“Ah, Mag. We’ve got to get you in to some dance lessons or something so you can shake your money maker!”
“Um no. But honestly, the band was great and Jake seems amazing. You guys are adorable together!”
“Yay, I’m glad you liked him! Thanks for coming out tonight by the way.”
“Of course, you know I wanted to meet your boy.”
“I know, but don’t think I didn’t note what date it was on the calendar.” Taylor answered, her tone more serious.
There was a long pause on the other end of the phone. No one had brought up Thomas so Maggie had just assumed they didn’t know, didn’t realize, but that apparently was not the case.
“Maggie, are you still there? I’m sorry. Cal, Lexi, and I knew today would suck for you, and when it turned out Jake’s band would be in town we thought it would be a perfect way to get you out and to maybe help you forget about him.”
“I know. And thanks, it’s just...I’m not really over it yet.” Maggie quietly got out.
“I know Mag, but you will. Remember how before him, you were all pessimistic and thought you’d never find a boyfriend? And you did. You found love. You’ll find that again, I promise.”
It was times like these in which Maggie didn’t have a clue how she got to be the person she was. With divorced parents, a set of divorced grandparents, and no image of that perfect happy ending in her mind, she chalked it up to how people always want what they don’t have… or is it can’t have?
“I found love and he broke my heart. I know what I want and I know that involves finding someone new, but I just can’t get the images of him and what he did out of my mind.” Maggie said, not knowing whether she wanted to cry or punch something.
Chapter Four
Fresh out of pastry school, Maggie was thrilled to open up her own place, and especially when she got her first order. When Maggie had finished setting the cake up at the reception site, the groom’s brother came in to the ballroom to give the final okay.
This was Thomas.
Maggie had said many times that she was lucky he didn’t come in while she was still in the process of setting things up because she was sure she would have dropped something. She was taken aback by him. He was Japanese; his heritage and the summer sun giving his skin a warm, deep glow. He was maybe 5’7” at the tallest, but that worked for her petite frame. His hair was almost jet black and he wore it in a shaggy style that both complimented and contradicted the tuxedo he was wearing. There was a moment when not a word was said, but they just looked at each other. In typical Maggie fashion, when she recounted this story to Taylor, Alexis, and Callie, she was adamant that he was just busy looking at the cake, while her three closest friends kept insisting that it was her that was the sweet treat he wanted.
After the wedding, it only took one day before her phone was ringing. Thomas had gotten Maggie’s number from his brother and called asking to set up an appointment for a consultation for a birthday cake for his mother. The following day when he arrived, Thomas revealed that his mother’s birthday was actually months ago and that he just wanted to see her again. From that moment on, the two were inseparable. For almost two years it was “Maggie and Thomas” or “Thomas and Maggie.” Everyone swore that they were going to be married, but one year ago to the day, that all went out the window.
While Thomas and Maggie were on different pages career-wise, they complimented each other in all other aspects of their lives. But when Thomas got a job offer that would make him move to Calgary just as Maggie was finally building up a strong clientele, arguments began. They thought they could compromise, but both were driven and knew what they wanted. Trying the long distance thing for a bit, Maggie had finally decided to bite the bullet and give Calgary a try.
She had decided to surprise Thomas there and spend a few days in the city before coming back to Vancouver and start packing up her life. When she knocked on his office door, the voice behind it replied “Come on in, Shelly. I’ll be just a few more minutes, baby.” When Maggie opened the door, Thomas’ face dropped and that was when it all came crumbling down. Maggie couldn’t process how much time passed before she heard the woman’s voice behind her. Thomas still hadn’t spoken a single word.
Maggie had closed her eyes tight, breathed as deeply as she could before she turned around and came face to face with Shelly. She was now wishing that she had kept her eyes shut for if she were to close them now, let alone blink, she knew tears would start streaming down her face and she refused to let them see her cry.
Shelly had a good three inches on Maggie and was missing about ten pounds from her hips too. The one thing Maggie could see she had on her was about five years. Thomas was always a numbers guy. In her head though, in that moment, Shelly was everything Maggie wasn’t. And apparently, to the man she loved, she really was.
“Move” was all she said before pushing her way passed Shelly and out of the office and out of Thomas’ life. Maggie was willing to give up everything she knew for him, but ended up coming back to Vancouver to start over.
“Not all guys are assholes.” Taylor interjected, ending Maggie’s thoughts of what had happened.
“Right.” was all Maggie said. There was another long pause in which neither woman knew what to say. Maggie tried to lighten the tone by asking how much longer Jake was in town. Taylor let her know that they left tomorrow, but she would be meeting up with them in Montana the day after Maggie’s birthday and then joining them on the road for the remainder of the tour. Oh yeah, was it left out that all this with Thomas happened two days before her birthday? Fate really had shitty timing sometimes. With that, goodbyes were exchanged with promises to see each other for dinner the night of her 27th, a night she wished could just disappear off the calendar.
Chapter Five
“Happy Happy Birthday to You!” Callie, Alexis, and Taylor all sang out with the help of the wait staff at the Indian restaurant Maggie had chosen. Smiling, Maggie closed her eyes in a moment of pause as she always did as tradition and made her wish before blowing out the candles. As everyone cheered and clapped, Maggie was genuinely happy. It was a simple dinner with her friends; a girls’ night out where they could just hang and catch up. She wasn’t up for anything fancy at all, especially nothing that involved clubbing with drunk, grody men trying to dance up on her. Simple. That’s what she needed right now.
“Okay,” piped up Alexis, “this year we decided to go together on a present for you. So, this is from the three of us.” Reaching in to her purse, Alexis pulled out a sparkly yellow envelope that Maggie quickly grabbed, excited to see its contents. As she opened the flap, revealing the gift, her heart, and probably her face, dropped.
“Shit. She doesn’t like it.” Callie cut in.
“You guys bought me dance lessons.” Maggie choked out.
“Remember the other night we talked about you getting out there? Shaking your money maker?”
“Taylor, I thought you were kidding!” Maggie was quick to reply.
“Well, okay, maybe you don’t want to go out shaking your ass, but come on, I think it will be good for you. It’ll be great exercise, first off, and second maybe it will help you get out there. And I mean that in more ways than one.” The last sentence Taylor said barely above a whisper, but Maggie heard her loud and clear. “You just moved back in to the city. You should look at everything as a fresh start. And nothing screams fresh start more than tackling something new!”
As she took her eyes off of the gift certificate that lay in the envelope, she looked each one of her friends square in the eye. They all said the same thing and she knew she wasn’t getting out of this. When she finally gave in to their resolve, Taylor clapped her hands together in excitement. “Yes! Now, don’t think because I’m going to be gone for 2 weeks that you can just skip. Lexi and Cal have promised me they’re going to be on your ass about going. Plus, I expect updates every Tuesday and Friday about your new moves, k?” Maggie could only stare back at her. Great, s
he thought to herself sarcastically, this is going to fun.
Chapter Six
6:50pm was what stared back at her on her watch as she stood in front of the large brick building that, according to the sign, housed her impending doom.
“Generic Dance” appeared in bold blue letters on the door and following one last deep breath, she opened it and went on through. After going up the two flights of stairs at a snail’s pace, Maggie begrudgingly approached the young girl at the reception desk.
“Hi, welcome to Generic Dance Center, how can I help you?” the girl asked in an overly perky tone. Now usually, Maggie would haven’t even noticed as she is quite fantastically perky herself, but being forced to dance against her will was definitely top on the list of things that would cause her to throw perky out the window.
“Yeah, my friends signed me up for some sort of classes for my birthday.”
“Oh, you must be Maggie Sloan!” the girl replied after checking her notes. “We’ve got you in Studio Three with Caleb. Just down the hall, first door on the left.”
With that, Maggie headed off to the designated door, opening it to reveal an empty dance studio. There was nothing there except her, hardwood floors, a ballet bar, stereo, and mirrors.
“What the...” Maggie thought out loud until she heard the door open behind her, causing her to spin around.
There she came face to face with a beautiful man and she felt that everything around her stopped. This was the first time that had happened since Thomas. A fact that Maggie became aware of that fact quite quickly as she shook herself out of her stupor and asked if she was too early.
Caleb took the duffel bag he had been carrying off his shoulder with a laugh. “No, you’re good. Ready to get started?”
“Aren’t we waiting for the others?” Maggie asked, unsure.
“Others? You’ve booked the private lessons.”
And with that, Maggie’s jaw literally dropped. Faster than her feet could carry her, she excused herself and walked out of the studio and in to the door marked ‘Ladies Room,’ whipping her phone out. Going to her contacts, she hit send on the first name she came to; Alexis.
“Private lessons?!” Maggie screamed at Alexis when she picked up.
“Yeah, um...surprise!?” Dead silence was all that met her. “Seriously, regular classes didn’t fit in with your baking schedule. Plus, this way, we thought you’d be less timid and more willing to try the steps and such.” There was a pause on the other end of the line as Maggie contemplated what Alexis was saying, trying to calm herself down. “Please don’t hate us.” Alexis added in, probably complete with puppy dog eyes.
“Ugh, fine.” Maggie said and hung up without a good bye. She wasn’t herself today. She was forced to do something she had absolutely no desire in doing.
Caleb, you may be pretty, but beware; she was on a war path.
Maggie quietly slipped back in to the studio to find Caleb standing at the stereo with his back towards her. If he was what she was to face every lesson then maybe this wouldn’t be as hard as she thought. There he stood, tall and muscular, but not bulky. He was wearing a black wife-beater tank top and well-fitting sweatpants. Very well fitting sweatpants she noted as he turned around to face her. His light ivory skin contrasted nicely with his dark brown hair which was sticking up ever-so-slightly as it must have got rustled when he took of his sweatshirt, and his light brown eyes met hers as he broke in to a large smile. His jawline was strong, yet the lines bore a softness that was calling out to be traced with her fingers.
“Everything okay?” he asked casually. All Maggie could do was nod, and Caleb took this as a sign for him to continue. “Great. Well, I’m Caleb, your instructor. So, what types of dance are you interested in?”
“None.” Maggie replied bluntly and honestly.
Taken slightly aback, Caleb responded “Can I ask why you’re taking dance lessons then?”
“Because my friends signed me up for them as a birthday present. They think it will help me...grow.”
“Ah, so you’re here against your will?”
“Basically. Sorry, no offence.”
“None taken.” Caleb laughed.
Wow, he had a great laugh, Maggie thought to herself. Stop it! she scolded herself internally. “Um, what types of dance do you teach?” Maggie asked aloud to continue the conversation, but to also get her mind off how attracted she was to him.
“Everything really. Ballroom is my specialty, but that covers a lot too; from tango to salsa to the waltz, etcetera. But I can also break it down if you’re up for hip hop. We cover it all.”
“Is that why your studio is called ‘Generic Dance’?”
Caleb laughed in response to this. “Yeah, see, I’m not the best at coming up with names for things. We teach it all, so...Generic it was. Lame, right? What can you expect; my pet cat growing up was called ‘Cat.’”
“No, not lame at all. Just...generic.” Maggie responded with a slight lilt in her voice.
“Touché” laughed Caleb, causing Maggie to break her tension and crack a smile herself.
Just then, Caleb pressed a button on the stereo behind him and a fun, familiar tune came blaring out. Caleb stepped towards Maggie and took her hand in his and put his other on her waist and held her close.
My God, he smells good! Maggie mused. Stop it, bad Maggie! she scolded herself once again.
As Caleb looked down at Maggie with a smile on his face, she couldn’t help but thinking that this could be trouble. As they began to dance what turned out to be the Patty Cake Polka, reminiscent of high school gym class (“Hey, it’ll help get you in the rhythm while having fun with something familiar!” Caleb told her), Maggie found herself having fun and looking forward to her next class. She just wasn’t sure yet if that was because of the dance, or the instructor.
Chapter Seven
Wednesday and Thursday; the days following her first lesson, dragged on for Maggie. She wasn’t sure why however, but when Friday rolled around the answer became crystal clear. This Friday was one of the busiest days that month as she had a birthday cake delivery for tomorrow and another order that was to be picked up right before she had to leave for class.
Ah, class; the reason why time moved so slowly.
With two large cake orders to fill, she would usually be stressed for time and panicked over getting everything down, but she was on top of her game. The cakes were executed exquisitely, as usual, and done earlier than expected, leaving Maggie time to sit and count down the hours until their pick-up.
Just as she was saying good bye to the gentleman who came for his cake, Maggie quickly rushed to the back to make sure everything was turned off, flicked the lights off, and ran out the door, turning to lock it behind her. Fumbling with her keys in the process slowed Maggie down as her brain took a moment of pause.
“What am I doing? It’s just a stupid dance class. Calm down, Maggie.” she told herself as she finally managed to accomplish the simple task of locking the shop.
Maggie was known to be smitten easily, but ever since Thomas, she was a much harder egg to crack. But even she had to admit that there was something about Caleb that had her wanting more. When she spoke with her friends following the first class, of course the three of them asked about the instructor. Turns out they saw his picture online when they Googled local dance studios and Caleb was their selling point. Maggie couldn’t help but giggle at this admission, but she still held back any thoughts of her attraction to him, simply noting that he was definitely attractive (something a blind man could see!) and leaving it at that. Maggie wasn’t sure what her heart and head were telling her. Maybe she was just lonely. All she knew was that there was something there, but it was certainly too soon to start fantasizing about a future or anything like that. However, the fantasizing in general couldn’t be ignored; she was a woman after all! Anything else would just happen with time, if at all. Heck, she didn’t even know if he was interested in her. He could have a girlfriend or a wif
e even...or maybe a boyfriend!
As Maggie walked up the stairs to the studio, she waved hello to the girl behind the desk, more tolerable to her perkiness now that she knew what was waiting for her on the other side of the door to Studio Three. When she entered she saw Caleb with his arms around a tall, leggy blonde. She wore a sports bra and booty shorts that only helped to accentuate how perky her ass still was.
“Wait until gravity and cellulite say hello” Maggie couldn’t help cursing to herself before her eyes drifted up to theirs. Just as Caleb finished dipping her, he whipped her up in a swift move that brought their faces together, their foreheads and noses pressed against each other. Just as the music that was blasting out of the stereo came to its final notes, they pulled each other even closer as Caleb put his hand to her face as their bodies clung to each other. She could see them breathing heavy and felt a heat rush over herself, followed by feeling slightly awkward as if she were walking in on something she shouldn’t have seen, all the while secretly thinking “I want to learn how to do that!”
Just as she turned on her heels to go, Caleb’s voice stopped her in her tracks. “Maggie! Hey, sorry, we ran a few minutes over.”
Maggie turned back to face the couple who were now in their own personal spaces. She went to speak only to realize that her throat had gone amazingly dry. Clearing it, she responded quickly and quietly that it was no problem at all. She watched with lowered eyes as the blonde went to give Caleb a kiss on the cheek and headed her direction to grab her bag. “Sorry for cutting in to your time.”
Right in Time Page 2