He smiled. “That was my absolute pleasure.” He got to his feet. “You probably have things to do before you can leave yourself. I didn’t think about how busy you’d be when I decided to head over here. I’m leaving on my next road trip in the morning, so I thought I’d take a shot at catching you before then.”
“How did you know I work here?”
He reached up and tugged on his earlobe in a guilty gesture. “It might have made it to me through the grapevine of Sierra to Evan to Cole. I’ve been a little, uh, persistent in my goal of talking to you.”
May walked up to them and took the pilsner glass from Jasmine. “Why don’t you take a few minutes?” she said, waving Jasmine into the chair by Will’s table. Turning to Will, she extended her free hand. “Hi. I’m Jasmine’s sister, May.”
“Will Campbell. Nice to meet you.”
Jasmine wasn’t sure what to think about the friendly introduction between her sister and the guy who not all that long ago threatened her with legal charges.
What had become of her life?
“Are you sure?” she asked her sister, easing into the chair.
“Yep. I’ll get started on our closing checklist,” May assured her before hurrying off.
“That was nice of her,” Will said, returning to his seat. When Jasmine just looked at him, he cleared his throat and asked, “Did you get my messages?”
“I did. My shifts have been crazy the past couple days, so I didn’t get the chance to call you back.”
He nodded. “I figured it could be something like that. That’s why I took the gamble to come out here.”
It said a lot about his resolve that he made the effort to come see her, she thought. Stubbornness and—ha, ha—will were two things she could relate to. It had her warming toward him a fraction.
“Why me?” she asked, getting straight to the point.
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes intent on her face. “I wish I knew.”
That was hardly a rousing endorsement to encourage her to do what he wanted, she mentally grumbled. Of course, she could also appreciate his honesty.
“All I can say is when Katie got home that day after spending only a few minutes with you in the waiting room, she started practicing her positions on her own. If you could have seen the look on her face…”
He paused and looked down as though he needed a minute to collect himself. Her guard dropped even more.
“Well, she just lit up,” he said at last. “I’ve never seen anything like it. We’ve visited several dance studios since then and none of them have been a good fit.”
“Why not?”
He lifted his shoulders in a way that conveyed quiet frustration. “Katie doesn’t talk. I’m sure you noticed.”
She nodded.
“Sometimes people think that makes her less intelligent, or that they won’t have the time to dedicate to communicating with her the way she needs them to. And sometimes, well, Katie just doesn’t connect with people. Especially women.”
She reflected back on her interaction with the child and tried to reason why Katie had responded to her when it seemed she hadn’t with other teachers. It wasn’t like she had done anything particularly special. Only after thinking back to her early ballet lessons and comparing them with how she approached Katie did the answer occur to her.
“I gave her the option,” she murmured.
“What?”
She met his gaze. “I didn’t tell her what to do. I offered to show her if she wanted to learn.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting.”
“Maybe if you shared that advice with another instructor, she’d respond better.”
His face fell. “Does that mean you’re not interested in working with her? I’m willing to pay you for your time.”
“I really can’t—”
“Jasmine, can I see you for a minute?” May asked from behind the counter.
“We’re almost done here,” Jasmine said.
“Now.”
Feeling like a child who was about to get in trouble, Jasmine drew herself up, lifted her chin, and said, “Excuse me for one minute,” to Will before rising and walking over to her sister and hissing, “What?”
“What do you mean, what?” May whispered back. “You need money. He’s willing to pay you.”
“To teach a kid to dance,” Jasmine said, as though that explained everything.
“I don’t care if he wants you to paint his house or detail his car. Money’s money, and if he plays professional baseball, he’s got plenty of it.”
“I don’t have time to dedicate to that on top of my therapy and my work here.”