Dancing in Lake Mistletoe (Lake Mistletoe #4)

Epilogue

Dutch

Four Months Later

“D addy, hurry!” Josie yells as she sprints ahead of me.

I click the locks on the truck and hurry after her. I catch up just as she reaches the doors of the theater.

We rush to the box office, present our tickets, and race to our seats.

“See, I told you we had plenty of time,” I say, handing her the program.

She reads the title— A Midsummer Night’s Dream .

Then, she flips to the cast photos. “Look, Daddy, there she is.” She points to Mindi’s photograph.

Mindi Marlowe as Helena .

Mindi moved back to New York the week after Christmas. She stayed until the end of her contract with ABT and then an additional four weeks before packing her things and having them sent to me.

Four boxes. That’s all she had. According to her, you don’t accumulate much when you live in a six-story walk-up with five roommates.

She flew to Boise in March and has been staying on Ellen and Benny’s pullout couch for the last month while she prepared for this role in A Midsummer Night’s Dream . It was a limited run, and tonight is the final performance, so Josie and I are here to see the show and pick up our girl.

The lights dim, and Josie grabs my hand as the curtain rises.

Mindi

I toss my bag over my shoulder and rush out of the theater. The atrium is still brimming with people. Most of them hoping to meet the dancers who performed as Oberon and Titania. I stand on my toes, searching the crowd. I sign a few playbills as I strain to see past the throng of patrons. Then, finally, I see him. He stands head and shoulders above the rest.

I push through and run into his arms. “Dutch!”

“Hey, baby,” he murmurs into my hair as he lifts me from my feet.

It’s been four long months, and the video chats and phone calls weren’t cutting it anymore.

My mouth finds his, and I kiss him like we aren’t in the atrium of a crowded theater in downtown Boise.

“Daddy!”

At the sound of the sweet little voice, I release his lips and look down.

Josie stands there, grinning up at us. A bouquet of red roses in her arms.

“Wait till we get home to kiss her,” she whispers.

I burst out laughing. My heart is full.

And the heart doesn’t lie.

The End