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“How did it go?” Penny asks as I meet her before our evening show.

“I’m a little surprised he showed up at all.” I smile and she bats me on the shoulder.

“You’re just sore you lost your bet with Billy. Yes, I did hear about that.” She rolls her eyes at me. I could say Billy suggested it, which he did, but I didn’t have to take him up on it. Except that’s the way we’ve always been since we were kids. Billy’s just about the only family I have left.

“You should’ve had more faith in Baby. He seems like once he’s made up his mind and says he’s going to do something he sees it through,” Penny continues.

“Well, he’ll need to, especially when we tell him he’s going to have to do it all in heels.”

Penny grimaces slightly, uncertainty flickering across her face at my words, which were only half meant in jest. I take her hand.

“He did really well today, so as long as he puts the work in I’m sure we’ll be fine. We don’t have another choice, do we?”

Penny’s face turns serious.

“Thank you, Johnny. I don’t know what I’d do without you,”

“I’m always here, you know that,” I say and hug her close.

When I’m waiting in the dance studio the next day, I hear a sound on the steps outside. Anticipating the kid, as we have a lot to go through, I pull open the door and come face to face with Vivianne Pressman, already dolled up and in full makeup this early in the morning.

She’s startled as well, but immediately puts on what she probably thinks is her most winning smile.

“Well, isn’t this a surprise?”

“Not really. I’m here most days. I’m just waiting for the next lesson to show up,” I say, hoping she’ll leave immediately. I can’t have her here when I’m dancing with Baby.

“A private lesson?” She frowns slightly.

“Yes.”

“Who has you all booked up so you can’t fit me in?”

I shrug and stick my hands in my pockets. I can’t say anything in answer to that. I keep my face neutral. She stares at me for what feels like an hour but is probably only a few seconds, and then draws a deep breath, her eyes turning stony and her lips a hard line.

“Well, just make sure you’re available in the ballroom tonight. Moe likes me to be occupied. You wouldn’t want me to have him complain to Max that his best dancer is avoiding me, would you?”

“No, Mrs Pressman.” I say her name deliberately, and she gives me a thin smile that doesn’t reach her eyes. Her husband, Moe, is a good friend of Max’s and could make trouble if he wanted to. It’s a tight line to walk with people like her.

“That’s more like it,” she says, and I breathe a sigh of relief as she turns and walks away, but then she calls out loudly.

“See you tonight, Johnny. I can’t wait.”

She disappears round a bend in the path, the bushes obscuring her from me, and a few seconds later Baby comes rushing round the corner. Dressed in shorts, gym shoes, and a tight T-shirt, he’s fresh and pretty and a world away from Vivianne Pressman.

“Who was that?” he asks, glancing behind him as if she might reappear at any moment.

“Just a guest,” I answer sharply and turn back inside. “C’mon, we have work to do.”

I ignore that he stands for a few seconds looking back down the path. It doesn’t matter to me that he might have overheard what Vivianne said. It can’t matter. I try not to let her bother me, but my annoyance bleeds into our session.

The first time, we practice a turn with him spinning away and coming back. I catch him roughly.

“Hey!” he cries. “That hurt.”

“It’s because you have no frame,” I bite back and push him away from me slightly .

I lift my arms into position. “This is my frame, my dance space.” I pull his arms into a mirror of mine. “That’s your dance space. Now lock your arms so they’re not like spaghetti. Then next time I won’t have to stop you from braining me.”

He glares at me and we try again. Things improve slightly, but it’s still not flowing well, so after another hour, I call a halt.

“We’ll try again tomorrow,” I say and dismiss him.

He looks down and I think he’s about to say something like sorry, but thankfully he doesn’t, because it’s not his fault.

I shouldn’t have avoided Vivianne. She can make things harder for me, though she also pays generously.

But I now see through the facade of it all and I no longer want a part of it.

I want something simpler, which for unknown reasons has made my life a whole lot more complicated.

I dance with Vivianne as she requested, and afterwards, back in the staff quarters, try to forget it all as I dance with Penny. I also try hard not to wish I could do this sort of dancing with a slim, pretty guy I have no right to think that way about.

I’m in a better mood when Baby shows up the next day.

I’m a little amazed he’s come back after yesterday, but maybe Penny is right about him.

I’ve never known anyone to follow through with a decision they’ve made with so much determination before.

He doesn’t have to be here. That he still is, is nothing short of admirable.

He stands in the door, looking at me a little tentatively, and I realise he’s waiting to see if I’m going to snap at him, and I hate that I’ve caused him that level of concern.

“Trying to gauge if I’m going to snap at you again? ”

“Something like that.” He gives a little shrug, pulling his bottom lip between his teeth, which draws my eyes to it instantly.

“I’m sorry, I was out of sorts yesterday and let it get to me.”

“It’s alright. I know how worried about Penny you are.”

It wasn’t about that, but hell if he doesn’t give me an out, an excuse for my poor behaviour, and he’s being so damn understanding. He has so much goodness it makes me ache inside. I don’t want to explain, or claim his reasoning falsely, so I just answer.

“It won’t happen again.”

My reward is a brilliant smile, which makes it feel as if the sun has come out on a cloudy day. I don’t deserve it, but I’m sure as hell going to enjoy it.

Over the next couple of days, we put in several hours of work, and he’s really starting to get the fluidity of the steps and the dance.

The dance routine is there, but it’s not quite coming together.

The turns still need some work and we haven’t tackled the lifts as much as I’d like.

The show is in a few days and I’m starting to worry we’re not going to be ready in time.

To make matters worse, the weather is close.

It’s hot and humid and we’re both feeling its effects.

After one particularly bad turn he trips, nearly pulling me over with him.

“Will you focus?” I growl

“I am,” he yells at me. “We’ve got a few days left before the show, but I’m not certain of this turn and you haven’t shown me the lifts yet. So yeah, I’m doing all of this to get you out of a fix when what I really want to do is show us all up. ”

He stands there, his chest heaving and fury in his normally calm eyes. I take a deep breath and look him up and down, seeing the sweat glistening on his skin from the exertion and the humidity, and I come to a decision.

“Then let’s go.”