Touched by Angels Page 0,12

the bright, shining star the community had pinned its hopes upon. Back home she could outsing, outdance, and outact anyone in town. But in New York she was just another pretty face with talent.

"Twenty singers and dancers," Jenny repeated, still trying to decide if another audition was worth all the pain involved. She wasn't sure her heart could stand another rejection. "Does twenty singers and twenty dancers mean Peterman needs forty people?"

"I don't know," Michelle said with her characteristic boundless energy. "It doesn't matter, does it?"

It did. Jenny sat upright and rubbed a hand down her face. "I don't know if I'm up to this. Rejection hurts. Frankly I'm not sure this is what I really want anymore," she whispered. Admitting this to her best friend was hard, but it needed to be said. She loved New York, but at heart she would always be a country girl.

"You can't think of it like that. Rejections are simply the rungs to the ladder of success," Michelle announced, ever positive, ever confident.

Jenny sighed audibly. "You've been listening to motivational tapes again, haven't you?"

Michelle nodded. "It shows that much?"

"Yes." Almost against her will, Jenny tossed aside the bedding and climbed off the mattress. "All right, I'll go, but I'll need a few minutes to put myself together."

"Good girl." Michelle pulled open her bottom drawer and took out a pair of black leotards. "You don't want to spend the rest of your life waitressing at Arnold's, do you? Sure you get to sing, but it isn't anywhere close to Broadway."

Jenny sincerely hoped her roommate didn't let anyone back in Custer know that. The entire town firmly believed in her talent. Firmly believed in her.

After so much time, she couldn't continue to make up excuses why her name didn't light up a marquee. So she'd stretched the truth. All right, she'd elasticized it to the point where it was no longer recognizable. Performing in an Off Broadway musical was a long shot from her job as a singing waitress. Her friends and family believed she was well on the road to becoming a star. Little could be further from the truth. The light of ambition in Jenny's eyes had dimmed considerably in the past three years. Not so long ago she would have jumped at the chance to audition for John Peterman. These days it was difficult to find the energy to drag herself out of bed.

"I don't know if all this trouble is worth the effort," she confessed as she reached for her beige dancing shoes.

"Don't talk like that, Jenny. This is your dream." She hugged her clenched fists to her breast. "Don't let go now. Not when you're so close to making it all come true."

Jenny wished she shared her friend's limitless enthusiasm. Michelle had been spurned as many times as Jenny. Yet her roommate continued to bounce back with renewed optimism, ever hopeful, ever cheerful, ever certain their big break was just around the next corner.

Part of Jenny's reluctance had to do with the season. Christmastime away from her family had always been difficult, but it seemed even more so this year. Not only could she not afford the trip home, but once she was with her family and friends, Jenny realized, she'd never be able to continue with the lie. One look and her parents would guess the truth.

Then there was Trey, their neighbor and longtime family friend. The boy next door, only anyone who met the cattle rancher would be hard-pressed to refer to him as a boy. Whenever Jenny became disheartened, she closed her eyes and remembered Trey.

Trey sitting atop his roan, his Stetson dipped low enough to disguise his eyes. He did that on purpose, she believed, just so she couldn't read his expression. His ranch bordered her father's spread, so Trey had been around for as long as Jenny could remember.

While in school, Jenny had never given much thought to her handsome neighbor. In the years since she'd been away, all that had changed. Whenever Jenny thought about home, it was Trey LaRue who popped into her mind. Trey riding the open range. Trey gentling a startled filly. Trey carrying a sick calf.

Of course he might be married by now, although she doubted it. Surely her mother would have said something if he'd tied the knot. He was at the age - past it, really - when most ranchers married. Three years was a long time to be away from home. Although she remembered him, there was