Page 14 of Dancing With Doubt

“Well, I’d be really interested in something like that. Not just investing, but maybe even helping to run it. I’ll have to discuss it with my husband, but I think we might be able to work something out.” Keily said, offering hope to Roxie of getting her life back on track as if she’d offered her the loan of a car to go to the grocery store and not something truly life-changing.

“Really?” Roxie asked, wondering if she had been knocked out and this magical woman was all part of some dream. This couldn’t be real, could it? People like this didn’t just randomly show up in real life. Well, not in Roxie’s experience anyway.

“Yeah, I’m not joking. I’d really like to do something like this with you.” Keily shook her head and leaned back, thinking about possibilities if the gleam of excitement in her eyes meant anything.

“I can’t believe you’re real or that we’ve only just met properly. I have some sketches back home, ideas I’ve had for decorating the place. I’ll have to bring them to you at some point and see what you think.” Roxie didn’t want to get ahead of herself, but she was eager to get this off the ground, even if her head had started to thump again. She gingerly brushed her fingers over the lump and tried to make it stop hurting, but the numbing effect of the ice pack was already wearing off.

“I’m glad you’ve got some ideas. I don’t know where to even start. What about safety and health stuff? Will that be difficult here?”

“Well, I’d like a more exclusive club to start with. Even more exclusive than Elmo’s was. And yes, they take health and safety very seriously here, as they should in places like that. People might have to pay more to become a member than they did at Elmo’s, but the extra fee will be worth it. I want my girls to be healthy and safe and we’d have to maintain the same requirements for our clients. That’s one of our top priorities, I don’t want sick employees because we’re lax, and I definitely don’t want people like Nathan being able to walk in and set the place on fire all over again. I want identity checks on the clients that join the club.”

“I get that.” Keily nodded, her gaze turned inward, thinking. “I think we’ll have to have a meeting, discuss the financials and figure out where to even put the club, but yeah, I think we could work something out.”

“Awesome. I really can’t believe this.”

The conversation gave Roxie some hope, but she wouldn’t hold her breath. People couldn’t always come through for you, no matter how much they wanted to. Keily seemed really interested in having a clean, safe place for Roxie and her girls to dance in, but again, Roxie wasn’t going to hold her breath.

“Well, I’m not promising anything right now, but I think Logan will be interested in this too. And my babies are at an age where I can put my degree in business to good use without it being too painful for us all.” Keily’s smile wasn’t just full of pride because of her babies but in herself too.

“Good for you, getting a degree,” Roxie said, impressed with the other woman. She was on her second marriage, but she’d earned a degree and given birth to triplets. That was impressive.

“Oh, it’s not that big of a deal, but I’m proud of it. So, who are the dancers you have in mind? Do any of them work at the studio? That Kitty woman, for instance?” Keily asked, moving the conversation on.

Roxie smiled and noted how good Keily was at steering the conversation away from herself. She let it pass, though.

“Yeah, Kitty would be one of the girls I’d want. I’m still in touch with most of the dancers. Most of them are afraid of going back to work in the other clubs, because even with our security at Elmo’s, Nathan still managed to fool them all to get in and that makes them nervous. Someone that we all trusted almost killed us and burned down our workplace. It’s hard to trust anyone after something like that.”

“I bet.” Keily nodded, her eyes full of sympathy. “It must make it hard in all aspects of your life, especially since you were with him.”

“It’s not been easy.” Roxie sighed, the pain in her head increasing. Nausea started to intrude, and she closed her eyes.

“How about I drive you back to your car? You look completely done in.” Keily suggested kindly and Roxie smiled.

“Yeah, I think I need to get home and take care of this head of mine,” Roxie answered, opening her eyes.

“Well, let’s get you back then.” Keily got up and held her hand out to Roxie.

Roxie took the woman’s hand and looked at her with wonder. “You’re incredible.”

“I can tell you for nothing that you wouldn’t have said that if you’d met me when I was with my first husband, but I’m trying.” Keily shrugged and led Roxie out of the house.

Roxie managed to drive herself home once Keily dropped her off and knew that Wendy would be up soon. Roxie was later than normal getting home but she’d enjoyed talking with Keily so much that she’d barely been able to pull herself away. She let herself in, put the bottle of water and ibuprofen she’d got on the way home on the coffee table, and slumped onto her couch.

She was too tired to even take off the stiletto boots as she picked up a sketchbook from the coffee table and flipped it open. It was filled with design ideas she’d had for a new club, something far more exclusive than Elmo’s, with much better security. She’d told Keily Elmo’s had been the best, but there was always room for improvement.

With a faint smile, she picked up her phone and started to reply to Wendy’s last text. She’d explained in texts to Wendy before she came home that Nathan had caused a problem at work but hadn’t explained fully.

The last text from Wendy nearly made her have a heart attack.

“I heard you were injured? You better call me right now!” That wasn’t what made Roxie’s blood pressure go up, though. It was that the text came in more than a half-hour ago. Wendy would be panicking. Roxie cursed herself for not calling and explaining. She was typing a text when a knock came at the door.