“Yes.”
She looked away.
“So now you’re checking up on me?”
I shook my head.
“Audrey, I need you to tell me what’s happening.”
Tears appeared in her eyes.
“You know what’s happening.”
***NEXT PAGE
“No, sweetheart. I don’t.”
She stared at me.
“You don’t want me dancing here anymore.”
I felt as though
the floor had shifted beneath me.
“Who told you that?”
Her face crumpled.
“Derek.”
I went still.
She wiped her eyes.
“He said you and Dad agreed I wasn’t good enough for this program.”
I couldn’t speak.
Then she added something that made my heart ache.
**“He said you were embarrassed to tell me because you knew how much ballet meant to me.”**
***
I sat beside Audrey.
“Sweetheart, look at me.”
She kept her eyes lowered.
“I have never been ashamed of your dancing.”
She shook her head.
“But Derek said—”
“I know what he said. But it wasn’t true.”
I opened my phone and showed her the tuition payments.
Then the enrollment confirmation.
Then the email about recital auditions.
“I’ve been paying for your classes because I believe in you.”
Audrey studied the screen.
Her expression slowly changed.
“But he told me you wanted me to stop.”
“I never
said that.”
“He said Ms. Alvarez thought I wasn’t ready.”
I shook my head.
“She just told me you’re improving and that you earned your place here.”
Audrey stared at me.
Then she began crying.
“I thought you didn’t believe in me anymore.”
I pulled her into my arms.
“Never, sweetheart. Not for one second.”
She held on tightly.
***NEXT PAGE
For a long time, neither of us spoke.
Then she began explaining what had happened.
Derek had started making comments during their car rides.
At first, they seemed harmless.
He asked whether advanced ballet might be too demanding.
He suggested Audrey was putting too much pressure on herself.
Then he began claiming her instructor had concerns.
Eventually, he told her Scott and I had privately agreed she wasn’t ready for the program.
“He said you didn’t want to hurt my feelings,” Audrey whispered.
I felt sick.
“Why didn’t you
ask me?”
“I wanted to. But he said you’d get upset if I brought it up.”
I looked at her.
“He told you that?”
She nodded.
“He said you were hoping I’d decide to quit by myself.”
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