Take the Lead

by Shelley Shepard Gray

  Anthony glanced his way and smiled. “I was wondering when you’d get here.”

  “Sorry. Work,” he said simply, not wanting any baby news to interfere with their celebration. “Now are you going to let go of your girl for a second so I can congratulate her properly?”

  After pressing a kiss to her temple, Anthony dropped his hands. Marie scrambled off of Anthony’s lap and gave Matt a hug. “Can you even believe it? We’re engaged!”

  He hugged her back and kissed her forehead. “Anthony is a lucky man. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to him.”

  Her cheeks pinkened. “I say the same thing about Tony.”

  It took some effort, but he only smiled at Marie’s shortening of Anthony. Until he started dating her, Matt couldn’t remember him ever being okay with the nickname. Only their mother had ever been allowed to use it before Marie came along.

  When Anthony held out his hand, Matt bypassed it and pulled him into a hug. “I’m happy for you. Really.”

  “Thanks.” After checking to see that their cousins had drifted off to another conversation, he added, “I’m hoping you’ll be our best man.”

  “Of course. I’m honored.”

  He held out a hand for Marie. “There’s something else you need to know as well.”

  “Yes?” Inwardly, he was giving a sigh of relief. Matt had been half afraid that Matt would wait to share the news about the quick wedding.

  “There’s a reason that we decided to get married right now. We want a quick wedding. And no, it’s not because we’re expecting a baby or anything.”

  “Okay . . .”

  Anthony looked at Marie. When she nodded, he continued. “We’ve got a new adventure planned. It’s as amazing as it’s unexpected.”

  Amazing and unexpected? He hadn’t thought that those two words were even in his brother’s vocabulary. And what did that even mean, anyway? “You two are starting to scare me. What are you talking about?”

  “Marie, it’s your news, love.”

  “I know.” She nibbled on her bottom lip. “But, I still think you should tell him, Tony.”

  “But—”

  “One of you tell me!” When he realized about eight people were now staring at him, Matt lowered his voice. “Sorry, but come on. Spit it out.”

  Anthony shrugged. “All right. Here is our news. Marie was asked to join the Budapest Symphony for two years.”

  “Say again?”

  “We’re moving to Budapest so Marie can play the violin for them,” Anthony said slowly. “You know, in Hungary?”

  “I know where Budapest is. But why . . .” he allowed his voice to drift off. Wanting to get some answers now but not wanting to sound completely disrespectful of Marie’s news.

  “I haven’t been real happy in the orchestra here. It’s a good orchestra, of course. One of the best. But there are a lot more violinists who have seniority over me. It’s been pretty apparent that I wasn’t going to ever get to be highlighted or receive more opportunities anytime soon. Plus, now’s the time to go to Europe if we’re ever going to. We don’t have a mortgage or children. I’ve been wanting to do something like this for a while,” she said. “We both have, actually.”

  They had? “But Anthony, you’ve got a great job at UC Medical Center. And, just saying . . . there are plenty of orchestras in the United States.”

  Anthony shrugged like his job was easily replaceable. Like he’d been stocking shelves at a discount store instead of being one of the top researchers at his hospital. “They have hospitals in Hungary, too. And they even have a need for some physicians with experience in family medicine and oncology.”

  “Wait. You’re going to work with patients?”

  His brother stiffened. “I did rotations, just like you did.”

  “I know.” But his meticulous, uber-organized brother always seemed happiest in a research lab. “I just never heard you talk about wanting to get out of the research side.” Or go to Hungary, for that matter.

  His brother’s voice hardened. “You know, now would be a real good time to tell us congratulations.”

  “Sorry. Of course.” He smiled at Marie. “That’s wonderful. Congratulations! I’m sure everyone in Budapest will be lucky to have you.”

  “Thank you.” Her eyes lit up. “We’re really excited. The only problem is that we’ve got to hurry this wedding along. We need to find a place to live, Tony needs to do another round of interviews, and then we’ll need to put half of our lives in storage here and move the rest halfway across the world.”

  That was a lot. Like, a whole lot. “How much of a hurry?”

  “Six weeks.”

  A lot sooner than three months. “Wow. That is really soon.”

  Anthony grinned. “Yep, which means you’d better figure out who you’re going to be bringing as your date, Matt.”

  He wasn’t sure why that even mattered. “Because?”

  “Because in honor of Marie, it’s going to have an old-world feel.”

  “Okay . . . care to clarify that?”

  “That means it’s going to be an evening wedding in the foyer of the Music Hall,” Marie said excitedly. “Someone else’s reception fell through so I was able to get the space for a steal. And, some of my friends are going to play during the ceremony and the reception.”

  “Wow. I’m impressed.”

  “I can’t wait. It’s going to be so beautiful, just like the wedding I always dreamed about. Plus, we’re all going to waltz.”

  Matt grinned, sure that they were playing a joke on him. “Anthony . . .”

  “I’m serious. You’re going to have to bring a date and waltz at my wedding, Matteo.”

  He laughed. “Sorry, I don’t know how to waltz.”

  “Then you best get to finding a date to teach you. You’ve got six weeks.” Just as Matt was about to protest some more, his brother continued, his voice like iron. “Consider it your wedding gift to us.”

  Wedding gift, indeed. It sounded more like a prank.

  CHAPTER 8

  “Nobody cares if you can’t dance well.

  Just get up and dance. Great dancers are

  not great because of their technique, they

  are great because of their passion.”

  —Martha Graham

  “You are continually surprising me, Lucky,” Dylan said as they exited the middle school. “Who would’ve ever guessed that you would be so good with thirteen-year-olds?”

  “Uh, me?” She grinned at him. “I told you I had experience working with teens, Lange.”

  “I know you did. But I just figured you were talking about delinquents.”

  “Not every teenager I came in contact with in Cleveland was in trouble. A lot of them were really nice kids.”

  “Point taken,” he said as they approached the cruiser. “How about this—I hadn’t realized that you would be so good at talking about personal safety. You had those kids eating out of the palm of your hand.”

  “Hardly that,” she said as they got in. Dylan was driving today so she was riding shotgun. Usually, that was something that annoyed her. She liked driving, liked being in control. However, since she had a lot on her mind, she appreciated Dylan picking up some of the slack. “So, back to the station?” she asked after checking her phone.

  “Nah. I thought we’d go get lunch downtown. What do you say?”

  She grinned. Being able to grab a quick lunch in the middle of a shift was a huge perk. “Hmm, I say that depends. What are you thinking?”

  “Tina’s?”

  “Tacos again?”

  “Tina’s food truck is the best around here. She’s always near the bike trail on Tuesdays.”

  “Go ahead. I don’t mind.”

  Dylan grinned as he headed down the road. As was their habit, both kept an eye out
for speeders, but the roads were fairly quiet. Their radios were quiet today, too. Though she knew that was the case in small town life, she couldn’t help but feel it was just the calm before the storm.

  “So, I heard you shot down Shannon’s attempt to make a ballerina out of you.”

  “Ugh. Did she tell you about our barre class?”

  “Not in detail. Just that you took off running.” He grinned. “Was she that tough?”

  “Ah, yes.” When he grinned, she rolled her eyes. “You better watch out, I’ll make her give you a barre class.”

  “Don’t you dare. I’m already having to fill in for her rhumba class.”

  “Every time I think about you rhumbaing with your wife I crack up.”

  “At least one of us does.” Pulling into an empty space near the trail, he shrugged. “I don’t love it, but I do love Shannon, so there you go.”

  That said it all, Traci reflected. He loved her and was willing to step outside of his comfort zone to make her smile. Maybe that was what was missing in her life. She felt a prick on the back of her neck again.

  What was going on?

  “Lucky?”

  “Hmm?”

  “You’re looking tense again. What’s up?”

  “Sorry. I keep feeling like something is about to happen.”

  Dylan studied her. “Like what?”

  “I don’t know. I keep thinking about Gwen and that house we raided.”

  “What about it?”

  “She says she hasn’t heard from anyone there. I want to believe her, but what if her baby daddy wants her back?”

  Dylan shrugged. “When Emerson and I booked them, neither of those guys acted like they even remembered Gwen was there.” He frowned. “I think she was just a convenient—”

  “I know what you meant, but don’t say it, okay.”

  “Okay. You’re right.”

  “Dylan, what if she was something more to one of those guys? What if one of them is the father of her child?”

  “I thought you said she wasn’t positive who the father was.”

  “That’s what she said, but she could’ve been lying. There’s something about the guarded look in her eyes that worries me. What happened to that Hunter guy, by the way?” She’d been so busy with Gwen and her other duties she’d lost track of the guy after a few days.

  “He bailed out.”

  “I was afraid of that.”

  “Since we didn’t have enough evidence to prove that he’d been selling, we could only put some drug charges on him.” Dylan frowned. “I believe in the law, but in cases like this, it sure doesn’t work in our favor.” Dylan continued. “If it was my guess, I don’t think Hunter is going to even think about her again. She’s a liability to him.”

  “She is. But, I can’t help but think that he might want to have her, just to make sure she doesn’t talk.”

  “Yeah.” Dylan’s whole tone and expression was how Traci knew hers should be. Detached. Professional.

  “Hey, don’t look so worried. You, of all people, know that you can’t ever try to guess what some of these drug dealers are thinking—or what their motivations are. If the guy reaches out to Gwen, then she’ll let you know and we’ll go from there.”

  She nodded.

  “Hey, Trace. I know you care about the girl, but settle down. You got her in a good place and she’s getting medical attention. No doubt this guy has found a new girl already.”

  “Maybe so.” Everything Dylan was saying made sense, but she felt like they were making it all sound too easy. They were also counting on Gwen trusting Traci enough to confide in her. So far, Gwen hadn’t exactly given off a “let’s trust each other with our secrets” kind of vibe.

  “Traci, I know you’ve got a good heart, but this time I think your worry is misplaced. Sometimes a duck is just a duck, right?”

  “Right.” She shook her head. “I bet I’m making too much of this. I guess sometimes I can’t stop for problems where there aren’t any.”

  “There you go.” After getting out, he waited for her to do the same before gesturing at the bright yellow food truck parked on the side of Memorial Park. At least a dozen people were lined up in front of the cashier’s window to order and another twenty were sitting on various benches and curbs balancing cardboard containers of tacos on their laps. The scent of grilled onions, garlic, and chili peppers filled the air. Dylan breathed deep. “Ah, heaven.”

  “Heaven in the form of a taco truck?”

  “Absolutely.” Moving to the back of the line, he grinned at her. “Lucky, you’re going to love this place.”

  “I’m sure I will.” She squinted, trying to read the descriptions on each of the five types of tacos on the menu. “The California taco sounds good.” It was full of chicken, pico de gallo, avocado, tomatoes, and lettuce.

  “No way,” he said as they moved up in line. “What you need is a Tina’s taco special.”

  The ingredients consisted of shredded pork, green chilies, onions, peppers, sour cream, and some kind of cheese sauce. “If I don’t drip it all over my uniform, it would be a miracle. Plus, it probably has over thousand calories in it.”

  “So?”

  “So, it will also likely give me heartburn all night.”

  “Oh, stop. You run all the time. You’ll burn those calories off before you know it.”

  “Maybe that’s what I ought to do.” Actually, when was the last time she’d gone out for a decent run? She couldn’t remember. “Remind me to register for a couple of 5- and 10Ks.”

  “A couple?”

  “Oh, yeah. I used to enter at least four a year when I was up in Cleveland.” All that running and training had been good for her, too. It had relieved her stress and enabled her to rarely worry about what she ate.

  Dylan nodded slowly. “You know, I might hound you to do that. You should get a hobby.”

  “Because?”

  “Because it will keep your mind busy and you’ll be ready to eat out with me at every shift.”

  “And . . . it all comes back to you,” she teased. “You know what, Lange? I’m surprised Shannon puts up with you.”

  “Me, too. She’s everything classy and graceful that I’m not. But, what can I say? I was born under a lucky star.”

  “Next!” the cashier called out.

  As they stepped up yet again, Traci grinned. These tacos might have a thousand calories in them, but being able to spend a few minutes with her partner doing nothing but standing in line and talking was priceless.

  CHAPTER 9

  tango: Ballroom tango has a 2–4 time signature,

  and it is thirty-two bars per minute. While ballroom

  tango can certainly be romantic, sensual might be a

  better word to describe this popular dance.

  One week later

  Gwen had been in the cozy room with the plum colored walls, massive bookcases, and two sets of blue velvet chairs for almost an hour. She and Ellen Landers had been talking for a while. It was nice, but weird.

  It was the second time she’d been summoned for a visit in the director’s swanky office, but it didn’t feel any more comfortable than it had the first time. Not only was the office fancier than any place she’d ever been before, the sixty-year-old director had a way of speaking to her like they were equals.

  Gwen knew they were anything but that.

  Ellen leaned forward, her chin-length bob swinging forward. “Gwen, like I said at the beginning of our talk, no one here is judging you. Actually, we’re doing the opposite of that. We’re all on your side.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “All you need to do is take things one day at a time,” Ellen continued in her soothing voice. “Now that the restraining order is firmly in place, we can concentrate on your health and plan for your future.”

&
nbsp; Future. She wasn’t exactly sure what that entailed. How did a person start over when she never had much to begin with?

  “Do you have any questions?” Ellen asked.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “All right then. I’ll see you later.”

  She was dismissed. After smiling awkwardly, Gwen scooted out of Ellen’s office and headed to her room on the third floor.

  She’d been in the women’s center for one whole week, and it didn’t feel any more comfortable than it had the afternoon she’d arrived.

  Gwen suspected that it wouldn’t ever feel very comfortable, at least not anytime soon. Everything was so completely different than what she was used to, she hardly knew how to handle it.

  She wasn’t used to being the center of anyone’s conversation. She sure wasn’t used to focusing so much on herself. That was part of the problem, she guessed. She actually couldn’t remember the last time that she’d concentrated on herself at all. She’d always been more worried about Hunter and not making him mad. Before that, it was her mom she’d worried about upsetting.

  Then, she’d been so sure that things were going to turn even worse that she’d gotten high the night before Officer Lucky had found her on the floor.

  Though her body didn’t seem too harmed by her recent poor choices, she was wracked with guilt. She wouldn’t know for sure until she gave birth if her selfish behavior had hurt her baby. But she thought it must have. How could it not?

  The worst part was that she’d known it wasn’t good for her baby, yet she’d done these bad things anyway. Her time with Hunter had pulled her into a black hole of regrets—regrets that she was likely going to be paying for for the rest of her life.

  “Hey, you don’t look so bad,” her roommate Zara said when Gwen opened the door. “Did the meeting go all right?”

  “I guess.” She sat down on the bare mattress of the third twin bed in their room. Gwen liked how it had been just her and Zara in the room, but Ellen had been quick to let her know that they would probably have another roommate within a few days. Empty beds didn’t last long here.

  “Well, what did she say?”

  “Not much. She just asked how things were going.”