Dancing for the Lord The Academy - By Emily Goodman Page 0,31
bad, right? I mean, you’re not stuck on crutches or anything.”
He was silent for just a beat too long.
“Michael!”
“I’m good!” He sighed. “I let the doc take a look at it today, and he said crutches for a week would make me completely functional by next Monday. Who am I to argue with him?”
Dr. O’Fallon had been their physician for years. Danni had trusted him with far more serious injuries than just a twisted knee—and most importantly, Dr. O-Fallon understood how important ballet was to both her and Michael. When he treated them, he did it with an eye to what they were really going to need in the long run, not just what would work for the moment.
Tonight, that wasn’t comforting. “I wish I could be there with you,” she told him—not the first time, she knew, and the words were useless anyway. How much could they possibly mean when there was nothing she could do to get back to him?
If only she had her car, Danni would make the drive down the following weekend. She’d go home late Friday night, after the kids’ class, stay Saturday night, and come back to the Academy after church on Sunday. It was possible to do it. If her dad could make the round trip in a day, she could do it over the weekend, and have time to spend with Michael and her parents besides. She could do it.
Which was probably one of the reasons she didn’t have her car.
Michael was trying to juggle both his crutches and the cell phone. Danni could hear it, and it broke her heart. If she’d just been there, she could have helped him carry things for a few days; but no, instead, she was an additional burden. “I’m okay, Dragonfly,” he promised her again. “Just sore, that’s all. Ice every couple of hours and I’m even really good. Just….” He hesitated. “Want to keep talking to me for about fifteen minutes?”
Which was how long he’d have ice on his knee. Danni positively ached in sympathy.
She had a hundred other things she ought to be doing. If she was going to keep getting ahead in her classes, she had to keep pushing herself—there was no other way to do it.
She didn’t even hesitate. “I’ve got all night if you need me.”
Michael was as good as his word, though. They stayed on the phone for fifteen minutes, took another five to say goodbye, and then he hung up. He, too, had homework that he needed to get to, and while he would’ve gladly put it off, he was trying to stay on top of things. The fewer classes he had his senior year, the more likely they were to be able to dance their hearts out.
Danni called him every night that week—and when she got into an altercation with Katarina on Wednesday, she didn’t bother to tell him about it. Michael had enough to deal with. She wasn’t about to add to the burden he was carrying, not even a little bit.
It was her job to make sure that he was all right.
Their conversation dropped off somewhat near the middle of the next week. The two of them had always shared everything with each other; but with Danni determinedly not telling Michael that Katarina was going out of her way to make her life miserable and Michael doing his best not to whine and worry Danni, the conversation tended to dwindle in a hurry. Several nights in a row, Danni ended up putting her phone on speakerphone and quietly doing her homework while Michael did his. They talked from time to time—dry comments about whatever they were reading, especially when it happened to coincide—but it was mostly just companionable silence.
She missed him. He missed her. And at that moment, it seemed as though the miles separating them were insurmountable.
Chapter Six
Danni wasn’t sure when she had started dreading Thanksgiving. She just knew that it had happened. Rehearsals for the Nutcracker were supposed to begin in earnest then, as they would be only two weeks away from the production. She should have been ecstatic. Instead, she was missing home more than ever.
It probably didn’t help that Katarina was still going out of her way to make snide comments about Danni’s dancing whenever possible. It definitely didn’t help that she could tell that Michael was still hurting and doing his best not to let her find out about it. She just wanted to go home.