Dad approached with two cups of water, his honey-colored eyes already smiling.He wore the button-down I’d picked out for him on his birthday last month.
He pressed one cup into my hand.“You look like you’re about to launch yourself into orbit.”
I huffed a weak laugh.“Feels like it.”I tried to stall by taking a drink, but it didn’t help.
He studied me the only way he could as my dad, with gentleness, patience, and seeing more than I wanted him to see.“You’re going to do great.You always do.”
“I don’t know about always.”
“I do.”He brushed a thumb under my eye like he was checking for tears.“My little Cadie...you’ve climbed mountains bigger than one song.”
My cheeks warmed at his gentle support.“Dad.”
“I’m proud of you,” he said simply.“No matter what happens out there.”
He leaned in and kissed the top of my head before stepping back toward the exit so he could go back to the auditorium, giving me one last encouraging nod as he went.I held on to that warmth like a handrail.
I was doing gentle throat warmups when a presence loomed over me.“Cadence.”
I flinched and turned around.“Oh.Hi.”
Davies grunted, folding his arms.“I didn’t mean to spook you.”
“You didn’t,” I lied immediately, because admitting Davies startled me felt like confessing I had stage fright.I glanced around and frowned.“What are you doing back here?I thought you’d be in the audience.Or behind a diner counter.Or anywhere but a high school backstage.”
He jerked his chin toward the corner of the room.
A girl who looked like a freshman sat on a folding chair, dark curls pulled into two perfect space buns.Someone much older but looking similar to her was fussing with her hair, weaving tiny flower clips into the curls and sprinkling glitter.
I blinked, turned slowly back to Davies, and whispered.“Is that your daughter?”
His eyebrow twitched.“No.”
“Your wife and daughter?”
His scowl deepened.“Cadence?”
“Your secret family?”
“No.”His voice sounded like he was questioning every decision he had made that brought him to this moment.
I stared at him.He stared back.
Finally, he sighed, muttering like the words pained him.“My sister,” he said.“And her daughter.”
“Oh!”I said.“She’s adorable.I didn’t know you had uncle energy.”
He closed his eyes as if begging the universe for strength.“Don’t say things like that.”
I tried not to laugh.Truly, deeply tried.
Davies gave up on being intimidating for a second and leaned against a prop bookshelf.“She’s performing.First time.My sister asked if I could come help keep her from having a nervous breakdown.”His gaze flicked briefly to me.“Figured I might check on you too.”
That startled me more than everything else.
“Oh,” I said softly.“Thank you.”
He shrugged like it meant nothing.“And thanks for cooperating with us so quickly last week.It helped a lot.As far as I’m concerned, Hope’s Embrace is clean, and if anything, just another victim of Ardens.We’re double-checking only to make sure everything is properly covered.”
