Chapter 4

On Friday, Daniel called while Lucy was placing the card on his seat.

"I'm running behind," he said. "Save it for me."

I watched her press the corners flat.

At six o'clock that evening, we arrived at the school auditorium. Lucy ran straight to the front row. She placed her pink paper sign on the center chair.

The sign read, DAD'S SEAT.

She looked at the double doors with bright, hopeful eyes.

At six-thirty, every row was full. Fathers came in carrying flowers and waving toward the stage. My sister Megan sat beside me, holding yellow roses for Lucy.

But the chair on the other side of the sign stayed perfectly empty.

I kept my phone in my lap.

Lucy kept looking back at the heavy wooden doors. Every time the doors opened, she sat up straight. Every time a stranger walked in, she shrank back down into her seat. Her hope was draining away, minute by minute.

It was six-fifty. Ten minutes before the show. My phone buzzed.

It was a text from Daniel.

[Client needed me at an event. Please record the opening just in case I am a few minutes late.]

He didn't cancel. He didn't set her free. He kept her waiting.

A teacher called the students to the backstage area to prepare. Lucy stood up. She looked at the heavy wooden doors one last time.

"Is he in the parking lot?" she asked softly.

I crouched beside Lucy and took her hand.

"I don't know where he is," I said. "But Megan and I are here, and we'll see every second."

Pain crossed her face. Then she nodded and hugged me before following the teacher.

The moment she disappeared backstage, I opened Briarwood Academy's livestream.

If he was rushing over here, he wouldn't be on that stage.

Daniel stood beneath a gold banner with Vanessa and Oliver. A Father of the Year badge was pinned to the jacket.

The announcer called his name.

Daniel did not glance toward an exit. He took Oliver's hand, rested his other palm at Vanessa's back, and led them onto the stage.

"People think being a father is about biology," he began. "It isn't. It's about showing up."

I pressed my lips together so hard they hurt.

He was busy being a hero for another family. He accepted an award for the one thing he had refused to give his own daughter.

The lights in our auditorium dimmed. I shut off his speech as Lucy walked into the spotlight.

Her eyes immediately searched the front row. Then the empty chair behind it.

Her small shoulders dropped. The last bit of light left her eyes. She swallowed hard, lifted her chin, and sang her beautiful song.

I recorded every single second.

After the show, Lucy came into the lobby carrying the pink card. She did not ask whether Daniel was on his way.

She peeled the tape from the back and folded the card once through the word DAD.

"We don't have to save it next time," she whispered.

I crouched and held her against me. "No, sweetheart. We don't."

I handed my car keys to Megan.

"Take her to your place first," I said. "Buy her some ice cream. I need to get our things."

Megan nodded. She wrapped her coat around Lucy and led her out.

I took a taxi back to our dark, quiet house.

I walked straight into the bedroom. I grabbed my heavy black duffel bag from the closet shadows.

On the kitchen table, I placed Lucy's folded sign beside the printed screenshot of Daniel and his other family onstage. His promise—Of course I will—lay beneath them. I set my wedding ring on top.

I locked the front door. I took another taxi to Megan's house.

My phone buzzed at 9:17.

[I'm on my way. I'm sorry. Did she keep my seat?]

He thought his excuses were still working. He thought we were still waiting blindly in the dark.

I did not answer.

Daniel had spent six years choosing which family deserved him.

Now, for the first time, he was about to learn that the family he left waiting had made its own choice.