Read Online The Ballerina's Stand by Angel Smits - Free Book Online

eyes was a good sign.
    â€œYou like girls or boys?” she asked, pushing another taboo button. Lauren wanted to crawl under the wood floor.
    Dylan didn’t flinch. “As friends, both.” His fingers were harsh as they hit together in the signs. “Not gay, if that’s your question. But so what if I was? It’s not your business.” His finger point to her was nearly as accusing as hers had been.
    Maxine laughed, her smile broad. “Oh, yes. He’ll do.” She looked at Lauren. She returned to sign. “Well done, my dear.” She nodded at them both as she turned toward the chair in the corner.
    Once she’d settled, she looked at Dylan again. “Get some rest.” The sign of her laying her head on her hands looked almost too soft with her intense stare. “We—” Her jewelry sparkled as her hand moved back and forth between them. “We are going to work hard. Starting tomorrow.”
    â€œTomorrow?” Dylan looked surprised, but he held back the excitement.
    Maxine nodded. “Be here.” She pointed at the floor. “Four.” She signed the number. “Right after school.”
    Dylan glanced at Lauren, his brow furrowed in question. “Attorney?”
    â€œAt two.” She held up her fingers to match. “You’ll be done in time.”
    â€œFour.” Dylan made the same gesture as Maxine had and smiled.
    The older woman nodded, then waved him away. “Go. Change. Rest.”
    Now it was Lauren’s turn to face the inquisition. She waved at Dylan just before he disappeared through the door.
    Maxine barely let her sit down. “What attorney?”
    There was no sense lying. Lauren had to tell her, and now. If she found out later, there would be hell to pay, and Dylan would be the one paying. “He has a sister—”
    â€œIs she deaf?”
    Lauren watched Maxine make the familiar sign, and for an instant, it flashed through her mind that it was an odd one. Deaf, and yet she pointed at her ear and then her mouth. “No.” Lauren shook her head. “She hears.” Her own gesture, a spiral from the lips seemed just as odd. Backward almost.
    â€œShe dance?”
    Lauren shook her head. Tina had refused all offers of classes, though Dylan had said she’d been keen on it until she was about six, which would have been about the time their father had gone to prison.
    â€œAttorney?” Maxine prompted.
    She explained the situation to Maxine, and the older woman rolled her eyes. “Youth.” She shook her head as her hand bounced in the air at the height of a child’s head. “I don’t tolerate troublemakers.”
    Lauren remembered learning that lesson the hard way. The one and only time she’d rebelled against Maxine’s authority had been her junior year in high school. And as punishment, Maxine had taken the lead in The Nutcracker away from her.
    Maxine taught her that you don’t just work to earn something—you continue working to keep it. They both lived by that rule.
    After a short pause, Maxine leaned forward and met Lauren’s gaze. “The police didn’t know he was deaf, did they?” Maxine knew all of Lauren’s fears.
    Lauren slowly shook her head. The fear of being misunderstood and mistaken for insane, or drunk or high had haunted Lauren since childhood. She shuddered.
    â€œWho is the attorney? Did you call Wakefield?” Maxine’s attorney was as much friend as lawyer, but he was retired now. To be honest, there’d only been one attorney who had come to mind when she’d needed one.
    Jason Hawkins. She forced herself not to smile. She felt the heat rise in her cheeks.
    â€œAh.” Maxine’s eyebrow rose and she laid a hand on Lauren’s arm. “Someone else.” Keen interest shone on Maxine’s face.
    Another eyebrow lifted. Lauren was surprised Maxine didn’t ask any more questions. Maxine