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“Our lucky charm.”
He says it so casually that I don’t have a comeback.
He tips his head toward the hallway.
“Walk with me?”
“Yeah. Yeah. Okay.”
I fall into step behind him, close enough that our arms brush every couple of paces.
“Where are you staying tonight?” he asks.
“I’m crashing in Bastian’s suite at the hotel. I was going to get my own room, but he said he has plenty of space and it’s only one night, right?”
“Right.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
But there’s something behind the corner of his mouth that isn’t nothing. Or maybe I’m just seeing things I want to see but don’t really exist. Like Fox hoping I had my own hotel room.
The green room is loud. Stone is on a phone call with someone he keeps calling “sweetheart.” Nikko and Bastian are at the snack table. Mik is on the couch with a towel around his neck and Kay on his lap.
Kay is four. Very newly four. She has slightly wavy hair that sticks out in every possible direction and is wearing a Hall of Fame T-shirt that is far too big for her and comes down to her knees like a nightgown. Mik is bouncing her gently on his knee, and she’s leaning against his chest, clearly fighting sleep. Pauline, her nanny, sits in a chair near the corner of the room, watching Kay and smiling.
Then Kay sees me.
Her whole face lights up.
“Uncle Fi!”
She launches herself off Mik’s lap, and I have about half a second to open my arms before she barrels into me. I catch her under the ribs and she wraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist and squeezes with her full four-year-old strength.
“Hi, pumpkin.”
“I miss you. Where’s Nan?”
“She’s at home, but she told me to give you a squishy hug.”
She tightens her arms around my neck and screams “squishy” way too loud in my ear.
Mik puts a hand over his heart.
“I am wounded. I am adored by tens of thousands of people, and my own daughter couldn’t care less.”
Stone laughs, his phone already back in his pocket. “This US tour is over. Mik has been publicly dethroned by Griffin Hall. Send the press release.”
Everyone in the room laughs, including Mik. He stands, stretches, and goes to check the snack table.
“Whatever. Fine. I know when I’m beaten.”
Kay leans back and puts her little hands on either side of my face.
“Uncle Fi, I can write my name.”
“Wow, can you? That’s amazing. You’ll have to show me.”
