“Who’s this?” A fellow dance instructor had stepped into Chelsie’s office and noticed the new addition to the wall.

“Oh, hi Sylvia. Leilani drew this for me this morning. It’s her father.”

“But didn’t he…?” Sylvia let the question hang heavy in the air.

“Yes…yes…but…she’s got…pictures. Lots of pictures.” Chelsie stammered.

“Ah, well, it’s cute. Hey, Chels I wanted to ask you something.”

Chelsie whirled her head around. No one had called her Chels since Mark. It was always Chelsie, Miss Hightower or Leilani’s mom. Another ghost from the past back to haunt her.

“The instructors are dancing in the show this year. We’ll each be doing our own number. You’ll dance, won’t you?” Sylvia looked at her hopefully.

“I haven’t really danced in five years, Sylvia. I don’t know if I’d be comfortable.”

“A couple of the guys would love to dance with you.” Sylvia winked at Chelsie knowingly.

“They would?” Chelsie was stunned; She’d never noticed any of the male teachers paying any particular attention to her.

“Of course they would.” Sylvia encouraged. “You’re a former champion, you’ve been on TV for God’s sake, they’re just graduates of the Fred Astaire Dance School.”

“I don’t know, Sylvia.” Chelsie hedged. “It’s been so long.”

“Lani would love to see you dance.”

“She probably would. But I’ll really have to think about it.”

******************************************************************************

Chelsie slumped into the driver’s seat of the van, roughly pushing a stubborn strand of hair behind her ear. They wanted her to dance, with someone else, on a stage in front of all the parents. She hadn’t danced in five years. First, she was pregnant with Lani, and then just struggling to raise her daughter on her own, she never had the time. Dance was merely a job now. A way to make ends meet for her and Leilani. She had tried to keep her memories of dance once being a joy tucked away. Yet another thing she wanted to forget that was once more pushing it’s way to the forefront of her thoughts.

“Why do you dance?”

Mark was lying on the beach, cradling Chelsie’s head on his stomach, as he gently ran his hands over her golden hair.

“I wanted to forget. I wanted to get away from all the crap at home. Dance made me forget. I get lost in the music and everything is better when I dance. What about you?”

“I just…I can say so much more when I’m dancing. I can express myself so much better than I can when I speak. I love the feeling of the music and bringing it to life through my movements.”

Chelsie laughed. “I think you express yourself pretty well!”

“It’s easier with some people.” Mark replied, gently stroking her cheek. “You make it easy. You understand me.”

“Oh.” Chelsie gulped, noticing the change in Mark’s voice.

“Would you mind…?” Mark laid Chelsie on the blanket and rested on his side, steadily gazing down at her.

Chelsie simply nodded and raised her arms to pull Mark down to her.

*****************************************************************************

“Mommy!” Leilani burst out of the school doors and ran to her mother.

“Leilani KKK! Did you have a good day?” Chelsie threw her arms around her daughter and hugged her fiercely as she picked her up.

“Um hmm!” Leilani’s voice was muffled in Chelsie’s shoulder. “We played and drawed and sang. I had fun!”

“Good!” Chelsie kissed Leilani’s cheek with a smacking sound. “I’m glad you had fun.”

“What did you do today, mommy?” Leilani climbed into the van and struggled to pull her seatbelt across her middle.

Chelsie leaned over to help her adjust the belt and snapped it home. “I made some plans for the dances my groups are going to do in the show. Maybe you can help me pick out some music for them?”

“Yay!” Leilani threw up her hands. “I have dance class tomorrow, don’t I mommy?”

“You do indeed.”

“How come you don’t dance?”

Chelsie gripped the steering wheel tightly. “I teach dancing, honey. I haven’t danced since before you were born.”

“I want to see you dance. I want to see daddy dance.”