“Wednesday Glo, your bunny ears and cotton tails are in the bottom box! Put them on and get out of the way!" I yelled out instructions as I came into the studio, boxes first. "Saturday Glo, I've got your cat ears and tails, girls, in the top box. Put them on quick like a bunny, even though you're cats. We need to go over your routine a few more times before we hit the stage since I had to make a few changes to the choreography.”
“Why’d you change it up?” I heard Lucia demand as I walked the oversized box to the bench, where the girls sat down to take off their street shoes.
Don't cry like a little girl in front of these little girls. “Because your cousin Tony won't be here to do the lifts, and I’m not strong enough to take his place. So, we’re going to have to figure out how to do those parts without him.”
I set the boxes down and began slapping cat ears and tails onto the bench.
“Why can’t Cole do it? He's way better than Cousin Tony. No offense.”
“I already told you two weeks ago, Cole Benton's not going to be here. Now, can you just get into your costume, Lucia? Everyone, come on, come on, get on your ears!"
"But Cole's—" Lucia started to protest.
"Lucia, please!" I whipped around at the end of my rope to address the pushy eleven-year-old. "We don't have time for..."
The "this" faded from my tongue when I saw Cole standing beside her.
In a hooded fluffy dog costume with long droopy ears. Like the girls, his nose was painted black, but unlike the girls, his eyes weren’t filled with confusion.
Just pain. Raw and hungry pain.
Or maybe I was only imagining that was what it was since raw and hungry pain was exactly what sliced through me when I saw him standing there.
I shook my head. “No, Cole. Don’t do this.”
“Sunny. Hear me out. Listen to me,” he said, his voice ravaged. “I tried to do it your way, and if you feel anywhere near as bad as I have over the last two weeks, then it’s not working."
“I don't care, and I don’t know why you’re here. But go away." I held up my hands like someone warding off a curse. "Please, just go away. I have to get this recital done.”
"Ooohhh!!!" Theheads of the twenty-six recital participants ping-ponged back and forth between us like they were at a tennis match.
“Then listen to me,” he insisted, his voice hardening. “If you want me gone—truly gone forever—listen to me this once. And then, if you want, I'll leave, and you'll never hear from me again. I promise.”
"For real, this is better than a P-Drama,” Lucia observed and got several nods of agreement from the other dancers.
“Why are you doing this to me?” I demanded, my heart beating like it was setting to shatter inside my chest any second. “These have been some of the most terrible weeks of my life. Why would you come here? You’re only making it worse.”
“Oooooh!!!”the girls said again, their heads moving back to Cole for his response.
"Because," Cole answered. "I'm so in hate with you."
The girls gasped. "That's not what I thought he'd say!" someone whispered loudly.
"What does that even mean?" Lucia asked her fellow dancers.
"I'll tell you what it means," Cole answered without looking away from me. "I hate that you made me skip so much work, Sunny. I hate that even when I'm not skipping work, I'm not getting as much done as I want to because I can't stop thinking about you. I hate that you actually make me struggle with empathy and guilt—concepts I haven't bothered with since I was a kid. I hate that you’re everyone’s best friend from the start—even if they don’t deserve it, like me. I hate that every day—every single day—I couldn't wait to come home to you and watch some silly show with you on the couch. I hate that you see through all my b.s. and force me to be a better man. And you know what I really hate, Sunny? I mean, absolutely fucking loathe?"
"Miss Sunny, he cursed!" one of the younger students called out from the back of the group. "Did you hear him? He cursed!"
Cole kept going, despite the language narc. "Ihatethat my grandma was right. She knew I’d fall for you.Fast.And I didn’t want to admit it, but these last weeks in hell have made it clear as black ice. I love you, Sunny. Even though it terrifies me. But that's the thing about you. You make me do all the things I know don't make logical sense. Youmademe love you and miss you so much."
"No. No. You don't suddenly love me." My heart was on a tightrope. Afraid to beat, afraid to breathe for fear of falling. “What’s your endgame this time, Cole? You’re telling me you love me, why? To get back at Max? To prove something to Nora? What is it this time?”
Cole shook his head. "I can’t work. I barely sleep. All I can do is think about you and how stupid I was for letting you get away. For lying to you in order to become chairman of the board. Because guess what? I’ve got the chairmanship now. Nora put the resolution up at the last meeting without me even having to ask. So I finally got everything I thought I wanted, but it doesn’t meanjackbecause you aren’t there to share it with me. My only endgame is you, Sunny. You’re all I want. I get that now.”
The girls couldn’t have possibly understood what half of that meant, but they all said, “Awwww!!!” just the same as if it were the most romantic thing they’d ever heard.
Then theirheads ping-ponged back to me.
