And she was right.
There was nothing special about any of us, and yet we were all top to toe to mind to heart to soul special.
And so were the guys.
I felt a spark hit my heart and it felt good.
“Ohmigod, I could totally get into this,” I said.
“I could totally too,” Hattie added.
“See?” Lottie asked, looking smug. “It’s fun.”
“I’m not sure Billy should be first though. I’m with Pez. He’s kinda scary,” Hattie noted.
“Those are the best ones,” Lottie replied.
She’d say that. Mo had been scary too.
Before Lottie.
Yeah.
This was going to be rad.
There was a thud of body to mat.
“Kathryn!”
We all twisted our heads around when we heard Ian bark Ryn’s name like that.
Sure enough, Ryn had fallen off the rope and was lying flat on her back on the mat on the stage.
And Ian was standing behind the row of booths off to the side, face like thunder, and my neck tensed completely seeing it, because even when he was dealing with an asshole patron or a drunk, he was always cool as a cucumber.
“The rope dance is out,” he declared.
Ryn jumped to her feet and put her hands to her hips. “But, Ian, it’s cool as shit.”
“It’s too dangerous,” he retorted.
“I just need a little practice and it’s gonna rock,” she returned.
“What did I say?” he roared.
The entire room stilled.
And it was a vast room.
Because never, ever had I heard Ian raise his voice. Not ever. Definitely not in anger.
“It’s out. Do something else,” Ian decreed.
And then he prowled through the huge room with five sets of female eyes on him the whole way, disappearing up the stairs to what had been Smithie’s office, but now it was mostly Ian who used it.
When he was gone, I hummed, “Ummmmm…”
“What’s wrong with Ian?” Hattie asked.
Ryn was too far away, so she didn’t hear Hattie’s question, thus her, “What’s up his ass?” was semi-yelled at us.
I was watching Lottie.
“Lots, do you know?” I queried.
She was looking over her shoulder, pushed up so she could see over the back of the booth.
She settled in and aimed her eyes at me.
“No clue. But I don’t like it,” she said.
“Me either,” Hattie agreed.
I returned my attention to where Ian had disappeared.
“Maybe give him a minute to calm down and then we can go talk to him?” Hattie suggested.
That was a good idea.
But I caught Lots shaking her head.
“He’s always there for us,” Hattie remarked. “It isn’t cool if something’s going down with him and we’re not there for him.”
“We also need to give the man the chance to have an off day without four bitches getting in his shit about it,” Lottie replied.
“I didn’t mean get in his shit,” Hattie pointed out.
“I’m all about getting in his shit.”
We all looked to the end of the catwalk to see Ryn had joined us.
“We’re not getting in his shit,” I declared.
“He didn’t yell at you and tell you that you couldn’t do a super-fly rope dance,” Ryn returned.
“True enough,” I muttered.
“All I’m saying is,” Lottie cut in, “we need to let him have some space. He lets us be real. We need to let him be real. If it seems like something’s up with him that’s not just a bad day, we’ll reconvene.”
I could agree with that, so I did.
But I wasn’t a big fan of it.
Because Ian hadn’t seemed right when I was talking to him in the back hall earlier either.
So, okay, that “earlier” was only maybe ten minutes ago.
Still, this was way out of character. There was no way I’d known Ian for years and he hadn’t had a bad day in that time. He just didn’t shout at anyone.
So that meant this bad day was a bad day, and I didn’t want him to think we didn’t give a shit.
But I had to admit, he was a man who struck me as someone who would want some space if things weren’t great.
So I could give him that.
For now.
Chapter Fourteen
Unless I’m Around
Pepper
This was what happened between Ian being icky to Ryn at Smithie’s and now.
Now being Sunday morning and I was all ready and sitting at my desk waiting for Auggie to show for our date, which was going to last all day (and night?).
And I was beside myself with glee, not only about the upcoming date.
But also about what happened in the time from Ian being icky to now.
And most importantly, that I’d thought we’d done pretty well practicing restraint, so I was all in to stop practicing that and start doing something a whole lot different.
Even better?
Auggie had indicated he was too.
* * *
It began with more texts.
Weird time at rehearsal.
Ian yelled at Ryn.
Why’d he do that?
She’s doing an aerial dance.
And he saw her fall off the
rope. So he said she couldn’t
do it.
Can’t say I don’t agree with him.
Aug! Srsly?
Yes. Seriously.