“Oh, yes. I’m terribly sorry.” He cleared his throat, and the few bits of chitchat around the circle quieted as everyone paused to listen. “I have been informed, from the most reliable of sources—you may know Cici McLannister, I directed her in The Sound of Music in ’92, she made a lovely Maria, if not a touch platitudinous on occasion…” He paused for dramatic effect, relishing the rapt attention he had. “Cici’s agent told her that Breckon Galloway is coming to our end-of-season show.”

There was a collective gasp. “Breckon Galloway?” Caleb repeated. “You’re kidding!”

Everyone knew who Breckon Galloway was, of course. Producer of last summer’s smash hit, Great Scott!, a musical adaptation of Back to the Future told from Doc Brown’s perspective, which was still almost impossible to get tickets for.

“He’s coming here?” Dominik said, voice climbing an octave. “No fucking way!”

The room swelled with excited chatter.

“We need to do something extra special,” Dominik said over the hum. “Blow his mind.”

Mateo was watching Archer thoughtfully. “What about Archer’s idea?”

“Which idea?” Archer asked.

“When we got that bad review for Around the World, you suggested adding acro.”

“Oh, that was only a thought, we don’t have to—”

“It was a great idea. Let’s put together a whole new show for the final night. Eva Stiff will do a few numbers, and we can do our best pieces, plus a new acro routine.”

“Love it!” Dominik said. “Sounds so fun.” A chorus of voices joined in agreement.

“It’ll be extra rehearsal,” Mateo warned them.

Not one person protested, although a few cast sidelong looks at Caleb.

“Sounds good to me,” Caleb said pointedly. “Let’s do it.”

“Brilliant!” Stewart said, with a thump of his cane on the floor. “We’ll run through all of the shows today and tomorrow, then on Sunday we can start planning our finale.”

They got right into a rehearsal of Around the World, but Archer found time to sidle up to Beau during a water break. “Hey, Beau … you doing okay?” he asked.

Beau offered a weak smile. “Not really. Three years, Archer. We’ve been together—we were together—for three years. To have it end like this—so abruptly, and publicly … with Caleb. I mean, God. I punched Ben!” He shook his head, blinking back a new wave of tears. “Then again … it wasn’t that abrupt, was it? If I’m being honest with myself, he’s been slipping away for a while. Maybe that’s why I was holding on so hard.”

“I’m sorry, Beau. That sucks.” Archer slid an arm around Beau’s shoulders and gave him a hug.

Beau rested his head briefly on Archer’s shoulder. “Yeah.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“I don’t think so. But I appreciate you asking.”

“Are you going to be okay dancing with him for another month? Maybe we could rework the pairs—”