On the Line (Special Ops) by Capri Montgomery Page A

texting or talking on the phone, in fact the standard please turn the phone off or to vibrate only announcement had been issued. The mandatory no videotaping, but still photography was okay, announcement was the last of the announcements before Ariana took the stage. Zahara watched her in complete awe of her skills and talent. She was beautiful and graceful and the black and gold cabaret costume made her look like an elegant princess. Zahara thought of Ariana like a sister, even though she knew the woman was old enough to be her mother—a young mother—she felt more like a sister and best friend than anything else. She looked more like a sister too. Even the subtle hints of gray in her hair were hidden beneath all the darkened curls. Zahara would have never seen them if Ariana hadn’t lifted her hair in the back and pointed out the sections where a few strands of silver lay hidden. A few strands weren’t a big deal, but Ariana had been making a point that she was older than she looked and one day, she had said, she would be completely gray.
     
    Once Ariana finished her dance she took the microphone, thanked the audience for attending, blew kisses to the kids and waved with a big smile on her face. Then, the inevitable happened and she introduced their next dancer stating they were about to be in the presence of a “goddess,” and then she called her name. Zahara took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. All of her nerves kept jittering and the butterflies in her stomach made her want to run away, but instead, she heard the introduction music for her routine and on the down beat she started her slow walking graceful entrance to the stage where she did her few subtle snake arm movements and then, right after her back to the audience goddess arms pose, the music kicked up to tempo and took over her body. She found the one person in the audience she could connect with, that one person who didn’t scare her senseless and she gave him her flirty shimmy with her come hither eyes long enough to draw him deeper into her routine and make him think she was dancing only for him, and then she went back to just feeling the music until her last step was taken. A subtle bow and a graceful exit from the stage and she ran back to the dressing area where Ariana awaited her at this point.
     
    “I saw your entire routine,” she pulled her in for a hug. “You did so great, lady.” She released her from the hug and the girls in the troop gave her a thumb up.
     
    “I was so nervous, but once I started dancing I just had it. And I did like you said with finding a person in the audience to pay a little attention to somewhere in the routine.”
     
    “Yes, I saw that look you gave the blond in the front row. He was cute.”
     
    She wrinkled her nose and shook her head no. “Not my type.”
     
    “You know this how?”
     
    “Because he’s not the one,” she told her. “But I had fun playing with him.”
     
    Ariana laughed. “I received a card with flowers before the show asking me to open the card after my first dance. I wanted to see you dance so I waited. I’m going to go back and see what the mystery is. Come back after you get some water to replenish your body. I want you to see my roses.”
     
    “Do you think a certain somebody may have sent them? This is the first event in Austin in a very long time.”
     
    She shook her head no. “He knows my favorite flowers are tulips. He would never send me roses. But they are pretty, white with a red trim,” she winked. “Looks like somebody put a lot of thought into them as each rose looks near perfection. I’m curious to see who sent them.”
     
    “Admirer maybe?”
     
    “Maybe, but I don’t want one. Maybe it is time I move on, but I just can’t.”
     
    “I know,” Zahara squeezed Ariana’s hand. “But that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the roses.”
     
    “True. Come look, okay?”
     
    “I will be right back. Let me just grab a bottle of water. I can walk and