughing, licking the whipped cream off his face from where I’d smashed a pie in his face. I was snapped cracking up and fending him off from pushing another cream pie at my face. Behind us, Eddie, Owen, and Jen were bursting with laughter too. What started as a volunteer shift at the pie table at the company and family affair turned into a hilarious moment. It often ended up like that. Henry was my boss. Owen was too. We all worked together, but being included in this workplace was the only semblance of a family life I’d ever truly had.

I fit in here. Kind of. I couldn’t give it up to work only for Gina, dancing.

I can’t leave you.I picked up the frame, rubbing my finger over Henry’s face. Since Eddie made him the CEO, we’d been friends. Henry and I just meshed. We could finish each other’s sentences. We knew how to avoid each other’s pet peeves. Henry was…

I sighed again, unwilling to imagine a life without seeing his stern expressions of concentration and being tempted to make him smile or laugh.

My phone rang, jarring me from my musings about never getting ahead or feeling caught up with debts. Seeing that it was Gina, I took a guess at what she wanted and answered.

“Hello, darling,” I replied dryly, still looking at the photo I kept on my desk.

“Hey yourself, babe,” she greeted, chipper as ever despite her deep, husky smoker’s voice. “Want to dance tonight?”

I knew it.

While it should’ve made me happy to know I was in such high demand, I felt… cheap and untethered. No one ever knew who I was. The guests who appreciated my dances didn’t know it wasmeon that stage. A mask concealed me.

At least here, at the office, they knew the real me. The woman and the name. That feeling of being wanted and included was a good sensation here.

For not the first time, I wondered what Henry would do if he knew that I moonlighted as a dancer. He was always so prim and proper. Dashing and handsome in impeccable suits, his hair neat and nothing about him askew, Henry was a rich and influential person, so intelligent and successful.

And I’m not. I never will be.

“Yeah, sure,” I told Gina.

Why not take a chance to make a little extra money when I was down?

The reminder that Henry and I were leagues apart always stung. He was wrong to assume I’d be a spinster cat lady. But as I listened to Gina rave about how many tips I could probably bring in tonight, I hated that Henry didn’t really know me at all.

The real me who was drowning in debt and so desperate to belong.

3

HENRY

Even though I planned to head out tonight and hit up some clubs, it wasn’t for the purpose of what my father wanted. He wished I’d meet a woman, but I bet he’d never,everapprove of a clubbing twenty-something. He wanted me to live more and work less. And, well, tonight would be a combination of both.

I felt terrible that I’d missed celebrating Owen’s birthday last week, but neither of us could manage to get away then. My best friend and COO at Dunn Enterprises was just as much of a workaholic as I was. He lacked a nagging parent reminding him that he wasn’t getting any younger.

It was a week late for Owen’s birthday, but we were going out to check out some more clubs that my scouts hadn’t gone to yet. My biggest goal was to find unique talent for the new club. Fifty needed the best of the best. The hottest dancers. As Miami’s newest attraction, it needed something spectacular. So far, my scouts had sourced the mediocre, same old. Tonight, Owen and I would combine work and pleasure—going out to scout ourselves and also so we could get a drink for his belated happy birthday.

“You really think a place like this”—Owen paused outside the seedy dance club, gesturing at the neon letters in the sign—“will have decent employees?”

I considered the stupidity, and desperation, of my ill-thought-out idea of coming here tonight. His deep grimace and furrowed brow showed his skepticism. A healthy amount of skepticism. TheAin the club’s namesake,Danger, was tilted to the side so precariously that the neon letter seemed to be hanging on by a thread. Even if that sign didn’t look ready to crash and fall on whoever entered the seedy-looking, almost derelict building, the sidewalk we stood on didn’t entice me to set one more step closer. Broken glass from beer bottles littered the area where the pavement and brick wall met. Weeds waved in a slight breeze, taking root from the significant cracks along the way. The stink of body odor and marijuana mixed emanated from the pile of nasty clothes left in a heap toward the side of the entrance.

I shrugged, curious at this point. “I asked one of the valet drivers back at the building where one of the hidden gems of a club was.”

A few more people passed us, heading into Danger, and we stepped aside so they could reach the door. They seemed oblivious to the junky exterior, striding inside the windowless place.

“And he said this place wouldn’t disappoint.”

Owen wasn’t convinced. Or perhaps he didn’t feel risky tonight. “It’s already disappointing me.” Again, he indicated the exterior. “Any dancer worth a modicum of pride wouldn’t come somewhere like this.”

I swatted his arm as I headed to the door. “Come on. I’m intrigued, at least. Maybe he told me to come here as a prank.” Those valet drivers loved to pull one on me when they could.

Owen chuckled, following me in. “Maybe.”

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