Moon Dance Read Free Page A

audition—it would be just his style. So, what are you going to do?"
    "I don't know." Her voice dropped to a w hisper and she looked into her friend's eyes, hoping for guidance. Georgia knew no one who could better understand her predicament. "On the one hand, it's the chance I always dreamed of. On the other, I know I will make a complete fool out of myself because I know that I don't deserve the role."
    "And of course, to decline, you would have to publicly admit that you don't feel you're good enough, which will give Ivan sufficient cause never to offer you another shot at moving out of the corps."
    "Which I probably would not ever get anyway." Georgia's shoulders sank a little farther. "If I accept, my limitations will be glaringly evident. It's a lose-lose situation for me. He's set me up, Lee. He knows that there's no way I could ever best Sharyn. She's young—eighteen—but she is exceptional. She's the one who deserves the big break."
    She frowned, then added, "And there's one other thing that's bothering me on a somewhat different level."
    He gestured for her to go on.
    "If I accept this offer, I will knowingly be assisting him in hurting Mallory."
    "Of course. That would be Ivan's intent." Lee rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Quite a dilemma for you, Georgey-girl."
    "What would you do if you were in this situation, Lee?'
    "Me?" He nodded thoughtfully, tapping his fingers lightly on the poli shed wood tabletop. "Well, actu ally, I was in a similar situation once."
    "And?" She waited for him to continue.
    "And I think that whatever I say will influence your choice, and I do not want that responsibility, Georgia. Whatever you decide to do, this is your call, cara." He paused and watched her face, suspecting that, for Georgia, this was both a moral as well as a career decision. "Maybe it would help if you took a look at your goals at this stage of your career."
    With a slightly rounded fingernail, she traced the delicate embossed motif on the white paper napkin that lay on the table. "You know that all I ever wanted to do was to dance. From the time I was a little girl, I never dreamed of doing anything else."
    Her eyes drifted toward the front window and the clouds that were gathering in a lazy gray sky.
    "It never mattered to me that I had to work hard at it. I even loved that part. Working toward the goal was very important to me. I was very proud of myself when I met that goal, Lee. But I always knew that I would have to work harder than some of the other girls, and my dream of becoming a prima ballerina died when I was twenty-three. It took me a long time to accept that some dancers are just gifted—that if you don't have that gift, you will be limited in how far you can rise as a dancer." She smiled a lopsided smile. "I have known for several years that I did not have the gift, Lee."
    "You are a lovely dancer, Georgia," he told her honestly, wishing that he could, in all good conscience, assure her that she could one day be a star. But caring much too much for her to lie about something so important, he simply took her hands between his and gave them a squeeze.
    "But I will never rise to that next level, and we both know it."
    "So, then. This is leading somewhere… "
    "I think I need to decide where I want to go from here. If I want to stay in dance, or move on."
    "That's pretty drastic, Georgia."
    "I'm twenty-six years old, Lee. I have no education to speak of. I started dancing professionally when I was sixteen. I had a tutor for my junior and senior years in high school and have a GED. I never gave a second's thought to college. I have never known anything but dancing. I never wanted to."
    "And now?"
    "Now I'm wondering if there isn't something more for me somewhere."
    "All this because of Ivan?"
    "Yes. And no." She shook her head. "Let's just say he's given me cause to evaluate my situation."
    "And what have you found?"
    "That I am a good dancer in a world of very good dancers. That I am as good as anyone