A Child of Her Own by Beverly Barton

Author:Beverly Barton
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Contemporary romance, Fiction
ISBN: 9781459271654
Publisher: Harlequin Treasury
Published: 2011-06-02T21:00:00+00:00

Six

Lori Lee hit the rewind button on her tape player. She had accidently recorded the wrong music for the third performance of the annual recital and would have to record the correct tune over it. She changed the tapes, putting in Thunder Drums. The Dixie Darlings, her oldest group, would perform their dance-twirl competition to the hot, wild beat of Scott Fitzgerald’s percussive coup de grace. She wanted to make a few changes in the routine before the girls performed the number at the April recital.

Picking up her baton, Lori Lee stood and walked to the center of the room in the downstairs studio. Playing around with her baton, she danced it through her fingers, then tossed it into the air and caught it easily. Taking a second baton from the wall display, she began figuring out the subtle changes she wanted to make in the routine, little things that would make the performance a bit more showy.

Talented performers were essential, but she had discovered that competition judges were often influenced by a group’s showmanship. Presentation and ability in equal parts was a winning combination.

Although the recital was still a month away, she wanted to get her plans precisely right today. The girls would need as much extra time as possible for practice.

She’d already begun evaluating each student for the awards Dixie Twirlers presented each year after the final recital performance. She tried to make sure that every student received a small trophy because she didn’t want any child to feel left out on the big night. Of course, there were several awards that every child and parent coveted, an important one being Best First-Year Student. She had no doubts about who deserved that trophy. Darcie Warrick. In the two and a half months she’d been with the twirlers, she had shown an aptitude for twirling and performing that was nothing short of amazing.

After her regular class, Lori Lee had taken extra time with Darcie. Ordinarily she charged students for private lessons, but she knew Rick could barely afford what he was already paying. She worried about how he’d pay for the expensive costumes for the recital and upcoming competitions. Knowing what a financial burden Rick was under, Lori Lee had told Aunt Birdie to sell him Darcie’s costumes at cost and, if need be, arrange for him to pay for them on credit.

In the month since the Clanton competition and their forced stay at the Cullman motel, Lori Lee and Rick had kept their distance, seeing each other only occasionally. When Rick picked up Darcie from lessons. When they both attended a Deshler basketball game, she with Powell Goodman and he with a woman named Angie Clemmons. Then again when the twirlers had gone to competition at Wetumpka last week. Rick hadn’t brought Angie with him, and Lori Lee had been thankful.

She told herself that she didn’t care if Rick was dating someone, and certainly didn’t care who the woman was. But she had listened when Aunt Birdie and Deanie shared all the local gossip about the woman in Rick’s life.

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