When he is met with silence, he continues. “Have I made myself clear?”
“Yes, Maestro,” comes the reluctant response.
“Then we rehearse.”
Chapter one hundred thirty-five
Christianna
Ruiz approaches me as soon as rehearsal is over.
Bending, he says in a low voice, “We are heading to Remy’s office.”
I nod, gathering my things.
James approaches us. “I’ll walk up with you. Here, I can carry your case.” He reaches out to take my violin.
David suddenly appears next to him, holding out his hand. “And I can take your bag.” I shake my head and hand over my large canvas tote with my music, beverages, and snacks.
They flank me as we start towards the office, Ruiz behind us with his associate taking the lead.
“Do you know why they called the meeting?” I ask.
“Coulson is here, but the paps out front are crazy. Also, I heard the Dark Angel sent a note to the news.”
My jaw drops as I stop and whirl to look at David. “No,” I gasp out the word.
His head nods. “Oh yeah. Alexis is upstairs too. Meg is…”
“Not taking this well at all,” James cuts in. “The text messages she has sent, well, they have been…”
“Frantic,” David picks up seamlessly. “You of course wouldn’t know it if you didn’t know her, but the tone is…”
“Very sharp and not her at all,” James finishes.
I look from one to the other. “Are the two of you still?” I hesitate, feeling bad about asking them, but Meg has been a little more withdrawn. She gets like that when she is overwhelmed, usually caused by inferiority issues.
“She is shutting you out too?” James asks.
“It’s because I pushed too hard,” David explains.
As I whip around to confront him, James adds quickly, “About choreographing.”
“Oh, well that would be delicate. I adore you both. There are just some landmines around dancing for her. Her mother cast a long shadow. I’ll help however I can because she needs to find out she can stand beside her mother, not behind her.”
By unspoken agreement, we are taking the stairs so we can finish our talk. The marble steps echo with no one else in this section of the building.
“She has a different style,” David says.
“It would be perfect for the musical,” James agrees.
“I’m surprised she danced in front of you. She is really private about it and only does it at the house.”
“I saw her dancing to Erik’s music,” David confesses. “I was mesmerized.”
“I went to find him and he was enraptured,” James adds. “And then I watched, and she is the music. She intuitively knows. Watching her was like watching music come to life.” His voice holds awe.
David nods. “No one else will do.”
