The very first time I'd laid eyes on her was like getting hit by a truck. She'd been crossing Main Street as I drove down it, and at that very first glimpse I could have sworn I was seeing Addy. It took everything I had not to wreck my truck as my entire body turned to stone. It wasn't until she turned and laughed at something someone on the sidewalk said to her that I realized I wasn't staring at my wife. Where Addy's eyes shimmered the brightest blue, this woman's were a soft brown, and her left cheek dimpled as she smiled brightly.
That initial sighting was a pre-cursor to what I'd felt each time I saw her. She was just too big a reminder of what I'd lost, and I had no clue how to act around her. The thought of having to have a one-on-one conversation with Lilly set me on edge in the most uncomfortable way. Unfortunately, it was either sign Sophia up with her or make the drive to Jackson Hole a half hour away every damn time she had a class.
"Yeah," I finally stated once I realized I'd been silent for too long. "I'll be sure to check that out." Reaching for my wallet in my back pocket, I pulled out a few bills and tossed them on the bar top just as Chloe placed my coffee down in front of me. "Thanks for this." I lifted the cup in my hand in indication. "Have a great day."
"You too," she returned with a smile just as I turned and headed for the door with coffee and pastry in hand. I reached my truck parked along the curb and set the cup on the hood so I could pull my keys out of my jacket when something from the corner of my eye caught my attention.
It was still early enough that the sidewalks along Main weren't crowded, giving me a perfect view into the studio next to Sinful Sweets, and what I saw through the window stole the breath right out of my lungs. Lilly was on the other side of the glass, dancing to a song I couldn't hear.
But it wasn't the way she moved, her body as fluid as water, that captured my attention and held it for several long, painful seconds.
No. It was the shattered expression on her face as she danced that called to me the most. It was the very same expression I wore daily for the past three and a half years. In that very instant I felt a kinship to the woman behind the glass, dancing like it was the only thing keeping her going.
Jerking my gaze away from the window, I hit the button on the remote to unlock the door, grabbed my coffee, and climbed in, slamming the door behind me. I threw my truck in reverse with far more aggression than necessary and peeled out as fast as I could, because it was that feeling of kinship that scared me more than anything.
Quinn
"DADDY! DADDYDADDYDADDYDADDY!"
I spun around on the sidewalk just as my heart dropped to the ground thinking that something terrible had happened to Sophia in the millisecond of time that had passed since we exited Sinful Sweets. That was the only reasonable explanation she'd have for screaming at the top of her lungs when I was a foot and a half away from her.
"What?!" I shouted back frantically as I crouched down low to her level, my eyes scanning for injury. "What happened? What is it? Are you okay?"
"Daddy, I wanna be a ballerina," she stated casually, all the hysteria in her voice gone.
"What?!" I barked, feeling like I'd just lost ten years off my life, all for nothing.
She threw her thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the dance school right next door. "Please, Daddy? Pleeeeease! It's all I want in the whole wide world."
Fuck me, if she was already starting with the female melodramatics at age six, I was screwed as she got older. Standing tall and running a hand through my hair with a heavy sigh, I looked in the direction she was pointing. My heart rate kicked up to an uncomfortable level at the thought of having to go in there and have an actual talk to Lilly - something I'd avoided for two long years - but when I looked down into my little girl's pleading eyes, I knew I couldn't say no.
It was totally irrational, this fear I had, but just looking at Lilly stirred something inside me that I would have rather left untapped.
"All right," I finally relented, earning a shrill scream of excitement as she jumped up and down, clapping her hands.
"Let's go! Let's do it now!" Wrapping her little fingers around mine, she gave me a pull, and on slow feet, as though I was being dragged through wet cement, I followed after.
The bell over the door chimed, announcing our presence, and the very first thing my eyes landed on was the pretty blonde standing at the front desk. She was wearing what I could only assume was standard dancing clothes. Unfortunately, the short, tight shorts and spaghetti strap top that clung to her like a second skin made me all too aware of just how amazing her body was.