Jess was staring, open mouthed with envy.
“God Carrie! You lucky cow. He can do physio on me any time he likes. Will you be seeing him again when he gets back home?”
Carrie shrugged and shook her head.
“I have no idea Jess. A thirty million dollar contract is one hell of an incentive to keep him in Atlanta. He must be torn if that’s what they are offering and that’s on top of what he already earns. I’m not stupid enough to think that I have anywhere near that kind of pulling power.”
They rounded the corner and spotted their car fifty meters away. There was a tow truck parked in front of it and two men in overalls were just about to attach chains around the wheels. Carrie spoke to Jess rapidly.
“I know you are a fantastic dancer, but do you think you can do a little acting too? Shove that shopping bag up your shirt and slow down. I’ll tell them that I’m taking you to hospital.”
She didn’t wait for an answer, but ran ahead and began imploring the two men in very broken Italian. She waved her hand towards her friend who was walking along the pavement with a very convincing waddle, her front now bulging forward. Jess put her hands in the small of her back and winced painfully. The two men hesitated for a moment and pointed to a sign further along the road. They started back on the chains. Carrie looked up at the sign. It was a disabled parking area and Carrie quite obviously had no badge. She frowned and then looked at Jess meaningfully. Jess puffed up to the car at last. She opened the door and sat down heavily. She gave a tiny cry of pain and the two tow truck men looked up again quickly. Jess somehow managed to squeeze a couple of tears out of her eyes. Probably of laughter, Carrie thought, and then Jess began to rock backwards and forwards as she held her stomach gently.
That was enough for the two men. They rolled their eyes, wrapped up their chains and climbed back into their truck. Carrie hopped in over the top of the car door and Jess pulled hers shut. The truck moved forwards and Carrie steered out of the parking space quickly.
Jess waited until they had passed the truck, throwing her hand up over her eyes and remembering to look slightly faint, just in case the driver was still watching them. When they rounded the next corner she pulled the bags out from under her shirt and bellowed with laughter.
“I can’t believe we just got away with that. What a pair of idiots! That just goes to show how stupid men can be, though I must say it felt really nice being pregnant.” She caressed her now flat stomach gently. “All homely and lovely, even if it was for only about a minute. Okay, I’m convinced. If the dancing ever falls flat on its face, I’ll take up a career in acting.” She laughed loudly again.
They high fived and Carrie giggled along with her friend as they drove as fast as possible back to the concert hall.
Her spirits were high, verging on the euphoric. She had driven abroad for the first time and had a wonderful afternoon shopping. She had seen and heard Daniel, and although he hadn’t promised he was coming home, he hadn’t said he wasn’t either. They had enjoyed a mad adventure with the car. Now, they were going to spend the evening doing what they loved best and, to top it all, get paid for it too. She didn’t think life could get any sweeter.
She left her message to Daniel early that night. She knew the after show party would carry on late into the night.
“I saw you on the television in an electrical shop today Dan. I was shopping and I spotted you through the window. Well, I couldn’t miss you really as you were up there on every screen. I thought that interviewer was going to eat you. You really should try not to look quite so delicious. I’m in Rome and it’s fantastic! Come back with me some day. I love you.”
Chapter Eleven
April 2010, Athens
“Hi mum. Happy birthday. How old are…I mean how are you?” Carrie giggled down the phone at her mother’s sharp intake of breath.
“Cheek! You should never ask a woman of a certain age how old she is. It’s unseemly.” Carrie could hear her mum smiling as she spoke.
“Sorry I couldn’t ring earlier. We had to do a thing in a children’s home. Milana was talking to the kids and we had to dance. It’s all just publicity for Milana’s shows really, but you should have seen the children’s faces when we all walked in. They couldn’t believe it.”
Helen sounded impressed.
“Oh darling, that sounds wonderful. It’s so good that you can fit in some nice things to do. Even if it is a publicity stunt, I’m sure it was much appreciated.”
Carrie made a strange sound in her throat.
“Well, it would have been lovely if Milana hadn’t called a three hour rehearsal immediately afterwards. Not including her of course. She doesn’t need to practice at all…She’s a complete tyrant, most of the time. I’ll be honest mum, I wish she hadn’t been quite so successful. She’s sold out everywhere so she’s extending the tour by a couple of months.”
Helen sighed softly.
“I don’t know whether to be pleased or disappointed. We’re really missing you. I know you had the break over Christmas, but Jim was being such a bore then. We can’t wait to see you back here permanently.” Helen sounded almost close to tears.
Carrie spoke softly.
“Even dad?” She regretted saying it as soon as it came out of her mouth. “Oh mum, I’m sorry, it’s just that he asks if I have a boyfriend or who I’m going out with all the time. As if most of the guys in the group aren’t gay anyway. I don’t get chance to meet anyone outside of the team and he knows I just want to be sure about Daniel.” She rushed her explanation and heard Helen sigh again. “Are you okay, mum? You sound really down.”
Helen sniffed down the line.
“I’m fine. Feeling my age I suppose. Carrie, I just want you home for a while. A year is too long, even if you have rung nearly every other day. Dad really misses you as well you know, whatever he says to your face.”
Carrie sighed despondently. The tour really was getting to her.
“I know, and I miss you both too, but Athens isn’t far, why not come and meet me? We’re here for the next week and then we go back over to Spain. You’ve got the original tour dates. I’m sure there are cheap flights to one of the gigs.”
Helen answered quietly.
“Jim doesn’t want to leave work. He’s worried that if he takes a holiday they’ll think he’s not up to the work and put him on the redundancy list. He thinks he’s too old and crusty to get anything else.”
Carrie laughed as she privately agreed with her dad. He was definitely far too crusty.
“He may be crusty, but you need a holiday mum, why don’t you come over? I can meet you at the airport. I’m sure Milana won’t mind if you come back stage if I can’t get you a ticket. It would be fun.” She tried to persuade her mother.
Carrie hated to admit it, but she was very homesick. They had spent the best part of the last year either on the road, or in the air. She had loved every minute of the dancing, but it was more tiring than she had ever imagined possible and, not for the first time in her career, she was wondering if there wasn’t more to life than dancing behind some “prima donna.”
In her last few phone calls to Daniel’s mobile she had barely been able to speak, she was so exhausted and on one night her message had been more yawn than actual words.
Milana’s behavior was a little better now. At the beginning of the tour she had been almost impossible to work with, throwing her weight about nearly every day and several of the original dancers had soon walked out, but after a few months she had calmed down slightly. As long as she could have her cigarettes any time she wanted them she remained fairly calm. It was only on the odd occasion when the theatre or stage had very sensitive smoke alarms that she sprung a wild and totally irrational hissy fit on them.
Carrie came back to her senses when her mother suddenly said.
“Okay. I’ll do it. I’ll see what flights are available. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, you had a letter reconfirming your university place. I assumed it was okay an
d sent off the acceptance forms. I’ll give you a call in an hour when I’ve had time to see when the flights run.”
“Yay!” Carrie cried out. “Thanks mum, that’s brilliant news. I can’t wait to see you. Just don’t get a flight that lands after five or you’ll be needing a taxi. Speak to you in an hour.” She put the phone down and sat smiling to herself.
There was a sudden voice in her ear.
“And what are you so happy about? We’re all feeling worn out and miserable and here you are, full of the joys of spring. It’s sickening.” The team’s leading male dancer, Oliver, had walked away from an exhausted group. He stared down at her, openly curious.
Carrie grinned at him.
“My mum just confirmed my university place for September and she might be coming to see me too. It’ll be the first time she’s seen me dance with Milana. All my other work was with a boy band. We went on tour, but it was all small stuff, nobody like Milana. I mean, she’s huge!”
Oliver slumped down beside her, obviously unimpressed.
“Yeah, huge. You mean her ego or her arse?” He grinned at Carrie as she stuffed her hand in her mouth to hold back her laugh and then he was serious again. “I seem to have been looking at the main attractions huge backside, wriggling about in front of me, for over ten years, or is it twelve? Actually, when I think about it, it could be fifteen. Anyway, it’s been so long I’ve forgotten and my mum has never bothered to come to see me. You’re really lucky.” He closed his eyes and rubbed his temples.
Carrie gasped in shock.
“Fifteen years! Wow! I don’t know how you’ve done it. I don’t think I want to be doing this for the next fifteen years. I can’t imagine doing it for another two.”
Oliver gave a dry laugh.
“I didn’t expect to be doing this for so long myself, but you get sucked into the lifestyle. The years have gone by so fast, but I’m going to have to finish soon, my joints have had it, and I have no idea of what to do next. I’ve not trained for anything else.”
Carrie nudged him.
“Oh cheer up Oliver. You’re not finished yet. You’ve got years left in you. You don’t look a day over…well over…er.” She didn’t finish as she looked at his tired face and realized that she couldn’t even guess how old he was.
“Thanks,” he said flatly and pursed his lips. “That makes me feel a whole lot better. How old do you think I am Carrie? Go on, have a guess. I can take it on the chin.” He angled his face slightly away from the light and lifted his chin so that the skin was very taught beneath.
She tried to be kind.
“Thirty-eight? Sorry, sorry.” She covered her eyes with her hand at his sudden intake of breath and offended look. “I’m not very good with ages. My mum had me when she was sixteen, and she still looks really young but my dad was completely bald by the time he was thirty, so I can’t judge very well. It’s probably because you look tired, but then I expect I look like I’m twenty five at the moment and I’m only eighteen.” She cringed back in embarrassment.
Oliver sighed deeply.
“Actually you weren’t too far out. Only eight years! I’m just over thirty. All the late nights, the horrible make-up, lack of sleep, not to mention the punishment on your body, takes its toll eventually. I started this caper when I was fifteen and became so wrapped up in all the glamour and travelling that I never attempted to do anything else. You have A levels Carrie, I’m glad you’re going to use them wisely. University is definitely the right choice. You don’t want to end up like me. Thirty plus and nothing to show for it. I really thought this gig was going to make me enough money to get out. Fifty grand sounds a lot for the year but I haven’t been able to save a penny. Travelling and the hotels don’t come cheap any more. God! I am so fed up with this tour. It’s the longest I’ve ever been on and, quite honestly, I’ve had enough.” He looked up and then made to stand.
Carrie wished she could think of something to say that would cheer him up. She watched him as he rubbed his knees.
“Are they troubling you Oliver?” She grimaced for him as he nodded and winced, then she noticed that he was holding his whole body stiffly. “You should do some of my friend Dan’s exercises. I don’t know the specific ones for knees but the feeling you get from the breathing is fantastic. I once helped a lady give birth using them. She had a ten pound baby completely naturally, didn’t even tear. Come on, give them a go.” She encouraged as Oliver looked back at her sceptically.
“I’d probably be more impressed if I knew what a ten pound baby looks like. Okay, okay, I’m doing it.” He muttered as she glared at him before he moved onto the floor next to Carrie.
Oliver watched her cautiously for a few moments and then sighed as she breathed in and raised her arms above her head. She spread them open and then pushed them as far behind her back as she could reach, gradually stretching them round to her front again. She leaned forwards from the hips and relaxed her body towards the floor. She let out her breath and pushed her arms forward even further, as she remembered the way Daniel had shown her.
Oliver copied her every move and after just a few minutes he sighed deeply.
“I wish that you had shared this before. It feels so good. Better than our normal cool down. Who did you say you learned this from?”
Carrie noticed that one or two of the other dancers, who had listened to their conversation, now joined them. She concentrated on leaning sideways and took another deep breath, releasing it slowly before she spoke.
“Daniel Lewis. He plays American football and he’s doing his thesis on this type of training at the Atlanta University. He used to live near me back in Harrow. Take another breath. Fill your lungs.” Carrie breathed in gently and then breathed in again, filling the whole of her lung space. It was a technique Daniel had used to get as much oxygen around the body as possible.
Oliver almost whispered as he held his breath for a moment.
“I think I know who you mean. Great big, dark haired fella? I’ve seen him on the mineral water ads. Well, tell him he should ditch the water adverts, he needs to bottle this. It’s a dancer’s dream, like a deep massage from within, one that you can do yourself anytime. It’s fantastic.” His breath came out in a long whoosh.
The whole dance team now sat on the floor. There was a collective deep breath and a swaying of bodies. One or two of the dancers moaned as they relaxed. There were groans of relief all around the floor. The sound of complete relaxation ran around the hall as everyone felt the tension fall from their limbs.
Carrie glanced over to the bench where she and Oliver had sat earlier. Her phone was buzzing quietly. She breathed deeply once more and then reached out for it. She almost giggled as everyone else in the room reached out with one arm too.
She flipped the phone into her palm, hoping that nobody had noticed it, and glanced at the screen. It was a text from her mother. She carefully touched the screen so that she could read it.
“Carrie, sorry love. Flights all full for the next three weeks. I forgot it’s the Easter holidays. Too upset to talk. Will ring again in the morning.”
“Oh no!” Carrie couldn’t help herself and Oliver looked up at her cry of dismay.
“Problem?” He whispered out of the corner of his mouth.
Carrie rolled her eyes at him and lifted her arms above her head again.
“Mum can’t get any flights. It’s the Easter holidays.” She tried not to let her disappointment show as she breathed out and let her arms drop gently to her sides. She shook them lightly and the whole room gave a gentle sigh. General chatting broke out with one or two of the dancers coming over to ask her questions. It was obvious that they all felt more relaxed after joining in with the exercises.
The dancers suddenly fell silent as Milana stepped out of her dressing room, cigarette hanging from the corner of her glossy lips. Hips swaying wildly, she walked over to where Carrie was now standing with Oliver. She stepped right between them, forcing Oliver out of her way.
; She didn’t offer any preamble but took the cigarette from her mouth and blew smoke directly in Carrie’s face.
“What was that you were doing with the dancers? It was very effective, like a flowing river of people, perfect for my second number. I want to see it in tonight’s show.” She stared at Carrie waiting for some kind of response.
Carrie coughed slightly and wafted the smoke away.
“I can’t do that Milana. It’s not my technique. A friend of mine was helping me over an injury and we used it extensively then, but it’s his therapy not mine. I can’t steal the idea from him and put it in a show.” She went to turn away when Milana caught hold of her shoulder. Her freshly manicured fingernails dug painfully into Carrie’s skin leaving her gasping in surprise.
Milana hissed menacingly.
“I said I want it in tonight’s show.” She raised her voice to the dancers. “Come on everyone, Miss. Carol Dentrom is going to demonstrate to us all how to put this dance to my music.” Milana beckoned the crowd of dancers to come nearer.
Carrie pulled herself away from Milana’s nails and pressed her lips together. After a whole year Milana still hadn’t even bothered to remember her name! It shook her as she realized how unimportant to the star she really was. She spoke stiffly.
“It’s Carrie Denton, Milana and I’m not telling or showing you anything. It’s an exercise regime, not a dance. My friend would be furious with me if I showed you before he’s had time to make his final presentation on it.” Carrie was adamant. She stepped back as Milana took another long drag from her cigarette and appeared to suddenly swell, overshadowing Carrie’s compact form.
He words came out like splintering ice particles.
“Show me now Ms. Denton. Don’t try and play games with me. It won’t work. I’m the star here. I can have exactly what I want in my show and I want that workout, so stop messing about and start showing the dancers.” She dropped the end of her cigarette onto the floor just in front of Carrie’s foot and ground it out with her heel.
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