Chapter 1

My twelve-year-old daughter had practiced for three weeks to light the Christmas tree beside her father on live television. When we arrived, our names were gone from the guest list. His late colleague’s widow and her son had taken our places.

Through the studio doors, I saw thirteen-year-old Noah standing beside my husband.

He was directly over a strip of tape marked JUNE.

“Why is he in my place?” June asked.

The woman guarding the entrance tightened her grip on her tablet.

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Lawson. I was told not to let either of you backstage.”

June stood beside me in the green dress her father had chosen for her. She still held the small card containing the line she had practiced every night.

Christmas is brightest when families shine together.

On the other side of the glass, a technician clipped a microphone to Cara Wells’s red dress.

Cara’s husband, Mark, had worked with Evan before he died. Since then, my husband had made helping Cara and Noah his personal responsibility.

Tonight, he had given them our places in his family.

A producer guided Noah’s hand toward the button that would light the tree. Evan leaned down and adjusted the boy’s sleeve, wearing the warm smile that made viewers trust him.

Above them, the teleprompter displayed:

EVAN AND THE FAMILY HE CHOSE TO STAND BY.

June read it too.

“Oh,” she said quietly.

Evan finally looked toward the doors and saw us. His smile vanished. He spoke to the producer, then hurried into the hallway.

“Mae, I was going to call.”

“Before or after Noah did June’s part?”

He glanced at the countdown clock behind him. Less than six minutes remained before the live broadcast.

“The producers changed the segment,” he said. “Cara and Noah fit the chosen-family theme better. After everything they’ve been through, their story will connect with viewers.”

“You approved this?”

“It’s my show. Of course I approved it.”

The answer came so easily that, for a moment, I had nothing to say.

“What about June?”

“She’ll understand.” He looked past me at our daughter. “She knows how important tonight is.”

June folded her rehearsal card in half.

“When did you decide?” I asked.

“Mae, this isn’t the time. Executives from the national office are watching. If tonight goes well, I could finally get the promotion we’ve talked about.”

“We didn’t talk about removing our daughter.”

“I’m not removing her. It’s one segment.”

“The segment you promised her.”

“I’ll give her another one. Something better.” He lowered his voice. “Please don’t create a family scene five minutes before we go live.”

A family scene.

As if his family were the problem.

He reached for my arm, but I stepped back.

“I have to return to the set,” he said. “We’ll fix this afterward.”

He walked through the doors without waiting for an answer.

When I turned to June, she wasn’t crying. She was watching her father guide Noah onto her mark.

Then she opened her backpack and removed a stack of folded programs.

I recognized the school play first. Beneath it were programs from her science fair, piano recital, winter concert, parent night, and student art show.

On every one of those days, Evan had promised to come.

On every one, something else had become more important—his show, Cara’s broken furnace, Noah’s game, another emergency that somehow always belonged to someone else.

June counted the programs silently.

Twenty-five.

“This makes twenty-five,” she said.

She held them against her chest and looked at her father through the glass.

“Or does it not count when the daughter on TV isn’t me?”