Page 14 of Dancing on Air

They had given him two years to complete his ballet and wow them.

There was no way Chloe was going to be part of that project, as they hinted.

After the third attempt by his mother to get him to include her in his project, he stood up and made some sort of excuse about an early morning.

His father followed him to the door.

“You maneuvered that well enough,” his father said, slapping him on the shoulder. “Have you heard from your sister?”

“Not since last week.”

Melissa Sharpe, or Missy to everyone but their parents, was two years younger than he was. He and Missy were closer to each other than they were to their parents. They had weekly video calls and often daily chats.

To their parents’ horror, Missy had decided to attend culinary college in Boston. They’d wanted her to continue dance classes in the city before dancing full time for BAC. Instead, she was taking cooking and baking classes, which they thought was beneath a Sharpe family member.

She was the black sheep of the family. No member of the Sharpe family peddled sugar and sweets. It simply wasn’t done.

“You know, phones work both ways,” he suggested, slapping his father on the shoulder before walking out.

Less than a week later, he was sitting at home and was shocked to see Cora Thomas’s face flash on the television screen. Fumbling, he turned on the sound and listened to the report of how she and her brother, who happened to be JT Whistler, had survived a night of horror on JT’s private island. According to the report, that’s where Cora was living now.

The news wasn’t saying much other than that a mentally unstable woman had broken in and held JT at gunpoint. Apparently, JT’s love interest, none other than movie star Emma Wilder, had shot the deranged woman. The attacker was expected to make a full recovery and would then be transferred to a state mental health facility, which she had been in and out of her entire life.

There was a grainy photo of what appeared to be JT holding Emma and Cora. The three of them looked… lost. Scared. Most importantly, they looked like a family.

His phone rang and, seeing Julie’s name, he answered it before the second ring.

“Are you watching this?” Julie asked quickly.

“Yeah.”

“That poor girl,” Julie said.

“Do we have her contact information?” he asked.

“Yes, I’ll wait until morning to call her and make sure she’s all right. She might need some time,” Julie said. “I’ll hold her spot open, if you want me to.”

“Yes,” he answered quickly. “Just… send her some flowers or… shit, I don’t know.” He ran his hands through his hair.

“I’ll handle it,” Julie said. “You’re determined about this one.”

“I am,” he answered without hesitation. “Like you said, she has potential.”

After hanging up, he stared off into space, remembering, thinking, dreaming.

So much of what he wanted, who he was, was tied up in this project. He didn’t know how long he could delay his parents or wait for the funding that he needed, but he was determined to make it worth it.

He figured the sooner Cora started at BAC, the better. In the world of dance, politics played a huge role. There was no way he could just hire an unknown from up north. Not without at least a year of the BAC under her belt. His parents would never go for it.

Already, they were pushing him to use Chloe or someone else that was already attending BAC. Hell, they had even suggested Julie as a last resort.

The more he worked on his ballet, the more he was positive Cora was the perfect Ella. In his mind, it was her face, her movements he thought of when writing his first masterpiece.

Plus, the truth was, he just hadn’t been able to keep his mind off Cora.

Chapter Four

The moment Cora stepped out of the cab, she was assaulted with the noise, smells, and the absolute wonder of the large city. It was good to be back.