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All the students that aren’t performing until the next student production are working as crew for this one, then they exchange jobs for the next show. The camp trains them not only to dance and choreograph, but gives them experience in wardrobe, lighting, publicity, and stagecraft.” She banged her hand on the table.
    Robert jumped. “That gives them so many more options. Those that don’t make it as dancers still have the opportunity of staying in the field. We should all have such foresight.”
    Jeremy cleared his throat.
    “It was Marguerite’s idea,” said Robert. “She took me on as director after I—after I snapped my Achilles tendon.”
    Rose looked momentarily nonplused. Then in her typical way, she recovered. She slapped him on the back. Robert pitched forward.
    “And look what you’ve built. You must be so proud.”
    “Yes,” he said. “I am.”
    Whether he was happy with his situation or not, he certainly wasn’t going to contradict her. Her hand was still resting on his shoulder. She could knock him off the bench with a flick of her wrist.
    Peter wrestled with a smile, then found his composure. It was too bad, thought Lindy. His smile brought his already handsome, if terse, features into the realm of Romance Hero. Maybe that was why he showed it so infrequently.
    “The student crew will be watching rehearsal this afternoon,” he said. “Just to get their bearings. We’ve already done some hanging and focusing. If it’s okay with you, Jeremy, I’ll take some time during the tech tomorrow to let them experiment with some things.”
    “Sounds good,” said Jeremy. “Anything else?” He looked around the table.
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    Shelley Freydont
    “I feel like I’m on vacation,” said Lindy. “Shall I take the rehearsal this afternoon?”
    Jeremy shook his head. “I’ll do it.”
    “Company class tomorrow morning?”
    “No.” Jeremy looked at her, his brows drawing together slightly. “I need you just to keep an overview—of things—mainly.”
    It wasn’t like Jeremy to be so inarticulate. She immediately felt insecure. Was he trying to tell her something? Did he not like the way she was working? God, she wasn’t about to get fired, was she?
    She glanced at the others around the table. They seemed oblivious.
    She was just being paranoid. But with understudies waiting in the wings for your entire career, insecurity became an occupational hazard.
    She shook it off.
    “Okay.”
    The door opened and Ellis stepped inside. “Sorry to interrupt, Jeremy, but Grappel has been upsetting Marguerite. When you’re finished here could you come up to the house?”
    Jeremy started to rise. “I’ll come now.”
    “That isn’t necessary. Please, continue with your meeting.” He nodded to the others and left.
    “It’s going to be very unsettling having Byron around,” said Robert. “He hates everything about the camp, especially me.” He tapped his pencil on the table. Between the trembling of his fingers and the intensity of the tapping, the pencil threatened to snap in half.
    “Jeremy,” he said.
    “What?” It was obvious to Lindy that Jeremy was not paying attention.
    “Maybe, you should go up to the house. I think we’re finished here.”
    “Yes.” Jeremy left them without a word of “goodbye” or “see you later.”
    Biddy widened her eyes at Lindy. Lindy shrugged back.
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    Four
    Lindy sat next to Robert in the Loie Fuller studio, notebook resting on her lap, pen in hand. Finding herself at loose ends, she had offered to take notes during the student rehearsal.
    The day had turned hot and humid after the rain. Inside the studio the air was muggy, though a slight breeze occasionally wafted through the open windows. Unlike the house and theater, the studios were not air conditioned. Cold air was bad for dancers’ muscles.
    Bach’s Partita and Fugue filled the air. A corps de ballet of eight girls were posed in two diagonal lines that met in the center upstage. In front of them a