To Die For - Davidson King Page 0,6

if not stubborn. I wanted that man more than I wanted anyone else. I just didn’t understand so much the why.

It was a busy night—lots of people, lots of money, but again no Sparkles. Moments like this I wished he’d given me his number one of the million times I’d asked, just to make sure he was okay. He was usually here every night, so this felt strange to me. I knew Toby was friends with him, and I wondered if maybe he or Atlas could contact him and make sure he was okay.

Chapter Four

Lane

“Understanding what I refer to as ballet vocabulary is important. Why do you think that is?” I asked the ten ballet dancers who sat in a circle on the floor of my Ballet for Beginners class. “Yes?” I pointed to a girl named Jane.

“It’s easier for you to call out a word and us do it than to say something like twirl, jump, squat.” She giggled and we all laughed.

“That’s hugely why. If I say to you right now words like: pirouette, tour en l’air, plié, grande jeté, some or most of you won’t know what to do. Now…” I took a few steps back, assumed the position, and did a perfect tour en l’air.

“That was just jumping in the air,” Jane said.

“It was a tour en l’air. Which is French for ‘turn in the air.’ Now, when I use terms where I want you to go from one position to another to another, knowing the words will make it a heck of a lot faster and easier for you. It’s also all part of the art of dancing.”

They all smiled, and I loved the wonder of new dancers’ faces. The door opened, and their parents entered. “Okay, that’s it for today, I’ll see you all next time. Remember to practice the list of words to understand them better.”

I spoke to some parents for a little bit, Nolan was taking payments, and Alexandra was in the back changing for the last class of the day, when our landlord entered. It was midway through the month and I knew we’d paid our rent, so it was strange. But maybe there was a repair or something that Nolan contacted him about.

After the last dancer left, I walked over to Earl and smiled. “Hey, Earl, everything okay?”

“Hey, Lane. Any chance you have a moment to talk?” He appeared nervous, which in turn made me equally as nervous.

“Yeah, I’m actually done for the day. Alexandra has one more class, but we can go to my office and talk, if that’s all right?” He nodded and followed. I passed Alexandra as she came onto the main floor, her look of confusion mirroring how I felt.

When we were in the small office, I shut the door and turned toward Earl. “So, what’s going on?”

“I don’t know how to start off, so I’ll just kinda blurt it out. I’m retiring,” Earl said.

“Okay, that’s great. You said when we rented the place you hoped to retire while you could still enjoy life. What’s so horrible about that?”

Earl sighed. “A few months ago I put out some feelers, seeing if anyone would want to buy the building, or any of my buildings. I was trying to get a timeline, you know? See how long it would all take.” I nodded as he spoke, starting to feel uneasy. “Last month I got a call, said they’d checked the places out. Lane, the guy offered to buy them all.” Earl’s eyes widened, and his smile lit up his entire face. He looked younger than his seventy years.

“Wow, Earl, that’s…well, honestly, that’s sort of weird.” I didn’t mean to burst his bubble, but that was very strange and suspicious.

“I thought so too. So did Betty when I told her.” Betty was his wife and a spitfire. “So, I talked to my lawyer, and we did some research on the fella. He’s legitimate. He buys buildings, companies, all that.”

Now I was really worried. “Are you saying I have to shut down Ashley’s Haven and move?”

“No, oh no, no, Lane. Not at all. I was very careful. And the guy was so understanding. He’s like some billionaire or something, part of a huge corporation. He promised not to evict any of you. From any of my buildings.”

I knew the lease for Ashley’s Haven was up in two months and while the guy, whoever he was, may have agreed to not evict us, nothing stopped him from not renewing.

“What about when