“After the show tonight, I wasn’t in the mood to plaster on a smiling face and take selfies,” I admitted.
“Mm-hmm… Let me show you a different route.” I gestured for him to show me the way.
He walked me backstage, and we headed downstairs. There was a door about midway down the hall I ran through every night. He opened the door, which led to another hallway. “This is where the administrative offices are for the theater,” he said as we walked through the brightly lit hallway. Sure enough, we passed several office suites with glass doors. The last one on the left had Nicolai’s name on the door, so I made a mental note of where he lived when he wasn’t running the theater. At the end of the hall was a metal door. Nicolai pushed open the door, which led into an alleyway.
“Go to the right. It brings you out in front of the theater.”
“Thanks! This will make life easier if I need to leave the theater after a show quickly.”
He nodded. “And Ms. Saunders, in the future, I would refrain from eavesdropping. Theater is a dangerous business. We wouldn’t want you to break a leg again before opening night.” He closed the door with a loud thud that reverberated off the alleyway.
Did he just threaten me?I mean…it was like a line right out of a Russian mob film. I walked down the alleyway, glancing over my shoulder a couple of times to make sure he hadn’t followed me. Once on 47thStreet, I let out a sigh of relief. I’d been holding my breath.
I walked the two blocks to the late-night restaurant where I was meeting Amani, Brice, and Johnny.
By the time I arrived at the restaurant, the boys had already had appetizers and were drinking without me. They said their polite congratulations as I sat down. I smiled and accepted them. They were being polite. They didn’t need to tell me it was a disaster. We all knew it.
We chitchatted about everything but the show. I told them about my experience with Nicolai. They all raised their eyebrows at the broken leg comment.
“Geez,” Johnny said. “He sounds like an extra out of a Russian mob film.”
“That’s exactly what I thought,” I admitted. “I won’t lie. I kept looking over my shoulder to make sure he wasn’t coming after me with a tire iron and go all Nancy Kerrigan on me.” Brice laughed, but Johnny looked dumbfounded. “Geeze, I forget how young you are. Basically, a figure skater hired someone to attack another figure skater.”
“Oh, you mean the movieI, Tonya,“ Johnny said, nodding.
“You realize that movie was based on a true story?” Brice asked.
“It was?” Johnny asked. “Is that widely known?”
“Oh, it’s a good thing you’re pretty,” Amani said. Brice snickered, and Johnny let out a little pout.
“You think I’m pretty?” Johnny asked Amani, as he tried to switch the topic to his favorite subject…himself.
“And that’s what you take out of the conversation, dear,” Amani said. “Everyone thinks you’re pretty.” Amani placed his hand on Johnny’s shoulder before leaning in and kissing him on the side of the cheek.
“You two are so cute…it’s disgusting,” Brice remarked.
“Tell me about it,” I said with an exaggerated roll of my eyes. “They’re like this all the time. Makes you almost want to believe in love. Thankfully, the piece of coal that exists in the center of my chest isn’t that easily persuaded.”
“That’s because you’ve had a string of bad dates,” Johnny said. “Your prince in shining armor is out there.”
“You’ve been dating again?” Brice asked.
“Though I may put an end to that soon.” I ran down the list of dates I’d had recently. Brice chuckled at how each date was more absurd than the last.
When I was done talking, Brice looked at me and said, “I know you’ve had some bad dating luck, but there is a guy I work with. He’s another lawyer.”
“Another lawyer? I don’t—“
“He’s a great guy. I wouldn’t set you up with him if I didn’t believe you would hit it off. And he’s not American.”
“Oh really? I love a good international man of mystery.”
“He’s 35, gorgeous, tall, and Icelandic. Trust me, if he had one remotely gay bone in his body, I’d be throwing myself at him.”
“I don’t know…With the show and everything else—“
“Come on, Erika, what do you have to lose?” Johnny said, encouraging me.
