Читать книгу Romance Backstage - Kim Shaw - Страница 15

And the Beat Goes On

Five weeks of performances passed and still The Salon opened to sold-out audiences. Raven peeked out into the theater minutes before the show was about to begin. Her parents were in the third row center—again. This was their sixth time viewing, but tonight it was a bittersweet performance for Raven. Lorraine and Allen would be leaving for Florida the next day, and Raven couldn’t cast aside the feelings of abandonment that had irrationally begun to nibble at the edges of her heart.

She knew that she was being ridiculous. Her parents were not leaving her. They were merely moving into the golden phase of their lives. They’d worked long and hard all of their lives, sacrificing for her at every turn. She’d had the best dance schools and instructors, the best medical care when needed, and all of their support on whatever path her life had taken her. Now that they were retired and she was grown, it was their turn. She applauded the fact that they’d managed to provide a nice nest egg for themselves and had built a dream home in Florida to live out the rest of their days. Her dad would get to fish and sail at leisure while her mother would spend her days reading by the lagoon, volunteering at the nearest hospital or taking one outrageous class after another. They deserved this—this Raven believed in the bottom of her heart. It didn’t make things any easier, however.

Initially, when her parents had first begun to speak of moving to Florida a couple of years ago, she’d resisted. As they began to plan and develop their goals even further, she realized that it was actually going to happen. She attempted to block that reality out as much as possible, but eventually, she had to own it. The final realization came when her parents signed over the apartment to her at a whopping purchase price of one dollar to seal the deal. There was no more hiding to be done. They were leaving.

“God sure works in mysterious ways, doesn’t he?” Yasmine said, peering out into the audience from beside her.

Raven turned to face her costar with a smile.

“Why do you say that?” Raven asked.

“Well, just look at us. We’re living our dreams, and we’ve got people out there supporting us and loving us. Did you ever think for a minute that you’d actually get to live the life you dreamed about as a little girl? I know I didn’t,” Yasmine said.