Page 36 of The Virgin's Dance
Neither of them spotted the woman following them, watching carefully as they walked back to Pilot’s apartment. Her eyes followed them until they disappeared into his building, then she turned and walked away, disappearing back into the night.
Chapter Sixteen
Grace sat on Boh’s single bed and watched her pack her clothes. “I’m going to miss you, boo,” she smiled at her friend.
“Me too. I feel kind of bad for leaving you in the lurch like this.”
“You’re doing nothing of the sort,” Grace handed her a stack of scarves. “When you first met Pilot, I kind of guessed this was the way it would go. You just seem so perfect for each other.”
Boh grinned. “I know, right? But still, will you be able to manage the rent?”
“Girl, stop worrying. If you can keep a secret, I have news. NYSMBC has offered me a teaching role next season.”
Boh stopped. “What?”
“I’m retiring from dancing, at least, for the most part. The stress fracture I suffered last year has made a reappearance and I’ve had enough.” She sighed. “Listen, I made principal at my own ballet company—what else is there?”
“Prima,” Boh stressed but then sighed. “But I can’t blame you.”
Grace studied her. “You getting stressed out about the showcase?”
“Yes and no. I’m concerned because Kristof isn’t himself, have you noticed? No temper tantrums, no screaming, no violence. He seems … subdued, if that isn’t too weak a word.”
“Maybe he’s finally kicked the drugs?”
Boh frowned and Grace chuckled. “Come on, did you really think he had quit? We all know how he fuels himself. How he passes the urine tests, I don’t know, but he does it.”
“Does the company know?”
“The deal was clean drug tests. He’s getting them, which gives Liz and the board plausible deniability. They need him, especially after the anonymous donor. I still wonder who that was, who his benefactor was.”
Boh made a noncommittal sound, still thinking about the clean drug tests. Kristof had been calmer, his eyes clearer, his temper restrained. Maybe he was clean, now. She was under no illusion that he wouldn’t revert the nearer the showcase got. Two more weeks. She, Vlad, Elliott, and the others had their roles down—it was a waiting game now.
She looked around the bare room. “Wow. If you had told me three months ago …”
“That you were going to fall in love with a gorgeous billionaire, move to a great loft apartment,andbe the subject of a major art installation?”
Grace was grinning as Boh laughed. “When you put it like that.” She sat down on the bed next to her friend. “I’ll be dancing too. Right at the end of the exhibition, the last photograph will lift and I’ll do a short piece. It was Pilot’s idea.”
“The Arnalds piece?” Grace looked impressed and Boh nodded.
“I took some persuading. Also, I should warn you … there’ll be, um, nudes.”
“Ofyou?”
“No, the Stay Puffed Marshmallow guy. Yes, me.”
Grace’s eyebrows shot up. “Girl … I’m so proud of you. Geez, the man has been so good for you. And you for him, I know. He’s lost that haunted look he had when we first met him.”
“You saw that too?”
Grace tapped her temple. “People watcher. That man was in pain and now he’s alive again.”
Boh suddenly felt a wave of emotion. “I keep thinking the other shoe is going to drop.”
Grace hugged her. “That’s just being human, boo, and a New Yorker. We’re naturally cynical. Nothing is going to go wrong.”
Pilot came to pick her up, and they shared a last meal with Grace, Chinese food which Pilot brought, plus two huge bottles of champagne. He clinked his glass against theirs. “I’d say I feel bad about stealing Boh away from you, Gracie, but I don’t,” he grinned as Grace laughed.
