Chapter 1
"Dad promised he'd be here. Why isn't he here yet?"
Sophie stood at the entrance to the backstage area, clutching her sheet music as she looked toward the auditorium doors for the fifth time.
I checked my phone.
7:15 p.m. No call from Ethan. No message.
"Maybe he's stuck in traffic," I said.
Sophie pressed her lips together. "But he said he'd sit in the front row and watch me perform."
The seat right beside me was empty.
This was her first solo at the school's winter concert.
She had practiced for four months for tonight.
Just yesterday, Ethan had sat in the living room and listened to her play the entire piece. When she finished, he hugged her and promised,
"Tomorrow night, I'll be the one clapping the loudest."
The concert started at 7:20.
I texted him to ask where he was.
No reply.
When the emcee called Sophie's name, she walked onto the stage. The first thing she looked at wasn't the piano.
It was the empty seat beside me.
She paused for a second before sitting down.
When the final note faded, Noah and I stood and applauded.
That seat stayed empty.
Ethan didn't call until the concert was over.
"Where are you?" I asked the second I picked up.
"The hospital."
My heart dropped. "What happened? Are you okay?"
"Not me. Maya. She suddenly started having abdominal pain this afternoon. The doctor was worried she might be going into preterm labor, so I brought her in to get checked out."
I tightened my grip on the phone.
Maya Collins was the younger sister of Ethan's late college friend.
She was seven months pregnant, and the baby's father had left a long time ago.
For the past few months, I had never objected to Ethan helping her.
In fact, I was the one who told him she was here on her own and that we should help when we could.
But tonight was different.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Everything happened so fast."
"You couldn't even send a text?"
Ethan was silent for a moment. "Claire, she was in so much pain she could barely walk."
"Sophie had her first solo tonight."
"I know."
"Then you should also know how much this performance meant to her. She was really looking forward to having you there."
My voice turned cold.
"I only meant to drop Maya off at the hospital, but the doctors couldn't tell us what was going on. She was scared."
"So you just let Sophie wait for you all night? You could have at least let us know."
"Don't put it like that." Irritation crept into his voice. "Maya is seven months pregnant and alone at the hospital. At least Sophie has you."
I froze for two seconds.
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"Our kids have both of us. Maya has no one right now."
"But tonight, Sophie didn't have both of us," I said. "She only had me. And she's still a child."
Silence fell on the other end of the line.
Ethan sighed. "I'll explain it to her when I get home."
Sophie was walking toward me with her sheet music in her arms.
I ended the call.
She glanced at the empty space beside me.
"Dad didn't make it?"
"No."
"Did Maya need him again?"
I froze. "Why did you say 'again'?"
Sophie looked down and ran her fingers along the edge of her sheet music.
"He said he'd come to my science fair last month, too. But then he went to help Maya put together her crib."
I had no idea.
She quickly forced a little smile.
"It's okay. Mom, did you record it?"
"I did."
On the drive home, Noah fell asleep in the back seat.
Sophie stared out the window the whole way.
When we were almost home, she suddenly asked,
"Mom, Dad knew tonight was important to me, right?"
The light turned red.
I looked at her in the rearview mirror.
My twelve-year-old daughter wasn't crying. She wasn't complaining.
She was just waiting for me to reassure her that her father hadn't forgotten her.
For fifteen years, I had made excuses for Ethan's lateness and absences more times than I could count.
But this time, I opened my mouth and couldn't say a single word.