A Wright Christmas

I laughed. “It’s fine. We worked it out. Or at least, I think so.”

“Well, good. I should have known they’d take advantage of a transitional period. It’s like they were trying to destabilize a government.” Kathy dramatically rolled her eyes. “Anyway, here. Hold Lily.”

I took the little dumpling in my arms and cooed over her as Kathy went to have five whole minutes alone.

“You’re holding a baby,” Isaac said, appearing before me.

“Oh my God, you scared me.” I rocked the baby, hoping to slow my racing heart.

“Sorry about that.” He put his finger out, and Lily wrapped her little hand around him like a vise grip. “She’s so cute and squishy. God, I forgot how little they are.”

“Do you want to hold her?”

He nodded, and I passed Lily off to him. He held her like she was the most precious thing in the universe. And he was much better at it than me. It was clear that he’d held a baby many a times before. My heart melted all over as I imagined him with Aly like this.

“You’re a natural,” I said, running my finger over the baby’s chubby cheek.

“Lots and lots of practice,” he said with a laugh. “Are you still planning to meet me at the game tonight?”

“Yep. I’ll be there.”

“Aly is coming.”

“Oh, really? I thought you normally had someone watch her.”

“Normally…I do. But Sutton and Jennifer said they could manage. So, I thought you could all hang out.”

“I’d like that,” I admitted.

I wanted to be more involved with his life. Figure out where this was going. If it was possible for this to even work.

Kathy appeared back again. “Oh, look at you!” she gasped when she saw Isaac. “God, I am such mush when I see a man holding a baby.”

Isaac chuckled and offered Lily back to her mom. “She’s cute.”

“I sure think so,” Kathy said. “Are you two going to the after-party tonight? Nick is hosting it at his mansion at, like, eight o’clock.”

“I’ll be there after Isaac’s soccer game,” I told Kathy.

“Aw, it’s just like high school,” Kathy said with a wink. “Isaac, you are more than welcome to join her.”

“I’m not sure if I’ll be able to make it since that’s Aly’s bedtime, but I’ll see if I can.”

“Good seeing you two.” She hugged me one more time, pinched Isaac’s cheek, and then headed back out.

He laughed and shook his head. “I’m going to grab Aly. I’ll see you at the game.”

“Sounds good,” I said as he drew me into a hug.

His lips found mine, and I debated on dragging him into an empty dressing room. But of course, we couldn’t act like high schoolers even if he made me feel young and carefree.

“I’ll see you later.” He kissed me one more time and then disappeared to locate his daughter.

I headed back to the dressing room and changed out of my tutu. Luckily, my knee had held up through the show. In fact, the day of rest seemed to have helped it more than I’d thought it would. It hadn’t been too bad during the show and I could walk just fine now.

I shouldered my dance bag and went to check my messages as I headed out of the studio. I froze on the threshold when I saw that I had five missed calls from Annabelle, the assistant to the production director for NYC Ballet as well as a few from the production director and artistic director.

My heart thudded in my chest. What the hell had happened?

I clicked the first voicemail.

“Peyton, hey, it’s Annabelle. We’re in a tight spot. Can you call me back as soon as you get this? ASAP!”

Well, shit.

I needed to call her right away and find out what had happened. This couldn’t be good. I hadn’t really heard from anyone in the month since I’d been gone—besides regular check-in stuff because we were all friends. Nothing like this kind of bombardment.

With a sigh, I hustled into my car to get out of the cold and dialed Annabelle’s number.

“Hey, this is Annabelle.”

“Annabelle, it’s Peyton. What’s going on?”

“Oh my God, Peyton, I’m so glad that you called. Disaster struck. Lauren just had an emergency appendectomy!”

“What?” I gasped. “Is she okay?”

“Yes, she’s fine. She’s going to be fine. The doctor said that they got to everything in time. She’ll make a full recovery, but she can’t be on her feet for two to four weeks.”

My eyes bugged. “That’s awful. I’m glad she’s okay, but oh my God.”

“I know. We all had a meltdown. It happened right after the show today.”

“Wow.”

“And she was supposed to dance the Sugar Plum Fairy for the rest of the week. I’ve reached out to everyone we have who’s rehearsed the role, and literally, no one is free. Could you by any chance hop on a plane and be back in New York for tomorrow’s performance?”