The Substitute Wife's Comeback

Chapter 5

Timothy pushed Amelia's out-of-turn advancement through before she had even stepped off the stage to wait for the verdict.

The moment the recording ended, Florence turned and walked away without a second of hesitation, and so she missed the complicated look Timothy cast after her.

That weekend happened to fall on the premiere of the show's first episode. Florence watched the whole thing from start to finish. What the producers seized on, predictably, was her old title as the principal dancer, and they dragged her entire career history back into the light along with it.

The buzz ran high enough that an invitation soon reached her for the New Year's Eve Spectacular, where the organizers wanted her to dance behind one of the country's hottest stars, and the fee they named was more than generous. Florence accepted without much hesitation.

At the first rehearsal, she spotted Timothy on the stage. The lights poured down on him as he stood at center, tall and striking, a microphone in one hand, a quiet steadiness in his eyes, his tailored suit lending his frame an even sharper line. What she had never counted on was that the partner assigned to her would be Timothy himself.

The two of them exchanged a stiff, distant greeting, and then each moved into position.

When the music finally rose, Florence slipped into character as his lover and drifted to his side with practiced grace. Yet the eyes he turned toward her held nothing close to affection. Her whole body locked up for the briefest moment.

Once they came down from the stage, the director studied the footage on the monitor, furrowing his brow. He said, "Timothy, can you give that look a little more warmth? She's playing your lover, not your coworker."

Florence felt her palms tighten before she could stop them. What she had never imagined was that her own unspoken words, the ones she had carried for so long without ever saying them, would surface from someone else's mouth at a moment like this.

Timothy frowned as well, and after a long silence, he finally gave way. He said, "Let me try it again."

This time, the instant the music began, Timothy became a different man, and his eyes brimmed with tenderness. Florence threw herself into it and very nearly believed that he loved her. But the second the music cut out, the brief dream ended.

He said, "Are we good?"

Timothy turned cold again in a single breath. He walked off the stage without pausing for anything.

Florence came back to herself in time to see the director raise a thumbs-up from across the room. He called over, "Now that's an Oscar winner for you. The man can play love itself so convincingly it cuts straight to the bone."

Florence let a self-mocking smile curl at her lips and stepped down as well.

'Right,' she thought. 'I was the first one he ever fooled with that same performance of love.'

She had truly believed that he loved her, and she had given up everything for his sake, only to discover in the end that even that thin sliver of love had been a lie. The dream was over now, and the time had come for her to leave as well.

The day of the New Year's Eve gala arrived before long.

They pulled off the performance without a single misstep, and neither of them ever imagined the clip would trend because of it.

The comment threads lit up overnight.

A: [Okay, the way that girl looks at Timothy? The chemistry is unreal. Those two are absolutely a thing. Please tell me I'm not the only one who sees it.]

B: [Same here. I've suspected something for ages. Did anyone catch the first episode of Shining Star? Every glance between them is so careful, so guarded. The more they hold back, the more obvious it gets.]

C: [Come on, do we really have to pair off every pretty girl with every good-looking guy? By that logic, Janet and Florence are an item too. Plenty of dancers were clearly better, yet he handed the comeback spot straight to her.]

D: [Exactly. Florence's first routine was painfully average. She's been out of the game forever, so why not just stay home and play housewife instead of crawling back into the spotlight?]

The mood online kept turning in waves. Some comments were kind, while others dripped pure venom.

Timothy came home late that night. Florence asked, "Will all this talk online cause you trouble? Shouldn't you set the record straight?"

His face gave nothing away as he stepped past her toward the bedroom. He said, "No need. It's just the hype every variety show runs on."

Florence let the matter drop, though a strange unease settled over her for reasons she couldn't quite name.

She kept scrolling through her feed, and one trending headline jumped out at her: "A-List Actor Timothy Malone's Late-Night Rendezvous With a Mystery Woman! Hand in Hand! That's So Romantic!"