Page 9 of Single Dad's Second Chance

“Oh!” I jumped, unusually startled by her breezing through so quickly. Normally, I was more aware of my surroundings. I came here and had a finger on the pulse of this place. “Hi!”

She laughed lightly, amused. “Yikes. How come you’re so jumpy this morning?”

“Uh, nothing. I’m not jumpy.” I laughed a little more, forcing myself to go along with her laughter. “Maybe just too much coffee.”

“You and your late nights of reading,” she teased, shaking her head as she walked on.

Reading. Yeah, right.My late nights were full of dancing at Danger, but no one was supposed to know that here.

“Yep.” I laughed once more. “That’s me…”

Jumpy was an understatement. I felt like I was creeping down the hallway, intimidated by the prospect of facing Henry. He was my boss. Of course, I’d face him again. But doing so today, after making eye contact with him last night at the club, had me super uneasy.

Did he recognize me? Will he realize it was me when he sees me today?

I had a hunch my mask hid me well. It had to have because when I came backstage, Gina had approached. She was all smiles and full of giddy energy to tease me about the two “suits” who’d come to get behind the stage for the sole purpose of talking to me.

“One gave the bouncers his card.”

I accepted the small stock paper, feeling my stomach tense at the glossy print ofDunn Enterprisesinked on it. It was Owen’s card, but it was evidence that my eyes hadn’t been playing tricks on me, that it really had been Henry and Owen seated out there and watching me dance.

If they would go so far as to give Gina their card for setting up a conversation, that had to mean they hadn’t identified me. If they had, they’d just speak with me here.

And the why of it all. I spent half of my restless nights wondering why they’d want to come backstage and talk to me. Then I spent the other half staying up worrying why they were even there.

Henry had never come to Danger before. Neither had Owen. The only person from this “life,” my life in the Dunn office, who knew I was a dancer was the sitter Henry hired to watch Jason. Laura had been Jason’s babysitter for years, and she only knew that I moonlighted as a dancer because she’d come there to help celebrate a niece for her bachelorette party. That was years ago, and all this time, she’s kept it a secret. She swore never to tell Henry or Eddie, and I believed her.

But now…

I heard Henry’s voice as he greeted another worker down the hall.

Plastering myself to the hallway wall for a second, I cringed.Why? Why did you have to come to Danger on a night I was dancing? Why?

It wasn’t that shameful, being a dancer. Yet it seemed like a big, dark secret that would forever change my identity here. A deep embarrassment threatened to rise up and take me over whenever I thought about how my coworkers would perceive me if they knew I was a dancer at night. I wasn’t a stripper, but I revealed a lot of skin. I wasn’t a hooker, but the dance and routine could be overly seductive.

Covering my face in my hands, I drew a quick breath and prayed I’d hang on to my secret.

“Mia?”

Shit.Henry never called out for me, which meant he had already stopped by my office and hadn’t found me there. And if he was actively seeking me out, I couldn’t be standing in the hallway for a paltry hiding spot.

I resisted the instinct to whine or run away, unnerved with this foreign anxiety. This was Henry. He was my friend before he was a boss, or so I thought. But how to reconcile what felt like two identities was a mystery I had no time to solve.

I shouldn’t even be embarrassed. It’s a job that pays better than this one. I’m not… selling myself, but…

Shaking my head, I pushed off the wall. My side gig was just a job. I needed the money, and it was easy for me to do. I’d always had a natural knack for dancing and an instinctive talent for finding a rhythm and moving to it. Wearing a mask for some of the routines made me feel more protected, but as I walked down the hall to find Henry, I cringed at why I felt like I had to be secure at all.

So what if Henry knew? So what if Jen realized I stayed up dancing instead of reading? Who cares?

I bit the inside of my cheek.Icared, and today simply wasn’t the day that I’d grow up that much more and get over this secret shame.

“Mi—Oh!” Henry crashed into me, going too fast around a corner that I was also hustling along. At this rate, I wasn’t sure whether I’d made my mind up, whether I wanted to hide from him or confront him with a greeting to get it over with.

He’d solved that dilemma for me by bumping into me. He was moving so fast that he nearly plowed me over, but he caught me. The firm touch of his fingers on my upper arms both chilled and seared me, and I worried he’d be able to read me well enough to spot how nervous I was.

“Hey.” He softened his smile, gazing at me like he often did. Like he could be calmer, knowing I was around. At first, I thought it was because he valued my hard-working spirit around here. I’d come to learn that he simply liked my company. It was mutual—except for now.

“When did you get in?” he asked at the same time I blurted, “I didn’t know you would be in now.”

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