and girls center the team’s owner, Caroline Sanderson, had established in the name of her recently departed husband. The team, their significant others, and many prestigious members of the community would be attending. His dad wasn’t wrong that Will didn’t enjoy attending them alone. He always felt like a fifth wheel among the players who brought dates, and usually ended up fending off unwanted advances from most of the single ladies.
“I just don’t think we should mix business with pleasure,” he said at last. “If things didn’t work out between us, I’d be risking Katie’s happiness too.”
Frank frowned as he turned off the water. “You don’t think Jasmine would stop working with Katie because of one bad date, do you?”
“Why are you assuming it’d be bad?” Will automatically argued. He waved a hand before his dad could reply. “I know what I said. And I’m not sure how she’d react if things didn’t pan out.”
His dad took the towel from him and dried his hands. His gaze remained on Will’s face as he folded it to put it back through the towel ring beside the sink. Then he leaned on the counter.
“Look,” he said, “that event is over a month away. Just promise me you’ll give it some thought, okay? You’ve put your life on hold long enough. You haven’t even celebrated your twenty-fourth birthday yet. You deserve to have a little fun.”
“My birthday’s in a few days,” Will muttered. Then, seeing his dad’s quiet look, he sighed.
“Okay,” he said. “I’ll think about it.”
Chapter Twelve
“And how does that make you feel?”
The question was one Jasmine had heard often from Dr. Monica Smythe during their counseling sessions over the past few weeks. At first, it had annoyed her. She had grown up in a household with a Chinese father and a German mother. While she’d always had the love of both her parents, displays of emotion hadn’t been a large part of their family’s dynamic.
Once she reminded herself that her feelings were why she was attending these appointments, she had pushed past her inherent discomfort and tried to provide honest answers. She wouldn’t make the progress she needed to if she didn’t.
Their initial conversations had centered on her injury. She’d talked about how it had happened and her anger toward the dancer who dropped her. She shared her bitterness and resentment that he was now a corps de ballet dancer in the city’s largest ballet company, as were several other members of her graduating class. She revealed her frustration, heartache, and fear over how long it was taking to heal, and not knowing how to handle the uncertainty of her future.
At every turn, Dr. Smythe reassured her. Jasmine’s feelings were perfectly normal, she explained.
They were also hindering part of her healing.
It had taken Jasmine a couple sessions to understand that. The more she shared with Dr. Smythe, the less she felt burdened. Less burdened by anger. Less burdened by fear. Less burdened by her own expectations.
Once she worked through that, they moved on to Jasmine’s family. Through Dr. Smythe’s help, she’d come to realize that she was harboring a substantial amount of guilt. She felt guilty for not thinking beyond herself to see what kind of financial burden she’d put on her father after her mother died. She felt just as guilty for not making him and her sister more of a priority over the years. That guilt was only made worse by her sister’s generosity in getting her a job and letting her live with her, and her father’s offer to pay for these counseling sessions even though it went against his vow to stop helping her financially.
“Do you think you’ll ever take your family for granted again?” Dr. Smythe asked at the end of that session.
“No.”
“Then you’ve learned from this, and it will help you all as a family. Accept your guilt, then let it go and move on with the knowledge you’ve gained.”
Today’s session had taken a different direction.
“You’ve mentioned your work with Katie a few times,” Dr. Smythe said. “Let’s talk about that.”
Just thinking of Katie made Jasmine smile. She was such a sweet and talented little girl. They’d been working together for a few weeks, and Katie was engaged throughout every lesson. More than that, she practiced diligently on her own, something Jasmine hadn’t done when she was so young.
“It’s going well,” she said. “She loves dancing just as much as I do. She’s helping me remember the passion I had for ballet when I was