The Daddy Dance

Excerpt. Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. Kat Morehouse pushed her sunglasses higher on her nose as the train chugged away from Eden Falls, leaving her behind on the platform. Heat rose in waves off the tiny station's cracked parking lot. Plucking at her silk Tshirt, Kat realized for the first time since she'd left New York that solid black might not be the most comfortable wardrobe for her trip home to Virginia. Not this year. Not during this unseasonably hot spring.But that was ridiculous. She was a dancer from New Yorkblack was what she wore every day of her life. She wasn't about to buy new clothes just because she was visiting Eden Falls.Her foot already itched inside her walking boot cast. She resisted the urge to flex her toes, knowing that would only make her injury ache more. Dancer's Fracture, the doctors had grimly diagnosed, brought on by overuse. The only cure was a walking boot and complete rest from ballet for several weeks.Looking down at her small roller suitcase, Kat grimaced and reminded herself that she wasn't going to be in Eden Falls for very long. Just time enough to help her family a bitgive her mother a little assistance as Susan nursed Kat's father, Mike, who was recovering from a nasty bout of pneumonia. Take care of her niece for a few days while Kat's irresponsible twin sister roamed somewhere off the beaten track. Look in on her mother's dance studio, the Morehouse Dance Academy, where Kat had gotten her start so many years ago. She'd be in Eden Falls for five days. Maybe six. A week at most.Kat glanced at her watch. She might not live in Eden Falls anymore, but she knew the train schedule by heart, had known it ever since she'd first dreamed of making a life for herself in the big city. The southbound Crescent stopped at onethirty in the afternoon. The northbound Clipper would churn through at twofifteen.Now, it was one fortyfive, and Susan Morehouse was nowhere in sight. In fact, there was only one other person standing on the edge of the parking lot, a passenger who had disembarked with Kat. That woman was tall, with broad shoulders that looked like they were made for milking cows or kneading bread dough. Her oval face and regular features looked vaguely familiar, and Kat realized she must be one of the Harmons, the oldest family in Eden Falls.Shrugging, Kat dug her cell phone out of her purse, resigned to calling home. She tapped the screen and waited for the phone to wake from its electronic slumber. A round icon spun for a few seconds. A minute.More. The phone finally emitted a faint chirp, dutifully informing her that she was out of range of a recognized cell tower. Out of range of civilization.Kat rolled her eyes. It was one thing to leave New York City for a week of playing Florence Nightingale in Eden Falls, Virginia. It was another to be cut off without the backbone of modern communications technology. Even if Kat was looking forward to helping her mother, a week was really going to stretch out if she didn't have a working smart phone.Squinting in the bright sunlight, Kat read a message sent by Haley, her roommate back in New York. The text must have come in during the train ride, before Kat had slipped out of range. OMG, said the text. A + S r here. 'A,' Adam. The boyfriend of three years whom Kat had sent packing one week before, after discovering his side relationship with Selene Johnson. That would be 'S,' the corp's newest phenom dancer.Haley had sent another message, five minutes later. 2 gross.And a third one, five minutes after that. Hands all over.All over. Right. Kat and Adam were all over. Adam hadn't had the decency to admit what was going on with Selene. Not even when Kat showed him the silk panties she'd found beneath his pillowpanties that she had definitely not left behind. Panties that Selene must have intended Kat to find.Even now, Kat swallowed hard, trying to force her feelings past the raw, empty space in the middle of her chest. She had h