Chapter 16

Kevin

Waking up on the day after my big fundraiser with Jenna still laying in my arms was a high point for me. She was peacefully asleep and didn’t even budge as I crawled out of bed to do my morning work.

I worked every day of the week. Some days, it was just a quick check in on my email, and other days it was a full day at the office; it would be hard to get out of this daily habit when I no longer had an office to go into.

With the success of my fundraiser, though, a future for my new charity Encompass looked bright. Maybe I’d be able to build it into something bigger than I could even imagine at the moment. I was open to what the future had for me.

After checking in online, I knew there was something else I had to do. Jenna was going to be blown away by this surprise if I could manage to pull it off. There were a lot of people I’d have to ask for favors from, and if any one of them told me no, then I wouldn’t be able to give her this epic opportunity.

It took me about a half of an hour to get all my messages out to the people that I needed help from. I could only hope that they would all be around today and able to help me out. I didn’t ask for help from people very often, and I hardly ever called in favors, but this was important to me.

I threw on some bacon and started to make a batch of pancakes before Jenna groggily wandered down the stairs. The house was a disaster from the party the night before, and the cleaning crew wasn’t scheduled to arrive until noon.

“Damn you look good in that T-shirt. Better than I ever looked.”

Jenna’s curls were all tousled from our night of lovemaking, and her makeup smeared, but she still looked absolutely wonderful as she walked into the kitchen in one of my old T-shirts. It barely covered her body, and I just wanted to throw her down on the kitchen counter and kiss up and down her thighs the second I saw her.

“Good morning, it’s nice to still be here,” she teased. “And you’re making breakfast. A renaissance man,” she said and wrapped her arms around me from behind.

“I don’t guarantee the taste is going to be palatable, but I do enjoy trying to cook,” I said as I turned a pancake and then turned around to kiss Jenna.

Having her still there with me as we made breakfast felt like perfection. I knew what bad mornings felt like, the uncomfortable feeling of trying to make conversation with a woman that I didn’t really know. But it wasn’t like that at all with Jenna. Despite only knowing her for a few weeks, I did feel like I knew her, and I couldn’t wait to get to know more and more about her.

“I’m sure your breakfast will be amazing.”

“Too high of expectations.” I motioned for her to bring it down a notch. “Let’s say that we hope it’s edible, and then you’ll be pleasantly surprised if it’s actually good.”

“Okay.” She laughed. “Is there coffee? I need coffee.”

“Yes, I’ll make it for you. Go sit and relax,” I said and motioned to the table sitting in the corner.

“Your house is a mess.” Jenna laughed. “Did you throw some sort of party last night?” she teased me. “I’ll help you clean it up after breakfast if you’d like.”

“Nope, I’ve got some people coming to do that. You and I are going to do something exciting later. I mean if all my plans work out.”

“What are we doing?” she asked.

“I can’t say. But I think you’re really going to like it.”

In fact, I was pretty sure she was going to be over the moon excited about this idea. And I couldn’t help checking my phone to see if anyone that I’d messaged was up yet, and if they had received my messages. It had only been less than an hour, though, and of course, no one had responded yet.

“You’re making me nervous.”

“Look at me.” I leaned over the counter toward her. “Trust me.”

She laughed, but I could tell that she did trust me. Jenna just shook her head and started to read the paper as I got some coffee ready and finished making the first batch of our breakfast. The kitchen filled with the smell of bacon, and I couldn’t help grabbing a piece for myself as I loaded a plate up for Jenna and brought it to her with her coffee.

“Your breakfast, Madame,” I said elegantly as I set her plate in front of her.

“Get yourself some too, and we can eat together.”

I did as she asked and hurried to fill my own plate and turned the stove off so we could eat. I’d planned to make more pancakes and bacon, but the idea of sitting next to her over breakfast was too appealing for me to miss out on.

The sun radiated through the kitchen window and made the whole kitchen light up as we ate our breakfast together. We laughed and joked about our night and replayed some of the fun of watching Cassandra and Mark as they seemed to hit it off perfectly.

By the time my phone buzzed with a call from one of my contacts that I’d emailed earlier, I’d lost track of time and didn’t realize we’d been talking for over an hour. I couldn’t hide how excited I was to get this call.

“I’ve got to take this,” I said with a huge smile. “I’ll be right back.”

“Wow, you really are up to something, aren’t you?”

“Hello,” I said as I kissed Jenna on the cheek and hurried off to the other room. “So do you think we could do this?”

“I’d like to run it past Cassandra first. Is there a reason you’re reaching out to me instead of going directly through her?” the head of the San Francisco Ballet said as he searched for my reasoning.

“You know, I just wanted to make sure it was alright with you first. I’m not sure why Cassandra hasn’t offered her the opportunity before because it’s clear she has an interest and a talent. I was hoping you could talk to Cassandra and put in a good word for this to happen. Is that a possibility?”

“Of course. I know Jenna, and I’ve seen her work. I’d be happy to set this up. How about later today? I need to be in the office, and I’ll have Cassandra meet me there with the lead dancer Elaina. Let’s just say five o’clock, and I call you back if there are any issues with that.”

“Really? Five o’clock today?”

I honestly couldn’t believe how fast this was coming together. I’d emailed Elaina and even reached out to some of my friends on the board of directors. But here I had the head of the ballet, and he was agreeing to exactly what I had asked.

“Yes, it’s most convenient for me if we could do it today. Will that work?”

“Yes, I’ll make it work,” I said as I actually jumped up and down. “What does she need to bring with her?”

“Just something to dance in and a pair of ballet shoes. The lead dancer will show her a routine, and then she will dance it for us. Simple as that. If we like what we see, I’ll talk with Cassandra and see if there’s a spot for her in the company. We have some good turnover this time of year, though, and I bet we could make room for her if she is up to par with the other dancers.”

What the head of the ballet didn’t know was that Jenna was definitely up to par. I’d seen her dance, and she was just as good if not better than the other dancers who had been around her. I had zero doubt that she was going to be good enough to make it as a dancer with the San Francisco Ballet.

“We will be there. Thank you,” I said as I hung up and was practically jumping as I made my way back into the kitchen to talk to Jenna.

“Okay, what’s going on? You look like a kid on Halloween.”

“How about you get ready, and we are going to go shopping? Do you have time today? Can we go shopping? I really need your help in picking something out.”

“I don’t know what’s going on mister, but you’re up to something,” she said.

I grabbed her hands and pulled her up. This was going to be a terrific day. I couldn’t wait to surprise her with this audition. But first I needed to get her a new pair of ballet shoes and one of those cute little dance outfits. Somehow, I had to get her to buy those things without straight out telling her she had an audition. This was going to take some creativity on my part.

“Oh, you know what? I just realized that you don’t have any real clothes here, do you?”

“Nope, would you like me to put my fancy dress on so we can go out? Or can I wear your T-shirt?”

“You can definitely wear my T-shirt, and I have a pair of sweats you can wear for the time being. We could always go over to your house so you could change if you’d like to do that.”

The idea of going over to her apartment excited me. I knew it didn’t excite her at all, but I really wanted to see where she lived. I’d lived in some pretty horrible apartments over the years, and I had a feeling hers wasn’t nearly as bad as she made it out to be.

“We are not going over to my place. I’ll wear sweats; it’s fine.”

“You know I’m going to have to see your apartment sooner or later. I do plan on taking you out on plenty more dates.”

“Nope, we can just come over here. I don’t think you’ll ever need to see my place.” She laughed as she covered her eyes.

“I want to see it. I want to come pick you up and take you on a proper date. Please, let’s just go over there and get you some clothes for the day. If you’d like to leave a few things over here, I’d be alright with that too.”

“Wow, you would?” she said a little shocked.

“I mean you already have the passcode to get into the house. You might as well have some of your things over here too.”

“I’m serious,” Jenna said as she put her hands on her hips and looked sternly at me. “My apartment is a total dump. I mean inside it’s not bad, but walking through the hallway and looking at it from the outside, you’re not going to be impressed at all.”

“Okay.” I laughed. “Can we go now? I do have a schedule we need to keep.”

She looked at me suspiciously before heading upstairs, and I followed. We found her a pair of my smallest sweatpants, but they still looked like she was swimming in them. I definitely needed her to keep some clothes over at my house so she would feel more comfortable staying over.

“You know, I’m not actually one of those girls who like surprises,” Jenna said as we made our way downstairs.

She was wearing a pair of my flip-flops that looked like they were going to fall off of her at any moment. The sweat pants were huge, and the T-shirt just as big, yet she looked adorable. Better than adorable, she was beautiful.

“How about you just plan on liking this surprise? Give me this one,” I asked.

“I think I can do that.”

As we got to the garage, I held the car door open for her and closed it behind her. I normally wasn’t this sort of guy who was extra romantic or sweet, but around Jenna, I wanted to be that man for her. She made me want to be the best man I could possibly be, and I really liked that feeling.

She reached over and held onto my hand as I drove us to her apartment, following her directions. The closer we got to her place, the more uncomfortable she seemed to be. But we were pushing through this. We were going to her place. I was going to know where she lived, and I already had plans on taking her out on a real date very soon.

“It’s up there on the right,” Jenna said as she covered her eyes and pointed to her building.

Maybe it was because it was a beautiful Sunday morning, but I didn’t think the building looked all that bad. There were bars on the lower level windows and the front door, but the neighborhood seemed alright. At least in the light of day, it seemed alright.

“It looks like a lot of people live there.”

“Yep. I’ll just run up and get changed, and I’ll be right back down.”

“Oh, no, no, no …” I laughed. “I’m coming up with you. I’ve got to know which apartment is yours.”

“It’s apartment 4c. Okay, you know,” she said as I parked, and she started to get out of the car.

I turned the car off, though and got out with her. It was so cute to see how uncomfortable she was. She waited for me at the front door, though and showed me how to buzz her apartment.

“You will be able to see it’s me when I buzz you? I asked as I looked up at the camera.”

“Yep. I can turn my television to that channel and see you.”

“So no surprising you. Okay, but at least I know where you live,” I said excitedly as she opened the door by punching in a special code. “What’s that code?”

“It’s how I get in if I don’t have a key.”

“It’s the code to your house?” I asked playfully.

“Do you want the code to my house?” Jenna laughed. “I don’t see why on earth you would ever want to come over here, but I’ll give it to you.”

“Damn right, I want the code,” I said as I pulled out my phone and got ready to type it in. “Hit me with it.”

“You’re a goofball. It’s one, eight, five, two. Okay, so now you can get into my front door. But you’ll still have to knock to get into the apartment. I only have one key to the apartment.”

We took the stairs up to the fourth floor, and I followed her down the hall to her apartment. I kept my eyes out for these mice she had been talking about and didn’t see a single one of them.

As Jenna opened the door to her apartment the dingy hallway transformed into a really cute little one bedroom apartment. She clearly had great taste in decorating and had been able to turn her old apartment into what looked like a modern getaway for her.

“Do you really have mice?” I said as I continued to be leery of them and watched the floor as she went to her room to change.

“Yes, but they hide during the day. At night, I hear them.”

“Do you have your own ballet shoes?” I asked as I tried to be as inconspicuous as possible.

“Yeah, they are old but comfortable. Why?”

“Do you have one of those cute outfits that you wear to dance in?” I said as I moved closer to her bedroom door.

“Is this one of those kinky dress-up fetishes?” she asked as she opened her door and looked out at me.

“You have the whole outfit, don’t you?” I said as my eyes lit up. “Will you put it on for me? I would love to see you in it? Maybe you could even show me a few moves?”

Jenna shook her head and closed the door without answering me. If this didn’t work, I was prepared to go ahead and tell her what I had planned. I would do whatever had to be done to make sure she showed up for this audition.

“I’m putting this on just because I feel bad about everything else. Don’t go thinking that I’m going to dress up for you in the bedroom whenever you want. This thing is really hard to put on and take off,” Jenna said as she opened the bedroom door and walked out.

She had pulled her hair up into a bun and had on a black one-piece dance outfit and some pink ballet shoes. She looked like a professional dancer for sure.

“Perfect, now pack that all up in a bag, and we need to take it with us today,” I said as I tried to hold back my smile but couldn’t.

“What? Why would I bring this with us?”

“Remember, you trust me, right?” I said with a smile. “Will you do this for me?”

“Fine, but I’m going on record again saying that I’m not a fan of surprises,” she said as she went back to her room.

Ten minutes later, Jenna was dressed in her jeans and T-shirt with a bag over her shoulder filled with her dance clothes. It was a relief that I wasn’t going to have to figure out how to get her all the dance items she needed for her audition. And we could spend the rest of our day relaxing and enjoying our time together until five o’clock came around.

I was still leery about Cassandra being involved in the process though and made sure to send a text to Mark to see if he would meet us at the studio. Surprisingly, Mark was over at Cassandra’s house when he got the text, and he quickly agreed to come to the surprise with her.

After a day filled with shopping and talking for hours on end, I was beyond excited when I pulled up to the dance studio. Jenna seemed much less excited about our unplanned pit stop, though.

“Why are we here?”

“This is your surprise,” I said as we sat in my car and waited for it to get a little closer to five o’clock.

There were a couple cars in the parking lot already. Jenna looked confused for a moment, and then Cassandra and Mark pulled up next to us. Cassandra looked markedly happier than I’d seen her the last time I was at the studio. And when she exited her car, she stood and waited for Jenna to get out of our car as well.

My heart raced to see what this interaction was going to be like. I hoped that Cassandra was going to have something nice to say, but I didn’t expect it at all.

“Cassandra, do you know what’s going on?” Jenna asked as she looked between me and the pair that had just arrived.

“I need to apologize to you, dear. I’ve been so stressed out, and I know I’ve taken it out on you. I have a feeling this is going to turn out amazingly for you today,” Cassandra said and then gave Jenna a light tap on the shoulder. “See you inside.”

Jenna turned back toward me and then seemed to notice a car in the parking lot.

“Is that Elaina’s car? What is going on?”

“I’m going to tell you because I think you might need a minute to mentally prepare yourself. I’ve arranged an audition for you.”

“What?”

“Yep,” I said as I motioned toward the building. “It’s at five o’clock, so we should probably go inside so you can get changed.”

“I’m auditioning? I can’t do that, Kevin. I can’t be a dancer. I don’t have the money, and I can’t support myself on that.”

“Interesting that you’d bring that up because I talked with Ed, and one of the things we decided to do with the new charity is to offer a stipend to dancers. It’s not much, but I think it will offset your living expenses enough that you can concentrate on your dreams.”

Jenna was silent. I watched her intently as I tried to figure out what she was thinking. Was she angry? Was she excited? I couldn’t tell what was going on, and the silence was killing me as I waited.

“This isn’t just you paying for me to do this?” she asked.

“Nope, it’s a long-term program that dancers will be able to apply to. Obviously, I don’t have it fully set up yet, but it shouldn’t take long. And any dancer who needs it can apply. We will tentatively have five scholarships available, and each will be for one year at a time.”

“And what was with Cassandra? Is she running the audition?”

“Her, Elaina, and the head of the ballet. It’s going to be like any other audition. At least that’s what they told me. And from what I’ve seen, I’m pretty sure this is just a formality, and you’re about to start your career of your dreams.”

“I’m going to be a dancer?” Jenna said as she jumped up and wrapped her arms around me. “This is real. This is actually happening?”

I couldn’t hide my excitement for her. I grabbed her and spun her around while I kissed her neck. This moment was everything I’d hoped it would be.

“This is the best surprise ever!” Jenna screamed as she grabbed her dance bag. “Thank you, Kevin. This is amazing.”

“I can’t wait to watch you dance in your first show!”