Page 26 of Night Fever
Dad came around. It took some convincing, but Hendrick and I didn’t have to work on him. We didn’t have to even talk to him about it, really. Time did its work and convinced Dad all on its own that Hendrick and I makesense.
Because he saw how much happier I was becoming, and he witnessed for himself how my smile had comeback.
I think Hendrick and I could have tried to convince my dad we were right for each other, but I don’t think it would have worked. He had to see, over time, that it just makessense.
Because our hearts speak the samelanguage.
And I’m still going to my psychiatrist appointments, and they’re helping more than they usedto.
“Okay class,” I say, checking the time on my Fitbit, “we’ll see everyone nextweek.”
All of the kids clap and start assembling into their little pairs and cliques, and I pat one of the more shy girls on the shoulder and wink ather.
“Say hi to Midnight for me,” I say, referring to the new kitten she told me earlier she and her family hadadopted.
She smiles and says goodbye, and I go over to Hendrick, where he’s in the corner of the studio doing some casual, yet near technically perfect,pirouettes.
“How’s my girl?” he says with a deep plie before wrapping me up in a bighug.
“Kind of starving,” Ireply.
“Diner before we go meet your dad? I could use a hotcoffee.”
“Yeah,” I say as he kisses me on the cheek before we gather our coats from a pile in thecorner.
There are probably thousands of diners in this city, and we’ve visited plenty of them together. But we both know which one he means. The one that feels likehome.
He puts his arm around me and we make our way out of the studio toward the elevators. I take a final look behind me as he flips off the lights, and our reflections in the big mirrordisappear.
But that’s okay. Because I can only look forward now, and as we ride down in the elevator in warm, comfortable silence, we know it’s coldoutside.
And that’s okay. No matter what it’s like outside, I know we’re bothokay.
Hendrick
Later that Evening
“Come here, baby.”
I watch as Taylor puts a pretty matte silver ball on one of the tree branches and walks over tome.
“I could get used to this,” she says, curling up in my lap and gazing outside at the snow. “Windows that actually close all the way and a fireplace that actuallyworks.”
I could get used to this too, which is why I have a question to ask hertonight.
“You had all that fancy stuff at your folks’ place,” I say, kissing her neck as I wrap my arms around her. “It was your choice to moveout.”
“I know,” she replies. “I just never felt like that was really my place though, you know? I needed a place to call myown.”
“I think that’s why you loved dance so much,” I reply thoughtfully. “Aside from being amazing at it and enjoying it, it was like a little slice of your own place when you danced. Like being somewhere else and being present in your thoughts all at the sametime.”
“You’re absolutely right,” she says dreamily, nuzzling intome.
Her father has been wonderful over the past few months. He came around fairly quickly, and I can’t say I blame his initialskepticism.
“I could get used to this too,” I say. She leans back on me and sighsgently.
I can’t kiss her and make her all better. I can’t make her whole on the inside - only she can do that. But I can try to help her, with every day that goes by, to make her happy. I know I can make her happy. I know I do make her happy, and fill in some of the gaps she’s felt in herlife.
