Page 71 of Dancing on Air

She confided in him that she’d been dreaming of having kids. Two of them. He happily agreed that two kids was what he was thinking as well.

When she mentioned wanting to open her own dance studio, he was not only enthusiastic about it, but confided that he had scanned for property in Silver Cove earlier that day.

When they returned home, they lay in bed with his laptop and looked for both business sites for a studio and homes or empty lots for them to build their own dream home on.

Cora fell asleep with Max still scouring the internet. When her alarm woke her, Max was wide awake and on his computer.

“Tell me you got some sleep,” she said as she stretched and climbed out of bed.

“A few hours. I think I found it.” He motioned to his screen.

“What?” she asked, rubbing her eyes.

“Our studio and home site.”

She leaned over his shoulder and he showed her the site.

“It’s an old empty barn that we can convert into the dance studio,” he said as she looked at a bright red barn she vaguely remembered driving by just outside of town. “There’s five acres included in the property. Plenty for us to build a dream home anywhere we want on the grounds.”

“Building a home? How does that even work?” She shook her head.

He smiled. “I bet your brother or Rowan know a few good local contractors. I have a buddy I was in the military with that works for an architectural firm. We could probably just pick out a floor plan or we could go with a manufactured home.” He shrugged.

She couldn’t believe the price of the land and barn. Then again, she’d never really priced out property before. Was it high? Low?

“I trust you.” She kissed him. “Shower. Food. Dance,” she said, and went into the bathroom.

When she came out ready, Max had an apple and some yogurt ready for her.

“Morning,” he said with a smile and kissed her.

“Morning.” She narrowed her eyes. “You used to not be a morning person.”

He laughed. “I guess I just needed a good enough reason to get up in the morning.”

That made her smile the whole time they drove across town to practice.

It was nice spending her morning time with Max. Normally, she’d just head down the elevator after eating her breakfast alone.

That day’s practice went well enough. She had to break in a new pair of point shoes during her lunch break, which kept her from spending that time with Max since she had to sew her ribbons on and hammer the toes until they were just how she liked them.

Normally, she’d go through a pair of shoes a week. But since they were practicing longer hours, she was going through two pairs a week.

Once the doors officially opened and she was dancing two shows a day, she’d probably go through them twice as fast.

Her outfits for the play were three different long flowing dresses. There was a gold and white dress for the first act, a soft rose colored one for the second, and a white one for the last act. She had toe shoes that matched each outfit. Until opening night, she practiced in her standard pair instead. Most of the other dancers did as well.

Practices went by quickly each day. Somehow, she found herself growing more exhausted the closer they got to opening night. She spent every evening with Max, talking about their future or just enjoying the quiet space they now shared.

She helped him work on his own ballet and was happily surprised that together they were coming up with something that she felt would be a far better story and dance than the current one they were doing. Sure, Romeo and Juliet was a classic, but she’d lived, slept, and breathed it over the past few months, and she was just tired of it. She absolutely loved the dance. Loved the costumes. Loved the music. But she was ready for something different. Something that would shake up the audience and make them feel something deeper.

The night before opening, she got a text message from JT.

“We made it to our hotel. Everyone’s here safe and sound. We’re heading out to see the city. Just wanted to say good luck and we’ll see you tomorrow. Love you.”

“Oh, how fun. I’m so glad you all arrived. See you tomorrow,” she replied quickly.

“Don’t be nervous,” Kayla texted her. “Break a leg.”