“That’s my good girl,” I praised her, my hand loosening up a bit and cupping her face with care and love that contrasted my harsh moves.
Her eyes fluttered closed from my gentle touch, before they opened up to the most clear blue, love-filled eyes I have ever seen.
I could live forever and never deserve this girl’s unconditional love.
With a loud groan, I came and watched her throat move and swallow every last drop as I asked her, before I pulled out.
I gently wiped her mouth with my fingers, and kneeling in front of her, I kissed her. “Thank you.”
“I liked it,” she giggled over my mouth.
I leaned my forehead to hers and smiled. “I’m glad you did, Thorn.”
My phone buzzed, and I hated to break the intimate momentwith having to check it, but I already saw Max’s name flash up on my Apple Watch.
Max
Glad to see you're alive. Team meeting tomorrow. 9 am. Don't be late.
I showed the message to Rosie.
"Think you're ready?" she asked.
"No. But I'm going to show up anyway." I squeezed her hand. "That's what you do when you love something. You show up, even when it's hard."
"Even when you're scared."
"Especially when you're scared."
She smiled at me, that beautiful smile that had first made me fall for her, and I knew we were going to be okay.
Not perfect. Not without struggles. But okay.
And sometimes, okay was enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
ROSALIE
The morning after Derek and I finally talked, really talked, I woke up with a sense of clarity I hadn't felt in months. Maybe years.
I'd spent so long defining myself by what I'd lost: my dancing career, my identity as a ballerina, my dreams of performing professionally. But watching Derek work through his own recovery, seeing him accept that he was different now but not less, had sparked something in me.
Maybe I didn't have to be who I was before. Maybe I could be someone new entirely.
I pulled out my laptop and opened a blank document. For the first time since my surgery, I started writing about what I actually wanted, not what I thought I should want.
The Roseline Method: A Fusion Approach to Movement and Recovery
The words flowed easier than I expected. I wrote about my vision for a studio that combined ballet technique with Pilates principles, about creating a space where people recovering frominjuries could find their strength again, about building something that honored my past while embracing my future.
By the time Daisy woke up, I had ten pages of notes and a rough business plan.
"What are you doing up so early?" she mumbled, stretching.
"Planning my future," I said, and meant it. Daisy's eyes lit up and she moved to sit next to me.
"Show me, I want to hear all about it."
