Katie lined up behind a few of the other dancers and the music started.
Instantly her hands started to tingle. She was nervous, but excited.
So nervous that she'd forgotten her normal 'good luck' ritual.
Listening to the music she knew she had a few moments.
"One sec," she murmured to no one in particular and darted over to the rosin box over in the corner.
Katie quickly ground the toe and box of each pointe shoe in the powdered rosin and darted back into line.
Adrienne who was behind her in line leaned forward. "Did you hear what Cynthia said?"
It took a moment for Katie to realize that Adrienne was talking to her, but when she did, it was too late to ask her what she was talking about. It was time to step out onto the stage with the other dancers.
Everything was going great until it wasn't.
One minute she was rushing across the stage in a flurry of movement with the other dancers and then the world under her feet shifted and she went down like a sack of potatoes.
And the world went dark.
RUTH
Her cell phone rang and Ruth picked it up without a glance.
It helped that Katie had added in a ringtone that was a piece of music from the Nutcracker.
"Hey, Katie! What's-"
"Miss Baker? This is Danielle, one of the other dancers in the Nutcracker."
Ruth was across the room before she could form a complete thought.
She turned off her ovens full of half-baked Russian Tea Cookies and headed for the door.
"What's wrong?"
Ruth grabbed her keys off of the hook by the door and was outside heading for her car while Danielle explained what was going on.
Ruth's whole soul left her body as she heard what Danielle was saying to her. Her first coherent thought was, "Is her dad there?"
"No, Miss Baker. Katie's dad is at a job site. I was supposed to take her home with me tonight, but-"
"Where are they taking her? I'll head over right now?"
NICK
When he finally heard the news, he was grateful that one of his foremen was still with him in the office. If he'd tried to drive, he would've ended up in a ditch or run his car into a tree and a fat lot of good that would have done his daughter.
He was also lucky that the foreman who'd been there with him had the patience of Job.
If not, Clancy would likely have tied him up and shoved him in the bed of the truck instead of letting him ride up front in the passenger seat.
When they finally got to the hospital, he flung the door open and jumped out before Clancy had come to a complete stop.
Nick called out over his shoulder. "I owe you, Clancy!"
"No worries, Boss! Let me know how things are going! I'll come pick you up when she's released, okay?"
