Frank,” she said. “We skipped the lobby and front offices on the way in, so we’ll wrap up there.”
“Works for me. You keeping up with the list?”
She waved her phone. “Yep.”
“Let’s all head downstairs then,” he said, stepping aside to let them pass. “We were a bit slower in our tour because little Katie here wanted to test out each of the instruction rooms.” He reached down to muss her hair as she grinned at him. “We didn’t see much of the downstairs yet. Wei wanted to have some input into the office space though.”
Jasmine paused and gave her father an Oh, really? look as Alima and Frank started down the stairs.
“What?” her father said with a shrug. “I am no doubt going to spend quite a lot of time in there. I know what makes an efficient workspace. I thought I would offer some input.”
She smiled and gave him a hug. “Thanks.”
He patted her on the back. When they stepped out of the hug, Katie reached over and took her hand. They started down the stairs together.
“You are quite natural with her,” her father said.
“She makes it easy,” she replied, giving Katie’s hand a squeeze.
“You should be proud of yourself for everything you have accomplished, my daughter,” he said in Mandarin as they reached the bottom of the stairs. “You have made great strides since you started paving your own path earlier this year. This place, it is going to be something very special.” Shifting back to English, he added, “I am especially proud of the example you have set for this young lady.”
He held up a hand to encourage Katie to high-five him. She did, giggling all the while.
Jasmine was taken aback by her father’s support. It was the first time she could ever remember him saying he was proud of her.
“Thank you, Bàba,” she said.
She belatedly noticed that Frank and Alima had paused to watch them. She cleared her throat to cover her sudden awkwardness.
“Why don’t you come with us to check out the girl’s dressing room, Katie?” Frank said with a wink at Jasmine that said he wanted to give her time to compose herself. “Mr. Li and I are going to start our walk-through there and end in the offices at the front.”
“Sounds good to me,” Jasmine said.
The stairs led directly to the largest instruction room in the studio, the main center space on the bottom level. Two of the walls were mirrored and had stationary barres installed. The wood floors gleamed, waiting for the slippered feet of little dancers.
Well, and some grown ones too.
“I thought it would be nice to offer this space to our dance group a couple nights a month,” she said to Alima as they headed toward the lobby. “It would make it easier for everyone to have one location to come to instead of needing to find a place each time. We could bring in food and wine, things like that.”
Alima smiled. “That’s a great idea. Everyone’s going to love this place. And hey, as the studio grows, we know just where we can find more talented instructors, right?”
“Good point.”
It was exciting to think about a future where she would need multiple instructors on her staff. She still hadn’t finalized the plan to get there, but the vision was coming together.
As they passed through the doorway leading from the dance space into the lobby, Jasmine paused when she spotted someone standing at the front doors. The woman’s hands were pressed to the glass as though she was trying to see inside. The glass had a special reflective coating on it designed for privacy and insulation, something Will had pointed out during their post-coital tour.
“What’s up?” Alima asked. She had stopped abruptly to avoid stepping into her.
“Sorry. That lady startled me.” She paused and looked more closely at the woman. “Wait…that’s Ginnie. I met her at a pool party not too long ago. She’s looking for a dance studio for her granddaughter.”
“Well don’t keep her waiting,” Alima said, giving her a nudge toward the doors.
Jasmine put on her best professional face and strode over to the door, disarming the lock and pushing it open. Ginnie jumped and took a step back. Her expression brightened when she saw who had opened the door.
“Why, it’s you,” the woman said in a voice that hinted at southern roots. “Imagine that. One of my neighbors mentioned they heard this was going to be a new dance studio. I just had to come and check it