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“Dancing?”

“Teaching”

She nibbled on her thumb “Almost a year I started last summer, and I took on et expensive It felt weird using the ave ht have an instructor spot open”

“Just like that”

“Just like that” She snapped her fingers “Soot in It wascoet to couys

bring it to life” She turned around with her ar every bit the proud parent “I love it” She grinned back at me like I’d just promised her a trip to Disneyworld There wasn’t a tenth of that joy when she talked about medical school

“I can tell Does Colm kno important this is to you?”

She shoved that water bottle up to her lips so quickly she looked like a ha away

“That’s a no” Wiping her mouth with the back of her hand, she dropped the bottle to her side “It’s complicated Med school has always been the plan” She ran her hand over her face “That’s always been the goal It hat they’d have wanted, what I want for theacy they saw for me and Colm” Sadness flickered in her eyes

“They’d be proud no matter what you did”

“Would they? Would they have even cared if it didn’t have to do with aze filled with the honest question of whether or not they’d have been on the sidelines cheering her on no iven what I reames had they missed? How ed to our games because her parents were stuck at the hospital?

The volume in the room increased as people finished up their practice

“You sure you don’t want to jump in?” She nodded back toward the class behind her

“Not if my life depended on it” I sat back in my seat, and Liv returned to the front They allrhyth in unison Hair flew through the air, and everyone followed in Liv’s footsteps, taking herthem their own

The sraphy for the rest of the class Liv took out her phone and recorded the out as they hit theirtheir own improvisational moves into the routine