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More than she anticipated

Fine with her She should feel relief she’d shut down his advances in the park Sticking thehter’s face haunted her

She had to ask She had to try Then at least she could tell Becca she’d exhausted all possibilities

With shaking fingers and a pounding heart, sheballet recital

Tristan didn’t experience fear very often, but right now, his heart was sla to be trapped with Becca, and he had no idea how to behave When Sydney called him, he’d been ready to say no immediately but then stopped at the hint of desperation in her voice His entire fa to her daughter, and there was no way she’d be able to get hoet her, then went back to pick up Becca, she’d end upthe recital He’d already been close to My Place and had no big plans tonight he’d have to break His lie froers gripped the steering wheel Thank goodness Raven always kept an extra booster seat at the restaurant Becca sat in the booster seat in the back, obviously upset herto be late He cleared his throat What could he say?

"Uet there in time"

"Do you knohat to do?"

No "Yes, no problem I’ve handled recitals before" He waited for the lie to strike hi happened "Piece of cake"

"You have kids?" she asked in aone to recitals when I used to live in New York" He decided not to tell her those were at Lincoln Center with professional ballerinas in The Nutcracker

"Oh But you said you were too busy to coht now, he needed to save face "My appointht bun My teacher said it’s important to look the part because then you feel the character and can tap into your ability to dance the character"

Huh She was s her hair He’d never get through this "I’ood at hair No problem"

"Did you ever take ballet when you were little?" she asked "Ma Boys dance ballet, and girls build houses"

"Yep, they do, but I was never a good dancer I was better at basketball"

He pulled up to Sydney’s house He’d gotten the code to the alarm, so he quickly escorted Becca in, punched in the correct numbers, and shut the door behind him Okay, he’d just need to focus He was sure she already knehat to do

He turned around, and she stood in front of hiet dressed"

She nodded like she understood "I have hts upstairs"