The Dance

Chapter 1 Coming Home

Lila read the text on her phone and sighed heavily. She knew this day would come but it seemed to speed up faster now that the doctors had labeled it esophageal cancer. Her father had always been a big smoker and drinker but he managed to grow his fledgling idea into a full blown magazine featuring eligible bachelors looking for wives and girlfriends willing to relocate to some of the hardest territories in the U.S.

She knew she would have to go home. Her father had sent her to an ivy league college on the east coast to learn everything she could about the publishing business and social media. After graduating from college, she headed to New York to work a prearranged internship with a magazine learning the ins and outs of publishing, advertising, photography and social media strategies. She loved New York. It was busy twenty four hours a day and it never lacked for excitement or entertainment. It was very different from her home in Juneau. It was like comparing apples to oranges. She would miss her apartment, the walk to her office and most of all, she would miss seeing Bradley Kensington everyday.

Bradley was her mentor at the magazine. He was classically handsome by Alaskan standards. He was outgoing, introspective and refined in all the best ways. She felt an attraction to him immediately when they met. She brushed it off as a school girl crush. This man was at least her senior by more than 15 years. What would he ever see in her?

Lila walked to work slowly taking in all the sights and sounds of New York. Today she would have to resign her internship and head back to Juneau by the weekend. Her apartment was a sublet and her landlord had no problems leasing it to someone else at the magazine. She would pack her few precious mementos and clothes and end that chapter of her life.

"Brad, do you have a minute?"

Brad looked up from the photos he was reviewing. "Sure, for you, anything."

Lila spilled her news between quiet tears and Brad had come from behind the desk to offer her a shoulder to cry on.

"Lila, it's going to be okay. You've learned everything you came here for and now it's time to go back home and take your dad's business to the next level."

"I'm not ready." She cried.

"Lila, you are ready and I promise I'll come to Juneau to make sure you are progressing."

"Promise?"

Brad looked in her eyes, kissed her forehead and promised her he would come to Juneau to make sure everything was running smoothly.

Lila felt a little more confident as she boarded the plane headed home. It would be a long flight but knowing that Brad offered to do a wellness check on the business gave her ego a boost. Maybe she was ready for this next chapter in her life.

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