Free Such a Dance by Kate McMurray Page B

nodded and turned to go back in the room. Eddie lingered in the hall for a moment to eavesdrop. Jimmy said to Marian and Rhodes, “Cotton wants us to do the song, so we’ll add it to the program.” He tilted his head as if he were considering that. “Yes, this will be good. I think next month. Cotton is changing the dance routine anyway, right? So, keep doing the act the way you have been. Then in July, we’ll introduce the new numbers. We’ll bill it as a new Cotton and France act. That is guaranteed to put a lot of people in those seats.” Jimmy nodded to himself. “Yes. Yes . This will be spectacular. What do you think, my dear?”
    “Let’s give it a try,” said Marian.
    Jimmy whooped. He made a show of showering Rhodes with compliments before escorting him out of the room. Eddie ducked into an office to escape being seen. Jimmy saw Rhodes down the hall and then returned to Marian alone and all smiles. “This will be wonderful, Marian.”
    Eddie walked back into the hall and stood near the door to the practice room.
    “You’re sure I am ready for this?” Marian asked.
    “You’re the real star of the show. Everyone knows that. One of these days, you will outgrow Eddie Cotton. I hate to say it, but he’s at the pinnacle of his career right now. He will never get any better. But you, Marian, you could be a real star. And I want to help you become that star.”
    Eddie bit his lip to keep from yelling. Blanchard’s opinion wasn’t a surprise but it still hurt like a knife to the chest.
    “You really think so?” asked Marian.
    “Of course. Trust me, Marian.”
    “I want to,” she said. “I will. It’s just that Eddie and I do the act together. We have for nearly a decade. We’re good together. I don’t want to work without him. He makes me better. Can you understand that?”
    Eddie let out a breath of relief. Marian, at least, still wanted him. Maybe he wouldn’t be tossed aside just yet.
    “Certainly, love,” said Jimmy. “Don’t worry about it. You know my main goal is to make my show the most spectacular revue on Broadway.”
    “Okay. Let’s just not be hasty, okay?”
    “I am never hasty.”
    Eddie ducked away from the door as Jimmy and Marian turned to head his way. He jogged down the hall to the other dance studio, but not before he heard Jimmy and Marian talking as they walked down the hall.
    Jimmy said, “Let’s blow off rehearsal for the rest of the afternoon so I can take my ingénue to lunch.”
    “I promised Eddie I’d work with him on the new dance steps.”
    “Tomorrow, then. We’ll go to Keens, have a real fancy lunch.”
    “Tomorrow. Let me check with Eddie, but yes, tomorrow should be fine.”
    “I look forward to it. Now, let me tell you about a few other things I have in mind for Le Tumulte .”
    Eddie closed himself in the studio as they walked off, presumably toward Jimmy’s office. Eddie tried to concentrate, putting himself back through the basic paces of a warm-up, trying to let the rhythm of his regular dance routine distract him from his frustration over the changes to the act. After ten minutes of that, he started practicing the new routine he’d devised.
    He kept flubbing the steps. He let out a breath, recited the steps in his head—forward, back, pivot, spin, kick out, left, left, right—but then when he tried out the routine, he tripped. Frustrated, he hopped up and down a few times and tried to shake it out. He tried again and missed a step again.
    He knew he had to focus. It wasn’t just that Walter Rhodes had shown up with Marian’s new signature song, and it wasn’t just the probability that Blanchard was sidelining Eddie next season, although both were bothering him a great deal. On top of that, he felt like an ass for not responding more enthusiastically when Marian was telling him about her new song, because it really was a good opportunity for her and the act. Jimmy was right; a new addition to the act would put butts in those seats. Eddie