Chapter 66

I opened the door to a wonderful scent, thank you Ken, and Claire and I quickly started a load of laundry, then stripped and got naked into our spa. I got a text from K, “Can I spa with U?”

I asked Claire and she said ‘Sure’ and I texted K back. She was over in a flash. I was planning on putting on some boxers, but my legs felt so good, I stepped into the spa, naked. K came in already in a suit.

“Princess, right now - naked only.”

She got in, put Claire between us and stripped herself naked. With the jets and bubbles going, not much could be seen.

“Charles, you and Claire are over 17 years old, when can you apply to become my stepparents?”

“I doubt we have time to do anything until this Tour is completely done, Princess,” I said.

“When we do apply to become your stepparents, we mustn’t tell anyone about those intimate times we almost have had, Kalista. All we can mention is our love and caring and respect for one other. That’s a big reason, why you and I can’t do anything immoral or illegal together.”

“Charles, I think you two have passed immoral, but things haven’t gotten near illegal yet,” Claire said. “And it needs to stay that way, do you understand, young lady?”

We all laughed at the irony of our discussion, with us all naked.

I asked the girls to scoot over so they were next to me. I then kissed each of them while the other watched. It was all very innocent, but I felt a hand encase me under the water. There was a very tight squeeze as Kalista said, “Don’t look Daddy, I have to leave.”

She got out, flashing her cute butt for a split second, before she put a towel around her waist. I saw her pick up her bikini, and she left.

Sarah joined us, letting herself in the spa wearing a suit, but removing it quickly.

Our pizza dinner the next evening was lots of fun, with the spa being very entertaining.

“Charles?”

“Yes, dear?”

“You let Kalista change out one of her dance numbers, I would to as well, if it’s OK?” she said.

“As long as what you replace it with is from a movie or Broadway?” I answered.

“How about a theme song from a TV show, does that count, loverboy? It’s a Paso Doble, and I want to learn it to our Competition standards again?”

“Sounds great, what is it?”

“It’s called ‘Somebody Save Me,’ by Remy Zero. It was the theme song for SMALLVILLE, the show about Superman when he was a teenager?”

“I remember that music, I always loved that song. How about we work on that tomorrow, after our morning work out?”

She glided up to me and gave me a sloppy kiss, “I love you Charles.”

“Which routine will you be replacing, my dear?”

“That number from THE FULL MONTY, that came after ‘My Girl Back Home’ in the second,” she said.

“We’ll get a routine to it tomorrow, and on Saturday, maybe we’ll debut it at the Columbus Mall,” I suggested.

“I see I’ll be writing a Public Release tomorrow as well, Charles?” Sarah extrapolated.

“That would be nice, Sweet-Lips,” I said.

Claire and I left the group, asking them to turn off and cover the spa when they left.

The next morning, Claire and I did our usual workout, then started working on the number. I put it on a loop, as we worked out our first ‘strict Paso Doble’ in over three years. We intended to refresh our knowledge of the legitimate steps, as we were fighting our muscle memory, to not include those things we have added to most of our routines.

The song is 4:24, too long for a competition, but we kept working on it most of the morning. I added in some legitimate steps; we’d never done before.

We stopped, and I said to Claire, “This is tougher than I thought it would be honey. Could we go over every Paso Step singularly, to help us get past the problems we’re having?”

“Sure, Charles – I want this as good as any routine we have ever won a Competition with, OK?”

“Absolutely but using us as our own standard makes it tough. All right, the steps as we originally learned them:” (We did them as we went)

“We both remembered those easier steps pretty well Claire, next,”

“Damn, Claire – your legs look so good during all of this, you really are quite the dancer, you know.”

“Well, the dancer needs the dance teacher, doesn’t she?” she smiled.

“OK, next the Separation with Fallaway Ending;

Something I never went over –

called the Hu-it.”

“Let’s stop and go over that a few times, Claire, it’s trickier than most with all of those arm and shoulder moves. Very nice, dear.”

We ended up going through all 34 steps and variations, and then we went inside to take a break. Mom and Sarah were fixing something that smelled terrific.

“We have all been watching you guys from in here, you looked tired and overdue for a break so here are some homemade quesadillas,” Annie said.

“Is he being a drill sergeant, Claire?” Sarah asked.

“No, he decided to go through every single Paso Step there is, and there were a few we hadn’t ever done before, but I feel great. After the break, we’ll show you the whole routine, OK?” Claire responded.

“I have already called Ken, so he would be ready for the crush of orders we get after this routine goes viral on YouTube. I also called WSYX, letting them know you will be releasing some new routines on Saturday at the Mall. Expect them and a large bunch of people. They’ll be setting up outside in the parking lot, so your usual crowd should be huge. Ken will be there as our ‘Official Photographer and Videographer,” Sarah said.

We all sat down to incredible food and equally incredible ladies. With my wife’s permission, I gave both Moms real big hugs.

We went out to our dome-covered dance floor again. Kalista started the music, while Mom used her iPad to record this for us.

Claire and I did a decent job with it, but it was nowhere good enough yet. Kalista recommended we take a shower and change into show clothes.

Good idea, and we were back down quicker than I’d expected, with my legs feeling much better.

After looking at the video Mom had just made, Claire and I discussed a few things then went out to the middle of the dance floor. I nodded to K to start the music, as Claire gave me a kiss, and we started.

Oh my god, a feeling I haven’t felt in a while came over me as we danced a true competition style Paso Doble. The moves felt real, complete and remarkably strong. The dimpled smile I fell in love with was gleaming at me, as we effortlessly went from dance move to dance move.

“Somebody Save Me,” was glaring out of the boom box, as we approached the end of this routine. I prepared for our trademark one-armed spins as the song faded out.

We bowed to our contingent of ladies, as they all applauded and cheered.

“Wow is not a good enough word, you two,” Kalista said.

“Sarah, when we get back from Tour, I want a sound engineer over here to install a multi speaker sound system. I want the same people to bid on putting the same thing in our Dance Studios. Boom-Boxes will just not do anymore, all right?”

“Sure thing, Boss,” she said, causing laughter, and a couple of snorts.

The next couple of days we worked out and practiced our newest routine until Saturday came. To placate Princess, we would also do our new ‘Dirty Mambo.’

Kalista turns 13

Charles & Claire 2^nd Anniversary

Saturday morning, we got up and did our usual morning workout routine. Then showered and changed into performance clothes and headed over to the ladies for breakfast.

Sarah and Annie fixed us bacon, eggs and toast, with a fruit plate. It was wonderful without being filling. The three of us decided on four numbers; ‘I am Not That Girl’ (all 3 of us); ‘Johnny’s Mambo’ (K and Me); ‘Somebody Save Me’ (Claire and Me); finishing up with ‘Cell Block Tango’ (Claire and Princess).

I’d invited Dan, but only to observe. He had the two new routines to look over.

We all got in the Suburban and took a nice leisurely drive to the Columbus Mall. I never saw the parking lot so full. There were police there to handle the crowd, as one of the Ohio Highway Patrolmen directed us to a parking place, where we were surrounded by four or five more OHP as we walked over to the raised platform. It was about twice the size as the indoor stage.

I handed a thumb drive with a list of the music on it to Dave. He remarked that I finally joined the technological revolution. Funny guy!

Pam Solberg and Eloy, her cameraman, were there. She had on a blouse with a major network logo on it. Wow, that’s wonderful – I am very proud of her.

“Hello Charles, we meet again, don’t we?” she said.

“Yes, indeed Pam – exactly how much time do we have today?”

“From fifteen minutes to an hour, Charles – we’re expecting over ten thousand people here today. The largest spontaneous free crowd of its kind in Columbus history,” Pam said.

“Excuse me for a minute, Pam – do we need to allow for commercial breaks?”

“Not necessarily Charles.”

I went over to the ladies and created a fifty-nine-minute set, with my dancing partners listening as I made a ‘super set’ from our current music, adding in our newest routines. Sarah made two copies of it, and I traded Dave for the first flash drive I had given him.

Pam said, “Charles, places in 10, please?”

We all said back, “Thank you 10?”

Annie and Sarah were both relieved, that I didn’t expect them to dance today.

Eloy placed a headset mike on me, like in Athens, then picked up his camera and went out if front of the stage. I heard him tell me, ‘One-minute, Boss.’

“Girls, be ready - this is as unrehearsed as it gets, ‘Colors of the Wind’ starts this.”

We all went out on stage together as the crowd was coming to a frenzy. In my ear I heard, “Five, four, three, two and...”