I have until the end of February to start supporting myself. Now I have to go home and tell Danielle I won’t be able to afford to pay any rent as of March first. I’m going to end up in my old bedroom at Bàba’s house.”
Jasmine drank the last of her glass of wine, knowing it was going to go straight to her head. That was the point.
“All right,” May said in her pragmatic tone that had Jasmine prepping for a lecture. “Bàba can’t keep paying your way, and that’s that. If you want to pursue your dancing dreams, you’ll have to find a way to support them on your own. The way I see it, you can either sit here and drink yourself into a stupor or we can come up with a plan that won’t have you sleeping in a pink canopy bed surrounded by creepy porcelain dolls.”
“Hey! They weren’t creepy until we watched Annabelle.”
“Yeah, they were.”
“Okay, fine,” Jasmine relented. “But we can’t throw them out.”
“Of course not. They’d find their way back from the dump and kill us while we slept.”
They both shivered. Then they broke into laughter.
“Thanks for that,” Jasmine said. “And for sparing me a more involved lecture.”
May got to her feet. “You’re welcome, though there could always be more lecturing to come. I’ll see how I’m feeling at the end of this shift.” She patted Jasmine’s shoulder to soften the words. “Hang out for a while with Danny if you want. We can chat more once the crowd dies down. We’ll figure this out.”
Watching her sister move over to a neighboring table to check on a customer, Jasmine let out another sigh.
“I sure hope so,” she murmured.
Chapter Five
Will climbed out of the shower in his hotel room and reached for a towel. He instinctively double-checked the door to make sure he’d locked it. He had learned the hard way that kids really didn’t give a shit about privacy. It was still a toss-up whether he was glad that he’d been on the toilet versus naked after a shower when Katie first barged in on him.
At least she hadn’t seen anything that could scar her for life.
Not hearing any sounds from the outer room, he reasoned that Gareth and Katie were still at the hotel’s pool. His daughter loved to swim. It was generally a battle to get her out of the water.
He enjoyed the few moments of quiet time to shave, brush his teeth, and get into some comfortable clothes without anyone knocking on the door or jimmying the handle. After more than three weeks of spring training and hotel living, he was already longing for his own bedroom and bathroom. Unfortunately, even after the regular season started in another ten days, the team would be traveling to Arizona. Gareth and Katie, on the other hand, would soon be returning to Atlanta.
That thought had Will reaching for his phone after exiting the bathroom. Glancing at the time, he saw it was late enough in the day that his dad should have wrapped up the work on his schedule. Will initiated a call to him as he flopped onto his bed. Too lazy to hold the phone up after a couple innings of pitching, he hit the speaker icon.
“Hey there,” Frank greeted him.
“Hi. Thought I’d call and see how things went today on the Giuseppe project.”
“No, you’re calling to see if I did the research project you set me on.”
Will winced. “Yeah, okay. You’re right. Any luck?”
“Sure. There are four or five dance studios within reasonable driving distance from the house that offer ballet for kids Katie’s age. I’ve made a couple of appointments so I can take her to see the studios and meet the instructors before you get home. If neither of those works out, we can schedule a few more appointments at other studios for when you’re here so you can go with her.”
“Good.”
Frank paused. “You sure this is a good idea, son?”
Thinking of how he’d found Katie standing in front of mirrors and posing many times over the past few weeks, Will replied, “Yeah. The kid has a thing for ballet. I’ve even seen her making up some moves of her own.”
At least, he assumed they were made-up moves. What the hell did he know about it?
“I’m concerned these instructors won’t be able to relate to our Katie,” Frank persisted. “They’re more than likely going to be female. That doesn’t generally go well.”