Dancing on a Moonbeam (Bedford Falls Book 1) (26 page)

"Lily's at her friend's house, and I needed to get out."

Robbie must have heard something in her voice, because he faced her, his expression serious. "What's wrong?"

"My dance studio suffered a setback today." She sniffed back the sadness that flooded her sinuses. "The building department called me and said I can't operate a dance studio from my house because I have residential zoning and not commercial."

"Did someone complain?" Comprehension dawned on his face. "Brunhilde strikes again."

"Yeah." She huddled into herself. "I knew I'd have to deal with Charles forever because of Lily, but it didn't occur to me that I was stuck with her too."

"So what are you going to do?"

"What can I do?" She drew a line in the condensation on her glass, feeling an overwhelming sense of defeat and hopelessness. "The woman from the building department said I was facing an uphill battle trying to change the zoning. I think I'm screwed."

"I'm sorry, Elle." He slung his arm around her shoulders and hugged her close. "Want to go egg Brunhilde's house?"

"How would that help?"

"It'd make you feel better."

"It'd make me feel better to open my dance studio," she said glumly. "Now what am I going to do? It's not like I can just train to become a ballerina again."

"Are you really that determined to teach dance?" Robbie asked.

She faced him and said, emphatically, "Yes."

"Then find a space to rent." He leaned his elbows on the counter. "There are a couple storefronts in the village green. They'd be better located for business anyway."

She pursed her lips. "Maybe."

"Think about it." He nudged her shoulder. "Are you still planning the takeover of your anniversary date?"

"Yes." She scrunched her nose. "I haven't figured out what I want to do yet."

"You will."

They ordered another round, chatting some more. On her way out, Robbie hugged her and said, "You have a lot going for you, Elle, and I'm proud of you."

Heartened and a little teary, she headed home through the town square. She was driving past the green when she saw a hooker standing near a street lamp, obviously waiting for someone to pick her up.

That wasn't a hooker, she realized suddenly. She stomped on the brakes. That was Lily.

She did a U-turn in the street and screeched to a stop directly across from her daughter, who was supposed to be at her friend's house.

Lily blinked at her like she was seeing a ghost.
 

Eleanor wanted to give the teenager the benefit of the doubt, but she recognized the holy-shit-I've-been-caught look on her daughter's face. "Get in the car."

Lily marched over like she was put out. She slammed the car door and huffed in her seat.

"No." Eleanor shook her head as she headed home. "You do
not
get to be pissy with me when you're the one at fault here. What were you doing out?"

"Nothing," the teenager mumbled, arms crossed and huddling in the seat.

"Come on, Lily. I know you were obviously waiting for someone." She glanced at her daughter. "Is it a boy?"

"What do you care?"

She cared so much that she wanted to burst into tears right then and there. But she swallowed them back and calmly said, "I care because I thought we shared honesty between us. I may have not told you things I should have, but I've never lied to you. This was an outright lie. You lied to me, and that's not okay."

Lily turned her face away, not saying anything.
 

Fine. She clenched the steering wheel, trying not to imagine who Lily might have been waiting for or what she was likely going off to do dressed like that. Sex happened, Eleanor got that, but the last thing she wanted was for Lily to give herself away cheaply simply because she was angry at her parents.

The thought of that broke her heart.

She carefully pulled into their driveway and turned off the car. As her daughter got out, Eleanor said, "You're grounded until further notice. Directly home after school, no exceptions."

The teenager gaped at her. "You can't be serious."

"Yes, I can be." She got out of the car and let herself into the house.

Lily stormed in after her, a dervish of angst. "I can't believe you're doing this. You suck," she yelled, running up the stairs.

Eleanor went into the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. The glass shook in her hand as she filled it. She set it down and held her head in her hands. She had to agree with Lily: she did suck as a parent.

Chapter 18

Max sat on the bench by the pond, a cup of tea in his hand, listening to the music of nature. The only thing missing were his parents. They used to pile him and his siblings into the car and take them all over the Los Angeles area, teaching them to listen to what was around them. "There's music in everything," his dad always said. And his mom would wind an arm around Leo's waist and add, "When you can't hear the music around you, look inside, because there's always a beat in your own heart."

He closed his eyes. Today he heard everything: the birds singing, the pond dripping percussion, and his steady heart. He'd only started to feel it again lately, like it'd been jumped-started.

Thinking of Eleanor, he put a hand over it, thrumming his fingers in rhythm with its beat. The music she inspired began to play in his head, cresting and surging. It flowed into a new movement, one filled with an echoing beat from his heart. He stilled, loving where it was leading—

A thrashing in the bushes to the far left made his eyes pop open. He wondered if a dog had lost his way when he saw a petulant teenage face peek out from behind the branches.

She stopped, eyes wide, when she realized he was there. Then she scowled. "Oh, it's you."

"I'm excited to see you too," he said dryly, but he was surprised that he actually was. With his head, he motioned to the bench. "Want to join me, or do you want to continue to scare the snakes?"

"Snakes," she shrieked, jumping out of the bushes. She practically ran along the path until she was perched next to him on the bench, her legs up with her arms around her knees. She scanned the area, and then she faced him with a frown. "Were you teasing me?"

"Not at all," he lied, sipping his tea. He eyed her. She had on more makeup than usual, but it didn't cover the hurt and anger in her eyes.
 

An odd sort of protective urge came over him, and he had to resist the instinct to demand what had happened. He had to play it cool to get her to say what was wrong. "I've never seen you back here."

"I had nowhere else to go," she said, bitterness in every syllable. "Mom grounded me."

He raised his brows. "Did she have a reason to ground you, or was she just being mean?"

Lily turned her glare onto him. "Die, old man."

He grinned. "So I take it she had a reason."

"She totally overreacted," the teenager exclaimed, her hands in the air. "It wasn't that big a deal."

"How often does your mom ground you?"

The kid pouted, her purple lower lip pooching out. "Like, never."
 

"Want to talk about what she overreacted about?"

Lily heaved a big sigh. "She saw me in at the village green waiting for Justin."

Ah—it all fell into place. "Justin's the guy with the car?"

"Yeah."

Max nodded. "And I'm guessing your mom didn't know about Justin."

"There's not anything to know," the kid mumbled, huddling into herself.

He arched a brow. "If there's nothing to know, I guess you told her you were meeting up with him."

The teenager turned her face away, her thin shoulders giving the barest, sullen shrug.

"So you didn't tell your mom." He winced as he realized what must have happened. "You didn't say you were with a girlfriend, did you?"

"Well, I had been before. I didn't totally plan on hanging out with Justin," she said, not sounding convincing.

It was becoming clearer and clearer. "And what were you wearing when you went to hang out with your girlfriend?"

"Clothes," Lily retorted. "What is it with you guys and what I wear?"

His only experience with teenage girls was dating them when he was in high school, and he hadn't understood them even then. He had to tread carefully, because he didn't want to scar her, but also because he had no idea what Eleanor had said. He didn't want to counteract anything parental.
 

He could hear his mom saying,
Respect her heart. It's wounded.

No wonder, when the male influences in her life were her jackass father and her absentee grandfather.
 

One thing was certain: he didn't want to be one of them. So he took a deep breath and said, "Want kind of guy do you want to end up with?"

Frowning, she faced him again. "What do you mean?"

"What kind of guy do you want?" he repeated. "You want a guy who stares at you and thinks you're hot, or do you want one that listens to your words and loves you because your beauty shines in everything you do?"

"Why can't the guy who thinks I'm hot listen to my words?"

"Because he's more interested in your visible assets. I know guys like that. They want arm candy, and one girl is as good as the next if she's hot." He lifted his teacup to his lips.

She angled toward him. "You don't want arm candy?"

"If I'd ever dated a girl just because she wore short skirts, my mom would have thrashed me." He grinned, picturing it. It wasn't an exaggeration, and it wouldn't have been pretty.
 

"You don't like beautiful women?" Lily asked, her disbelief loud and clear.

"Yes, I like beautiful women, but there has to be more than a skimpy dress and high heels to keep me interested." He thought of Eleanor and the way she stood her ground, and her lyrical movements, and how hot she was even in a baggy top. If she wore a little dress, he'd probably keel over.

But he didn't need to think about Eleanor right then. He faced the girl next to him, seeing the young woman she was blossoming into. His chest tightened with emotion, seeing where she was headed and wanting her to choose a different way. "The thing is, it's the mystery that's intriguing. The most alluring women are sexy without being overt about it. If you put it all out there, there's no mystery to uncover."

Lily's lips pursed as she thought about it.

"And, really"—he nudged her with his shoulder—"you're already beautiful, kid. You don't need to show it off."

She turned her big eyes on him. "You think I'm beautiful?"

The vulnerability in them slayed him. "You're no beast or anything," he said, making a face.

She shoved at his arm, but her mouth curved up just a little.

"The truth is," he said, "your mom doesn't want to see your heart get broken, and she doesn't want to see you get hurt. That's where she's coming from. So maybe give her a break. And talk to her. She's a nice person, and pretty smart about things."

"Except my dad," Lily muttered.

He had to agree. "We all make mistakes, and I bet she doesn't think he's that much of a mistake since she got you out of the bargain."

They both sat there quietly for a long while, until she nudged him with her shoulder and said softly, "You're no beast, either."

Chapter 19