Then she disappeared behind the curtain again, the crowd started moving, shifting. The parents were heading backstage to find their children while the other patrons were heading out of the theatre.
"I'm coming with you," he told Sally as she headed towards the backstage area. Don was heading towards the exit, most likely to get the car so they could load up all of the girls' stuff. Mike wanted to see Halley though. He wanted to hold her and kiss her and hug her and tell her what a fantastic job she'd done!
Halley was beaming! She'd done it! She'd danced and it had been more amazing and wonderful than she could have even imagined! She wanted to do it all over again. Goodness, she'd thought that just dancing in the studio, practicing and learning all the movements had been great. All her life, she'd wanted to dance in a ballet. She'd never said a word to her parents because … well, because there were no dance studios in Jefferson and her brothers would have teased her unmercifully at the very idea.
But now she'd realized her dream and the adrenaline, the thrill, was making her feel glorious!
"You were amazing!" Carl said, hugging her gently. "Go change and we'll go out to celebrate!"
Halley laughed, feeling high on happiness. "I just need to … "
That's when she saw him. Mike? Mike couldn't be here! He was back in Jefferson! He was doing something with fingerprints or shoe prints or something weird having to do with criminals. Or he should be pulling someone over for speeding!
But no! He was here! He was standing in the doorway to the backstage area, looking like a giant grizzly bear among delicate, fluttering butterflies.
And he was obviously looking for someone!
Oh no! His nieces! He'd said something about them dancing at the studio but she hadn't realized …
Looking around, she saw three little ladies darting among the other dancers and throwing themselves into his arms. Sure enough, he lifted all three of them up and hugged them. Even from this distance, she could hear his deep, baritone voice telling them what a great job they'd done.
She needed to hide! He couldn't see her here. He would laugh at her! He'd tell her brothers and she'd never hear the end of it! She couldn't handle that! Not after the happiness she'd felt for the performance. No, he couldn't ruin this for her!
But then the three little girls, their blonde heads leaning close, all pointed in her direction. Mike's green eyes sliced through the rest of the dancers, looking directly at her and she knew that the jig was up!
She could barely breathe as he walked over to her. He was so tall, the others in the room automatically moved out of the way, making space for him.
Her fingers tingled when he was finally right in front of her. She wanted to tell him to not say anything, but she couldn't move her lips.
"You were beautiful, Halley," he said, and his voice sounded … almost reverent!
He wasn't going to tease her? He wasn't laughing at her? Her eyes widened while her hands clenched together in front of her. "You saw the performance?" she whispered, tilting her head back so she could see him.
Moving closer, Mike couldn't believe this was the same woman he'd watched on the stage. She'd been so confident but right now, all he could see in her eyes was fear. He didn't like it.
"I saw it all and I couldn't believe it was you." He moved even closer, taking her hand and pressing it to his chest. "You were magnificent," he said and because he was so close and so male and so Mike, the rest of the world disappeared. "I couldn't move while you were dancing. I don't think I blinked during the whole thing. You were the most amazing creature I've ever seen and I can't wait to see you do it all over again tomorrow night," he told her.
She let her breath go in a whoosh, her smile slowly coming back to the blinding expression she'd given the audience from the stage. "You liked it? You didn't think it was silly or stupid?"
He shook his head, not even a hint of teasing in his eyes as he said, "I thought it was beautiful. You're beautiful."
All the tension left her and she threw herself into his arms, just like his nieces had done moments before. "Thank you!" she gushed, feeling his arms wrap around her and his cheek resting against the top of her head.
"No, Halley, thank you. I've never seen a ballet before, but you made it seem like you were dancing on air."
She laughed and squeezed him tighter. "It felt like it too." She pulled away and looked up at him. "Please, don't say anything to my family about this, okay?"