“I did?”
Spencer nodded. “I could tell you were enjoying the music but it seemed like you were fighting it, too. You’d move a little but then you’d stop yourself.” Her brows furrowed and she looked down at the floor as if she was remembering, and she looked up at him and nodded. “Why did you hide the part of yourself that loves to dance?”
She shrugged and smiled. “Dancing is just a hobby. It’s not something I can’t live without.” Her desolate expression told it all though. He thought maybe it was more important to her than she realized.
“You didn’t answer my question.”
She bit her lip and then said, “Belly dancing can be very erotic. If I came ‘out of the closet,’ the principal of the school I teach at, the school board, and probably the parents of my kindergarten students, would not be happy about it.”
“So that means what?” Heath asked. “You’re not allowed to be a woman? You’re not allowed to have an enjoyable, erotic pastime?”
Cody stroked a finger along her jawline drawing her attention. “You have a right to a private life, filled with whatever pursuits you choose. Not what they approve.”
Maizy smiled wistfully as she looked at all three of them. “In theory, yes.”
Spencer sighed and drew her gaze again. “What will you do if the four of us move forward and they find out about us?”
“Well, I’m not sure. I was hoping to…”
“Keep it a secret?” Heath asked in a grumbly voice. She didn’t respond but the misery showed on her face.
Cody frowned just a bit and it drew his arched eyebrows down over his dark eyes. “Did you want to keep us a secret until you knew how you felt about us? Kicking the tires?”
Maizy looked up at Cody, and Spencer’s heart gave a painful lurch at her torn expression. Their relationship wasn’t a done deal. Not by a long shot.
“I already know how I feel about you, but…have you seen or heard how Lucy, Beck, and Patrick have been treated? They’re all self-employed so they can chart their own courses and drum up more clients if they need to. But I’m subject to the whims of an entire school board, and a school district. It’s one thing for them to know that I belly dance. It’s an entirely different issue for them to find out that I’m involved in a ménage. They’d skewer me and not only would they not give me a good reference after they fired me, they’d probably make sure I never taught kindergarten ever again.”
“That’s not right,” Heath said
“Maybe not, but it’s reality. I’ve had a chance to talk with Grace Warner and I have a pretty good idea of the amount of genuine love and respect that’s a part of her relationship with Jack, Ethan, and Adam. I know they’re rock solid. But if it became known that I was involved in that kind of relationship, the board wouldn’t care about how solid it was. They’d label it immoral conduct. I love Divine. I don’t want to live anywhere else. But there’s a small, vocal minority who would have a lot to say about my choices.”
“Is it everyone on the school board who thinks that way, or just a select judgmental few?”
“I don’t know for certain about each member but I’m unwilling to put it to the test. That’s the only reason I didn’t confront Presley Ann Woodworth tonight. Her father is on the school board. He seems like a nice man but then again they all do until you delve deeper. I’d never paid that much attention before I met Lucy and…I don’t know what to say. It’s one thing to spend time with you at the club where people are less likely to notice, but in Divine…I don’t know how to act with you in public. I need…”
“An instruction manual?” Cody asked with an encouraging smile. Spencer was glad that he’d dialed back the disgruntlement. He didn’t like seeing Maizy put on the hot seat like that.
Maizy smiled back at Cody and took his hand, seeming to hold on to it like it was a lifeline. “Something like that. I’m not ashamed of my brother’s relationship, and I’m not ashamed of you. Please don’t think that. I just need time to figure out a plan, I guess.”
Preferring to get everything out on the table, Spencer said, “We could be really careful, but even then, people may talk, Maizy. We can’t stop them, as much as I’d like to, but neither would we rub their noses in it. And we’d be there for you. Do our best to make it worth it to you. We looked for you for a long time.”
“You did, didn’t you?” Maizy observed.
Just then, his phone rang in his pocket. He caught Maizy’s wide smile when she heard the ringtone. “Black Magic Woman.” Heath probably took that as some sort of sign, too. Spencer sighed and silenced the ringer after checking the caller ID. The call was from a number he didn’t recognize so he sent it to voice mail. Whoever it was could wait until the morning. Right then, Maizy was his highest priority.