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“Nick’s a good friend,” Hayley said with a smile.
Linda looked at Nick. “And what did you think of your first show?”
“Honestly, Linda,” Nick said as he shifted his weight to take one hand off the walker and extend it to her, “I’m very proud to be part of this place. Thank you for roping me in.”
Linda beamed as she shook Nick’s hand. “We’re proud to have you, Nick.”
“Thanks for keeping Kevin busy,” Hayley joked.
“If he keeps dancing like he did tonight, keeping him busy will not be a problem.”
They all laughed, and Hayley and Nick strolled into Vivez Dance’s bar and café.
They found a table against the far wall, and Nick eased himself into a chair. Hayley decided getting some water from the bar was more useful than asking if he was okay. Nick accepted a glass gratefully.
“Can I ask you something?” he said as she sat down.
“Sure.”
“What does dancing with your heart mean?”
She didn’t reply.
“When you introduced me to pickleback shots,” he said, “we drank to dancing with your heart.”
“I remember,” she said. Hayley was surprised at how hesitant she was. This wasn’t a secret, but it felt oddly intimate to offer an explanation when the phrase had been on her mind for weeks.
“It was what we drank to at Icarus,” she told him.
He nodded. “Like a company motto?”
“God, no.” That surprised him. “Our boss didn’t really care about our hearts,” she explained.
“Sounds like a lovely person.”
“I’m not going to ruin the night by talking about Cyd.” But Hayley couldn’t resist at least one jab. “C-Y-D,” she spelled. “She calls herself Cyd Garland. As if swiping your stage name from a couple of actual legends gives you class.”
He frowned, thinking. “I know Judy Garland, but …”
“Cyd Charisse? FromSingin’ in the Rain?” She watched his face. “Nick Freeman, if you haven’t seen—”
“So,” he cut in, “not a motto.”
She shrugged. “Just something my friend Denise and I used to say. It caught on with some others too, but I don’t think it meant as much.”
“So what does it mean to you two?”
“It means dancing isn’t about what you do with your body.”
Hayley grinned. Nick had tried and failed to hide a flash of incredulity that saidthe hell it’s not.She’d expected it, and it was kind of adorable how he was trying to be considerate about something so important to her.
“I didn’t think dancing was about anything else,” he said carefully.
“Dancing is about your relationship to the rest of the world,” she said. “How you react. How you interact. Dancing is movement, but that movement isn’t always physical. Sometimes it’s in a conversation, or a song. You’re as good a dancer as I am.”
He laughed. “Okay.”
“Really,” she protested. “I’ve seen it.”
