Mike clenched his teeth as he watched his sister and her husband. They were so comfortable around each other. He wanted that with Halley, but damn, she kept pulling back. She was hiding something and wouldn't tell him anything, some nut job was breaking into her house and she kept disappearing on him. All she would say about her disappearances was that yes, she had a secret and no, it wasn't anything illegal. Nor would it cause anyone any harm.
That wasn't good enough for him. Sure, he trusted her. But Halley didn't always see the dangers in the world. Besides, he wanted her here tonight. It would have been the perfect night to introduce her to Sally and the girls, but her note had said she had something to do tonight. Not that he knew what that "something" might be. Nor had her note given him even the slightest clue.
"You okay?" Sally asked, laying a hand on his arm.
Mike jerked back to the present, realizing that he wasn't doing a good enough job of hiding his frustration. "Yeah. I'm fine," he replied, shaking off his anger towards Halley. If she said she was safe, then she was most likely fine. He just wanted to be with her. He wanted to show off his nieces and introduce Halley to his sister and brother-in-law. His nieces were adorable when dancing, especially Annabelle. The other two were cute, but it was Annabelle who really loved being on stage.
"We'd better head on in," Don was saying and Mike looked around. Most of the people here were parents of the other dancers, but he knew that some of them were here for the performance. Billings wasn't a hotbed of culture. Montana was a ranching state with hunting and riding and lots of rough, tough stuff around. Most people went to the rodeo for their entertainment. So this ballet performance was pretty much the height of excitement for the town.
He wasn't in love with ballet himself. But he loved his nieces and if they liked ballet, he would be here for every performance to watch them.
Moving with the crowd, he walked in behind his sister and brother-in-law. They easily found their seats, but, of course, the seats had been created for normal sized people. Sally snickered as he and Don shifted in the annoying seats, trying to get comfortable because long legs and broad shoulders just wouldn't fit. Don was about an inch shorter than Mike, but didn't have the broad shoulders. But both men felt like they were confined like sardines. "What idiot made seats this small?" he grumbled.
People were filling in and the woman next to him gave him a look that clearly suggested she was interested. Mike wasn't. The only woman who seemed to turn him on lately was a brunette with great legs, an even better ass, and the prettiest blue eyes he'd ever seen.
Too bad she wasn't here tonight. Damn her, why was she being so stubborn? And what the hell could be so important that she didn't feel comfortable telling him about it? Mike knew that it was something like that too. She was embarrassed by whatever it was. Some secret had her blushing every time he brought it up lately.
The lights dimmed and the conversations slowed as the performance began.
Mike sat in the uncomfortably small theatre chair and watched, smiling as his nieces took the stage, one by one, in their own age groups. Sometimes there were older groups with them performing and sometimes the smaller kids were alone. Annabelle was a wood nymph he finally figured out. Lucy was a daisy or some sort of flower. The whole performance was about an awakening. Why do all ballets have to have a theme? Why couldn't the little kids just dance and have fun?
But he didn't mind. Not really. The girls were cute and smiled as they danced across the stage, obviously having a good time.
By the time all three of his nieces had done their performance, Mike was ready to hit the road. He didn't need to stay and watch the rest of the performance but knew he would have to. Being polite was such a pain in the ass.
He was leaning back, thinking about the football game he'd be able to watch tomorrow when the lights dimmed once again. Looking around, he tried to figure out what had just happened. The stage lights had changed, but … it also felt as if the whole audience had suddenly tensed with anticipation. Looking around, he noticed several people whispering to each other, pointing to the stage. Looking down at the program, he realized that this was the main dance. The lead dancers were coming out on stage now.
Huh, he thought, as he focused on the stage. As he watched, he had to admit that these dancers were much better than the little kids. Probably just because they were older, more experienced. He wasn't overly impressed with the initial dancing, but they were good enough. Better than anything he could do, he thought as he shifted once again in his annoyingly small seat. The next set of dancers were better, he supposed, although he wasn't exactly a connoisseur of dancing. He could probably tell a great dancer from an average dancer when it came to something more mainstream, but ballet? Nah. He had no clue.