The Space In Between(41)

My eyes locked with my dad’s and my heart softened a bit. “Thank you, Mom.”
Mom studied my face. She smiled and lightly brushed my hair with her fingers. “We’ll get this mess fixed tomorrow. Ms. Rivers would have a field day talking about this in our book club. And you really do look skinny. You don’t feel the need to be a certain size to make strides in your dance career, do you? You don't struggle with that?”
I saw Daddy cringe as he listened to Mom tear apart the precious moment he had previously built up with me. “Did you just ask if I have an eating disorder? First I’m a drug addict and now I’m anorexic?”
Clearing his throat, Dad wrapped his arm around Mom’s waist and kissed her forehead. “It’s late. I think we should get going. Have a good night sweetie,” He kissed my forehead too and disappeared out of the room, dragging my mom with him.
I stood up to shut the door, and right after it closed there was yet another knock. Leave me alone. Seriously! What didn’t these people understand about that? Swinging the door open, I waited to hear how my mom had planned to unknowingly offend me now.
“I think your hair looks sexy.” Cooper smirked and leaned into the room, moving a piece of my hair behind my ear.


Chapter Twenty-Six

THERE IT WAS! A smile. Well, a partial smile, but I would work with whatever I could get. She looked drained. I gave her a ‘friendly’ nudge on her shoulder. “Can I come in?” She opened the door wider, and that was enough of an invite. I took it.
I closed the door behind me and took a seat on the floor, legs crossed. She raised an eyebrow and sighed. “You know, there are chairs and beds to sit on.” I patted the spot across from me, and even though she was reluctant, she joined me. “Why are you so nice to me?”
“Why wouldn’t anyone be nice to you?” I asked.
“Come on, Cooper. One day I’m all over you, and the next I’m crying in your bedroom. Then I’m needy. Then I need my space. I’m angry. I’m dark at times. If bi-polar was a person, it would be me.”
“I wish you could see yourself the way I see you.”
She chuckled. I f*cking loved that sound. “What is it you see?”
I rested the palm of my hand under my chin. I was astonished that she didn’t see herself at all. I wondered what she saw when she looked in the mirror. “I see a spirit that was broken the day her loved one died. I see someone who is waffling back and forth between being happy and feeling guilt for that happiness, trapped in the space between holding on and letting go. And I see someone I want to help put back together.”
I meant it. I was dedicated to her. And whatever she needed, I wanted to be the one to provide it for her. Even if that meant we would only be friends.
Her head lowered to the wooden floor panels and she ran her fingers across the cracks. She began to shake a small amount and looked up to me with tears trying their best to stay hidden from the world. “What if I can’t be fixed?”
I glanced to the floor panels and copied her finger movement along the cracks. “Then we’ll be broken together.”





PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. I’d never seen the movies. I’d never read the book. And it wasn’t that I didn’t dance, I couldn’t dance. So the idea of walking into a dance studio tomorrow afternoon for my cousin’s party terrified the f*ck out of me. After leaving a tired Andrea’s side, I headed through the house towards the backyard to get to the coach house.
After passing many different doors and many different hallways, I saw a bedroom door swung open and a cat sleeping on the ground. My skin started to feel like spiders were creeping across my whole body. I f*cking hated cats. Not kidding. HATED them.
But I glanced up to the bed to see a lovely lady sitting up, with her eyes glued to the television screen. Her eyes sparkled as if she were waking up early on Christmas morning in time to catch Santa Claus. “What ya watching?” I asked outside Ladasha’s bedroom. She grinned and waved me in. I glanced towards the sleeping cat and rubbed my earlobe. “I’m good here.”
“Sleepless In Seattle,” she responded as she walked over to greet me at the door.
“Never seen it.”
“I’m not surprised, Mr. ‘I’ve never seen any romance or romantic comedy movie ever.’ What are you? A guy?” she sneered. Ladasha was one of the most charming people I’d ever come across in my life. Her ability to make people feel comfortable and safe around her was incredible. She was intelligent, highly educated in the world of film. She was a good friend; the way she’d squeezed Andrea’s hand at the dining table showed me that. Let’s be honest, she was sexy as hell and she was hilarious. For the life of me, I had no idea why this girl was single.
“Have you seen Pride and Prejudice?” I inquired. I required her help.
Snickering out loud, she placed her long brown hair up into a messy bun. Her hand found the perfect placement on her hip as she glared at me. “Psh. Have I ever seen Pride and Prejudice. Did you really just ask me that?”
Biting the tip of my thumb, I put on my best puppy dog eyes. “Can you do me a favor?”





“IT’S ALL RIGHT. Try again.”
She remained calm as I stepped on her foot for the fifth time within the last thirty minutes. We stood in the emptied living room of the coach house as Ladasha tried to teach me a few dance moves of the English Country Dance. She told me the dances of the eighteenth century were simplistic moves with a few steps easy to follow. For some reason I thought it was rocket science.