Dominic came up to me and leaned on my desk. “Almost seventy percent of your class signed up for their free private lesson.”

I wasn’t sure how to react; I didn’t know if this was good or not.

“We’d been getting about thirty percent with Estella. Many of your students said they’d had fun. One group even requested you specially as their teacher.”

“Who?”

“The wedding couple and her brother.”

I nodded. Evelyn and Trevor. And Ryan. “What did you tell them?”

“No, of course. It is impossible. The couple will still come for lessons. I’ve booked them with Nina. They said they would call back about the brother. But Julian was right, you do have potential. We would like to ask you to continue teaching the beginners’ classes.”

A wild combination of dismay and elation rose in my chest.

“We need you. Everyone’s booked, we’re shorthanded until we can hire a new dancer. Think of it as a little vacation from this desk.”

I nodded slowly.

“And the students seem to like you. However, if you are going to be doing any teaching in my studio, even of the very beginners, you are going to start attending dance session. Any problems with that?”

I bit the inside of my cheek. Classes with all of those trained dancers were quite different from bluffing in front of people who had never done a ballroom step in their lives. “Do you think I can?”

“Of course. You will be terrible but we are expecting that. And I see you watching, I see the look on your face. I think you would love to learn something of dance, am I right?”

I flushed that I’d been so obvious. “Yes.” It was what I wanted more than anything, only I’d thought I would never be able to do it. If I taught these classes, I would be allowed to train for free, like a real professional dancer, if only for a little while.

—

It was my first dance session with Dominic and the other professionals. I felt like a fraud walking over to that group, but I kept my shoulders back and my head high.

Adrienne sat at one of the little tables to watch. She sighed as she sat down and took her shoes off. She rubbed her tummy, murmuring a few words to it.

Dominic said, “Okay, take a partner.”

Everyone paired up. I saw the others edging away from me. It was Katerina and Viktor, Mateo and Nina, and next to Nina stood Simone alone, looking irritated. I realized I would have to dance with her. Then Nina whispered something to Mateo, gave him a nudge when he made a face, then she came over to me. Thank goodness. Mateo reluctantly held his arms up in dance position to Simone. She slid into them.

We were practicing international foxtrot. There were so many quicks and slows and twinkles and reversals. My head spun. Dominic only had to show a step once and all of the other dancers followed along perfectly, except for me.

I felt like a squid as I hung onto Nina. She just raced after the other dancers and I was happy if I managed to stay attached. My clothing was too hot and inflexible. When I needed to draw a quick circle with my leg and turn at the same time, my heel got tangled in the hem of my skirt and I almost tumbled over.

Dominic stepped over to us and waved his hand, indicating my entire body. “We have to completely rebuild her from the ground up. Allow me to demonstrate what dancing should be. Nina, if you please.”

Dominic held out his hand to Nina. Without a word, she flowed into his arms, her head arched back in dance position. He started doing a foxtrot with her, but a foxtrot like I had never seen. It was a far cry from the step, step, side step I’d taught the beginners. They flew and glided, whirling into a pivot turn, then Dominic led them smoothly into a waltz. From there he switched into tango, had her do a number of fans in his arms, dipped her and then twisted her out into a series of spins. As she stopped and faced him after the turns, their bodies changed to the predatory, animalistic pacing I’d seen with Julian. They did a slow and sensual rumba together, then the hottest mambo I’d ever seen. They put every dancer I’d ever seen on television to shame. Dominic spun Nina away from him, then he bowed while she did a deep curtsey. We all clapped.

I was amazed. “How could you dance in perfect harmony together without any music?”

“The music is inside,” Dominic said. “We never need music to dance together.”

I looked at the others and saw them all nodding. I thought of what Godmother always said about external strength being meaningless without inner power.

“What many do not realize,” Dominic continued, “is that leading and following are not about one person being in control and one not. It is about yin and yang. It is qi. Necessity. The person moving forward is doing the leading. That person provides the energy and impetus. In advanced routines, that may well be the woman. The person moving backward must flow in harmony with the other, otherwise they will lose balance. Now I need you all to switch partners and change roles.”

I was surprised and glad that Dominic had spoken about yin, yang and qi. This time I had to be the man, and I was supposed to lead Viktor. I held him in dance position but he was just so tall, I couldn’t see over his shoulder at all.

“Oh my goodness.” Dominic came from behind Viktor with a mock shudder. “You look like a driverless car from this side. I hope we all survive this lesson.”

Afterward, I was so tired, I wanted to cry. I’d never felt so slow and stupid in my life, not even in school. I should never have left the restaurant; this wasn’t like tai chi to music at all.

Nina came up and gave my arm a squeeze. “It’ll get easier as you go on.”

To my surprise, Viktor bent down and said, “You did good.”

I was rubbing my arms. “I made so many mistakes.”

“You are judging yourself against us, and we’ve been dancing for most of our lives,” Katerina said. “For a person who had never danced before, you were extremely good indeed. You learned the steps almost as quickly as we did.”

“But I couldn’t do them together with anyone else,” I said.

“Of course not.” Adrienne had come up to us. “You don’t know anything about leading and following yet. You’ll feel like you’re wrestling an alligator until you start to understand.”

Now Dominic joined us. “You have line.”

The rest of the group fell silent. Everyone looked at me.

I gave a broken laugh. “I don’t even know what that means.”

“Look in the mirror,” he said. I turned and saw myself. He took my arm and held it out to the side. He swept his hand from my neck through my shoulder out through my arm. “That is line. It can be developed, but for some it is a gift. You have a great deal to learn, but you want it.” He tapped me on my collarbone. “That wanting, that will bring you where you need to go.”

Adrienne said, “And now, we need to see you in our office. The rest of you, disperse.”

—

Adrienne, Dominic and I stood in her small office, the same place she’d hired me. I saw her and Dominic exchanging glances. Obviously, they had agreed on something.

Dominic said, “Charlie, we are very sorry but we must let you go.”

My head jerked back. How could this have happened? Of course it had. I’d been silly to think I could ever be anything but a dishwasher. It felt especially bitter after I’d just struggled through the dancing, which I’d desired most. My neck seemed to close up, making it hard to breathe.

Adrienne put her hand on my shoulder, her voice gentle. “The thing is, we like you, Charlie, but you are a terrible receptionist. None of us were getting our calls anymore. You kept making mistakes with the roster for the teachers. That booking problem with the beginners’ class was the last straw. Dominic and I spoke after that and we agreed we had to take the final step.”

I pressed my hand against my throat, blinking. I would never see the studio or the dancers again. I struggled to speak. “I understand.”