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Dad wouldn’t see me graduate. I bent forward, clutching my stomach as another sob ripped through me. He’d probably already planned some ridiculous dinner afterward and invited too many people without telling me.

There would be no Sunday lunch next week. No phone call where he complained about something at work. No birthday dinners. No Christmas mornings. No Dad standing in the back of some gallery someday telling complete strangers which paintings were mine.

And if I ever got married, there would be nobody waiting to walk me down the aisle. There were so many things I hadn’t done yet because I’d assumed my father would still be there when I finally got around to them. It had never occurred to me that he wouldn’t be there to see any of it.

The front door opened. I looked up through swollen, blurry eyes.

Richard stood in the doorway.

Seeing him broke me all over again. I pushed myself off the stairs and stumbled toward him. He crossed the distance before I made it halfway, catching me as my legs gave out again. I collapsed against him. My hands twisted into the front of his shirt while I buried my face against his chest and sobbed so hard I couldn’t breathe. Richard wrapped both arms around me, holding me up.

My words came out between gasping breaths. “I found him and he was cold and I kept talking to him, but he wouldn’t... he wouldn’t answer me.”

Richard’s hand cradled the back of my head.

“I’m sorry baby, I’m here.”

I pulled back, barely able to see his face through my tears. Another sob tore through me, and I clung to him harder.

“He was supposed to see me graduate. He was supposed to walk me down the aisle someday. I was supposed to have more Sundays with him.”

“I know, baby.”

“I need him.”

“I’m here for you Sam. You’re gonna be okay.”

“I don’t know how to do this without him.”

I buried my face against his chest, soaking his shirt with tears while he held me. In that moment I stopped fighting against what everyone had been telling me.

My father was dead.

The last time I’d seen him alive, I’d walked away angry because I’d been certain there would be another chance to make things right.

Now all I wanted was one more Sunday with him.

Chapter 19

Samantha

Somehow, an entire week had passed, although I couldn’t have explained where most of it went.

The days had become a blur of phone calls, funeral arrangements, people stopping by the house, food I didn’t eat, and nights when I either couldn’t sleep at all or slept so deeply that waking up felt like losing him all over again.

Somewhere in the middle of all of that, I graduated from Preston.

I almost didn’t go.

The thought of putting on my cap and gown and sitting through a ceremony while pretending it was one of the happiest days of my life made me sick. Dad had been talking about my graduation for months. He’d wanted to take me to dinner afterward, and knowing him, he probably would’ve invited half of Whitmore Holdings and embarrassed me by telling everyone within earshot how proud he was of me.

Leanne was the one who finally convinced me to go. She reminded me that Dad would’ve lost his mind if I skipped my own graduation after spending four years working for my degree, and Richard agreed with her.

So I went.

I walked across the stage when they called my name. I accepted my degree. I smiled for the picture because someone told me to, then searched the crowd even though I knew exactly who wouldn’t be there.

Richard was there. Leanne was there. People cheered for me.