Page 18 of Whiskey Reveals

Chapter 10

By the timeMelody made it to her studio after hiding the letter in her desk, she was running late. It had taken her longer than she had planned to finish getting ready and get out of the house. She still couldn’t quite believe that someone had sent that note, but she hoped it was just a prank. It had to be. There was no reason for her to get anything like that in the mail, and because she’d watched so many crime shows, her imagination was just running amok.

Her contractors weren’t working that day because they had another project they alternated with hers. That was just fine with her, though, because she still had to set up her office and do some practice in the main room to make sure all the tiny logistics were exactly where they needed to be. She had been in countless dance studios in her life and knew what she needed as a dancer, but teaching children—or anybody for that matter—was new for her. She may have taken classes to ensure that she could do what she would be doing, but it didn’t mean she would excel at it. And that meant lots of practice and making sure each piece of equipment, and the space, was perfectly attuned to what her dancers would need.

And once again, her stomach rolled, and she tried not to vomit.

She really didn’t want to throw up on her new floor.

She had put on workout clothes so she could test out some of the new things her contractor had put in, so she toed off her shoes and put on an old pair of ballet flats before she started to stretch. She was nowhere near the shape she had been in in her prime thanks to everything that had happened, and there was no way she would ever be able to have that kind of endurance or stretching ability again. But she could at least do some of the initial stretches and position work to make sure that everything in the space was set up exactly like it needed to be.

And maybe she hadn’t needed to follow her dreams along the path she had to this particular destination, but as her grandmother had said, there was dancing in her veins, and she had been hiding from it for far too long. There was no way she could stand alone in the stance studio for too long and not want to put her feet on every inch of the beautiful floor and let the music flow through her as she danced.

They hadn’t set up the rest of the audio system yet since that was one of the last things they were going to do, so she connected her phone to the speaker and played a song that was slightly upbeat. If she had queued up anything sad right then, with all the nerves running through her, she probably would have ended up a weeping ball, never wanting to dance again.

She rolled her neck over her shoulders and held out her arms, her fingers spread ever so slightly. And then she danced. With every high and low, she moved, the music flowing through her. She didn’t do any giant leaps or big spins that would end with her on pointe or on the ground, but in those moments, she was just the music, and she could feel the woman she had once been.

And because she wasn’t exactly sure how she felt about that anymore, she forcibly lost herself in the music, and it took her moment to realize that someone was knocking on the door. She tripped over her own two feet, proving that being graceful didn’t always come naturally, and looked out her floor-to-ceiling windows at the front the studio, trying not to fall flat on her face. Having a potential new client watch her fall on the dance floor wasn’t the best way to entice people to pay for dancing lessons.

Standing at the glass double doors were two women with bright smiles on their faces. They looked sort of familiar to her, but then again, she had seen a lot of people since she’d come to Whiskey—even though she had sort of hidden herself away at her grandmother’s house and at the studio. But she had a feeling she should know who these two women were.

She held up one finger, scurried back to her phone to turn down the music since it was far too loud, and did her best to look professional as she walked back to the front doors. She had locked them since she was a woman alone in an empty building, but now, she kind of felt silly dancing with the lights on where anyone could see her.

Both women smiled at her when she opened the door. “Hi there, we aren’t open quite yet, but is there something I can do for you?” She used to be good at this whole people thing, or at least she had thought she was; now, she felt a little bit rusty. Considering that the only people she really talked to were her contractor, her grandmother, and Fox, she realized she really needed to get better at this whole thing.

The slightly curvier woman with the long, auburn hair gave a little wave and grinned. Melody thought slightly on that curvy part because they were both tall and pretty slender—and gorgeous. For a dancer, Melody had far more curves than some of her previous acquaintances. Since she wasn’t dancing full-time now, she didn’t mind and actually liked her curves. But if she had still been in the Juilliard world, she would’ve been considered fat. And she probably would’ve told those people to go fuck themselves and then danced her heart out. But that was neither here nor there.

The brunette waved, as well. “Hi, I’m Ainsley, and this is Kenzie. We know you’ve already met Kenzie’s man, Dare since he owns the bar across the street. And you met his brother, Loch at the gym he owns. And you met Fox. We’ve been patiently waiting for you to come back into the bar so we could meet you, but we’re not that patient.”

Kenzie let out a laugh as Melody tried to catch up to exactly what Ainsley was trying to say. “I’m new to this whole small-town thing, too, so don’t worry. Yes, the whole town knows about you and knows that you’re opening a small dance studio and that a lot of us have already signed up to work with you. And the whole town is waiting for you to come out of the house and meet them so they can talk about you—but in a fun way, not a weird way. And I’m just rambling about the fact that small towns are really weird. I’m still trying to get used to the fact that everybody seems to know my name and that the only people I really know right off the bat are the others I work with and my new family. And Ainsley, of course.”

“I’m practically family,” Ainsley said with a laugh.

Melody was still trying to catch up when she realized that she was standing in the doorway forcing the two women to remain on the sidewalk. Now she felt awkward, but she took a step back and let them walk in anyway. She knew she had seen these two women before. Fox had pointed them out the night she wasn’t ever going to mention again. Plus, he had talked about them again when they were texting each other. It was just weird to have the women in front of her and not know exactly what she was supposed to say.

“Come on in, sorry for making you wait out there. I was just stretching, getting to know the dance floor, and I think my mind is still on the music rather than how to actually have a conversation. Sorry.”

“It’s no worries,” Kenzie said as she and Ainsley walked in, their gazes searching the place.

Melody felt a little self-conscious but she did her best not to look it. At least, she hoped she did.

“This place looks great,” Kenzie continued. “I can’t wait to get started. I used to dance when I was younger. I wasn’t amazing or anything, but it’ll be nice to have a workout that doesn’t include the elliptical day in and day out. Not that I don’t love Loch and his gym, but sometimes, it would be nice to do something a little different.”

Melody finally caught on. “You’re going to be dancing with me? That’s wonderful. I wasn’t actually looking at names as much as I probably should have when I was making up the rosters. I think everything is blending together at this point, and it’s going to take me a few tries in order to get it.”

“I run the inn and barely remember guests’ names as they leave sometimes, so I totally understand. I’m just really excited that you’re here.”

“We are excited,” Ainsley corrected. “I haven’t signed up for a class yet because I don’t have the experience that Kenzie does. I know you have non-experienced classes, but I don’t know if I’m there yet. You’ll still see me around because Loch signed up his daughter Misty, and Dare signed up his son, Nate. So I will probably be here often to watch over practices and pick them up.”

Melody didn’t think that Ainsley was dating Loch, at least from what Fox had said, but she seemed really close to the family. There had to be a story there. Not that she was going to touch on anything close to that since it wasn’t her place and she was still trying to figure out exactly how she would fit into this new town and with these new people. Digging for gossip and trying to figure out relationships was no way to go about that.

“Can I just say how excited I am that people are actually signing up? I mean, it’s not like I went into opening the studio thinking I was going to be all by myself, but I totally went into it thinking I might be by myself, going into complete debt because I had no dancing students, and dancing alone on this floor sobbing into my ballet shoes.”

The others laughed, but Melody had been totally serious, and she had a feeling the others knew that.

“Anyway, we came to say hello,” Kenzie continued. “I know what it’s like to be the new person in town, and this one over here completely took me under her wing so I wasn’t alone. You totally don’t have to become best friends with us or even hang out with us if you don’t want. But I wanted to let you know that we’re here if you need a set of girlfriends.”

Melody couldn’t help but smile. She’d never met women like these two before, and she knew she’d been sorely missing out. Her past friends had been just as cutthroat as she was, and she regretted what had become of everything.

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