Waiting for You (RightMatch.com Trilogy) (9 page)

Dana continued to watch herself as she went through the arm movements of third, fourth and fifth positions, some of which meant twisting at the waist. When she was finished, she began the head movements with a
téte de face,
face toward the front. When she went to
profil
, head to the right in profile, she stopped abruptly. Because she saw a man—big and beautiful—near the doorway.

She was about to speak when he said, “I’ve never seen anything more beautiful in my life.” His voice was hoarse and full of emotion.

She’d been called brilliant, extraordinaire, and a Paris critic had used the ultimate compliment by comparing her to a touted French prima ballerina. But Joe’s one simple sentence, uttered passionately, slid into her heart, her soul, softening her all over. She smiled at him. “Thank you, Joe.”

When she reached for the controls to lower the seat, he said, “No, finish what you were doing. Let me watch a little longer.”

Her hand stilled on the lever and something inside Dana shifted unwillingly. Unconsciously. Unwanted. But she did as he asked and, dear God, danced for him.

o0o

Joe had only cried a few times in his life since his father had died: when he got the news that his football career was over; when the divorce from Leona was finalized, and when his partner had been killed in the line of duty while Joe himself lay bleeding in an alley. But he felt like bawling as Dana continued her routine. She was breathtaking. Her movements were so fluid, they melded into each other. He was mesmerized by each angle of her arms, each tilt of her head, each subtle shift of her torso, outlined in dance garb. He was in some sort of trance, when he heard, “Joe? I’m done.”

He blew out a heavy breath and grasped the doorjamb. “Wow.”

She smiled, and he wondered briefly how she could take pleasure in doing so little when she’d once been able to do so much. Though he played other sports, he’d never participated in a pickup football game again after he’d gotten hurt. He watched as she lowered the chair into a seated position. Striding over to her, he bent down and kissed her on the cheek. “Wow,” he reiterated, then dropped onto the floor, leaned against the mirror and stared up at her.

She cocked her head, that movement as graceful as her earlier ones. “Not many people think to do that, right away at least.”

“I’d hate having to look up at people all day.”

Wiping a fine layer of perspiration off her face with a towel hooked over a bar of the wheelchair, she said, “Yeah, I do. It’s nice that you know to do it intuitively.”

“Hey, congrats again on the award. After I emailed you, I looked it up online. It’s a real honor.”

“Thanks.” She held his gaze and he knew instantly she wasn’t going to play coy. “So?”

“So I want to see you. To date. To see where our relationship goes.”

“Are you sure, Joey?”

“Absolutely.”

Dana gave him a pleased grin, which made him wonder why it had taken him so long to come to this conclusion. “What made you decide?”

“A lot of things. I do have to confess that one of them was a date of sorts yesterday.”

She didn’t seem upset about that.

“Don’t you care?”

“We never said we wouldn’t date others.”

“No, we didn’t.” Something occurred to him. “Did you date someone else?”

“Uh-huh. When I started to think you just blew me off. Tell me about your date. Of sorts.”

 “We went hiking, and I could only do half the trail, so while she finished, I laid in the grass and thought about you.” And how she was able to handle her limitations when he hated not being up to par physically. But he didn’t tell her that, because he felt guilty about his reaction.

“What did you do afterward?”

“Uh-uh. You tell something about your date first.”

She explained about a romantic dinner in the park and how this Craig guy had made her feel safe. He clasped his hands, which were dangling between his spread knees. “Ah, well, sensitive guy. Smarter than I am in these areas. Of course, he’s had experience. Time to prepare. Which you never gave me, babe.”

A purely female smile curved her lips. “You’re not doing so bad,
babe
. You knew enough to sit. You have good instincts.”

He rubbed his shoulder. “Sometimes.”

“What happened
after
your date?” she asked again.

“We went to lunch in a place near Letchworth Park. Then I went home.”

“That’s all?”

“I didn’t make another date. She asked, but I dodged the idea.”

“Did you kiss her, like you did me?”

“No, but she kissed me at the car. I couldn’t stop it. How about you?”

“Same thing; he kissed me. Though I was in the chair and couldn’t get away.” She arched a brow. “But you could have.”

Amazed that she could joke about her disability, he smiled at her. “Okay, honesty now. I didn’t have a good time with her. I didn’t want to kiss her. I wanted to be with you. I have all week.”

“That does my ego good.”

“My ego could use something.”

“I told Craig I couldn’t see him anymore. I shouldn’t have been with him when I wished I was with you.” She gestured around the studio. “Why didn’t you just email me today?”

“I wanted to see you in person. In case you were pissed and might give me hard time. I remembered you said your new session started in a few days and figured you’d be here. Besides, I wanted to scope out the place where you spend so much of your time.”

For a moment, she just watched him. “I have to admit, I was looking for an email from you.”

“Thanks for telling me that. You didn’t have to.”

“We need to be honest with each other, Joe. No secrets, including omissions.”

Guilt for what he was omitting made him go cold inside. “I know.” He rolled to his feet, bent over and kissed her on the mouth again, though this time he wasn’t so tentative. He grabbed the back of the chair. “This is different from the one you usually use.”

She raised the arms from the side. “Yes.”

“Why don’t you use it all the time? Stand more.”

“I have limits on how long I can be upright. It’s complicated medically. I use it all the time at the studio because it turns into a seated electric chair. I have three different chairs for all different purposes.”

“I see.”

“I also don’t use crutches and braces. The pain of trying to stand isn’t worth it. Even with this” --she touched the arms of the chair-- “I can’t even teach a whole class upright.”

“Does that suck?” he asked honestly.

“You know, it does. But I’ll take what I can get.”

He strolled around the classroom, stopping at the wall of windows. “This is a great room. Big.” He put his hand on the glass. “Nice touch. Most studios don’t have natural light.”

“Yeah, we’ve come a long way.” She wheeled out ahead of him. “And maybe we’ll expand. The man from the National Board believes we’ll get a lot more applications and students coming in for the summer or special workshops. We’ve already got a long waiting list. Ruth and I are thinking about buying the space next door. It’s available.”

“Would you be able to handle that?”

“I’d have to hire more demonstrators and instructors.”

“You don’t teach all the classes?”

“No, seems like the Devlin name is enough. Let’s go to my office. I need some water.” She led him down a hall.

“Did I tell you Kara, my eleven-year-old, is into dance?”

“You mentioned it online. I forgot where she takes, though.”

Dana asked the question just as she reached her office. The studio had been set up to accommodate her. Every doorway was enlarged, no rugs, switches at waist level. He’d started to tell her about Kara’s dance school when a woman swiveled around from the computer where she was working.

Dana wheeled inside with Joe behind her. “Ruth Cosgrove, I’d like you to meet someone. This is Joe Moretti.”

Ruth’s whole face brightened. “Hello, Sergeant. I’m a big admirer of yours.”

“I wish I could say the same.” The words were out of his mouth before he could censor himself. Damn it, he’d thought he’d changed his attitude toward this woman after Dana admonished him for blaming her and thinking about the situation for ten days, but apparently, his knee jerk reaction hadn’t caught up.

Which from the look on Dana’s face was totally unacceptable.

o0o

Her face pale, Ruth lifted her chin and kept her calm. Dana didn’t. Though Joe’s skin had turned pasty, too, she ignored his reaction. “You’ll have to leave, Joe, and not contact me again. I know I just agreed to pursue a relationship with you, but I won’t tolerate comments like that to someone I love. It’s unacceptable for you to bear a grudge against Ruth.”

He ran a nervous hand through his hair and shot her a pleading glance. “Look, I was out of line. I’m sorry.”

“Excuses don’t matter. I can’t risk hurting Ruth. And this decision is final.”

Openmouthed, he stared at her. She wondered how she could make him leave if he refused. He was one of the good guys. He took a step toward her and she wheeled back.

Ruth, literally this time, came between them. “Dana, let me handle this.”

“What? Why?”

“Because it’s me he said that to.” Ruth faced Joe. “Could you leave us alone a minute? Stay in the hall, I want to talk to you, too, but first I need to deal with Dana.”

“Ruth, this is my decision.”

“No, it’s not.”

Dana was shocked to hear Ruth’s voice raise in pitch. For as long as she could remember, she’d never heard the woman speak above normal levels.

Slowly, Joe backed out of the room and Ruth crossed to the door and shut it. Then she turned to Dana. Her friend’s expression was conflicted.

“Ruth—”

“Let me speak, please. Actually, I insist.”

“A-All right.”

“Take some deep breaths first.”

Because she was so upset, Dana followed the suggestion and felt a bit calmer. Ruth knew her so well.

“You’ve been moping for days about this guy not calling you. I saw him watch you dance, saw you talk afterward. I heard you say you’d decided to date. I’m not going to sit by and let you forgo a relationship with a man you care about because of me.”

“It’s not your choice. It’s mine. I refuse to allow anyone to speak to you that way. He blames you for my condition, Ruth.”

Silence. Then, “To a degree, I was to blame.” When Dana began to protest, Ruth said, “Sweetie, we had some therapy sessions together. Caroline said not to cover up that fact.”

“Caroline said what happened to me was an accident. It was!”

“Yes, one that wouldn’t have occurred if I hadn’t gone backstage that night.”

Dana was thoughtful for a moment. They’d both benefited from the honesty that Caroline Barge had insisted on. “All right, then. You’ve more than made up for your part in my accident. In what you sacrificed for me.”

“Oh, yeah? Let’s see.” She began counting on outstretched fingers. “I gained a daughter. I found a life’s work that I never had, mind you, while I was married. And after John died, I was lost. I have you, an interesting job that gives my life purpose and a beautiful house to live in. Some sacrifice.”

Deflated, Dana eased back. What Ruth said was true, even if she did put a slant on the situation. “You know what I mean.”

“And you know what I mean.”

“Why Joey? There will be other guys…”

Now Ruth snorted. “You’ve barely dated in the twelve years since the accident.”

“Neither have you.”

“I’m sixty. You’re forty. A huge difference.”

They’d had this conversation before. Dana always wished Ruth would find a man to share her life with, regardless of the effect it would have on Dana herself.

“In any case,” Ruth continued, “I won’t be responsible for running Joe Moretti out of your life.”

“How would this work, Ruth, practically? He feels what he feels.” The statement was an honest, unemotional assessment of the situation.

Ruth took some time to think about the question. “He’s going to have to get over his resentment. His sense of blame.”

Dana shook her head.

“It’s not up to you. It’s up to me. And him.”

Dana wheeled the chair back and forth, like an able-bodied person might shift on his feet. Of course she wanted Joe in her life but not at Ruth’s expense.

“Now,” Ruth said, somewhat haughtily, “I’d like to talk to Joe alone.”

Scowling, Dana did her best to glare at Ruth. “I’m not happy about this unilateral decision.”

“Then
you’ll
have to find a way to deal with
that.”
She walked to the door but turned before she opened it. “Have I ever asked you for anything, Dana?”

“To get better emotionally. To work harder at it.”

“Other than that?”

Dana stared at her. They both knew the answer to Ruth’s query.

“Well, I’m asking now. And, as you said, to some degree, you owe me.”

Dana didn’t know this Ruth. In the ten years they’d been together, they’d never had one fight. Which was another thing she didn’t like—Joe bringing strife to Dana and Ruth’s relationship. “Fine.” Head high, she wheeled out the door in a huff. She was, after all, entitled to pout.

Joey was standing in the hallway like a kid being called into the principal’s office. “Dana, I’m—”

“Don’t talk to me. I’m mad at you. Go inside. Miss High-and-Mighty wants to see you.” With that, she rolled away with as much flourish as was possible in a wheelchair.

o0o

The older woman with attractive gray hair and big green eyes stared over at Joe from where she leaned against the desk. Instead of anger, her body language revealed determination, though her face was ragged.

“I’m sorry, Ruth,” he repeated once he was inside. “I was out of line in what I said.”

“In some ways you were, Joe. In some ways you weren’t. Let’s put all the cards on the table.”

Since the hand he held was shit, he wasn’t anxious to do that, but he sensed Dana was serious about kicking him out of her life, and he had to get back into this woman’s good graces.

“Dana did indeed get hurt because of me. If I could have changed places with her at that moment, I would have. But”—she pointed to Joe’s shoulder— “like you, she saw someone was in danger and pushed that person—me—out of the way.”