The monitors in the corner fizzled in and out, and another round of applause came. Caden cocked his head to the side. Kit covered her mouth and squealed like a teenage girl. “She’s here!”
“Who?”
Kit pointed to the screen. When the crowd dispersed from the camera’s view, a figure appeared. Caden’s heart leaped at seeing her again.
“Maggie.”
It took just one second to see it wasn’t Maggie but rather her hologram. To the naked eye, it sure looked like she was there. She interacted with Spike and made him turn around and do a dance for the viewers behind the gate. That was a new feature of hers. Following behind the hologram were a bunch of young girls wearing black T-shirts with Team Maggie in bedazzled jewels. They made their way through the doors. For a split second, Caden held his breath, hoping he was wrong about the hologram. What he wouldn’t give to see Maggie again, in person...and hold her.
The team of girls came through without Maggie. Caden sat down, disappointed.
“Trouble in paradise?” Kit asked him.
Caden forced a smile. “I’m good.”
“You keep looking at the door willing Maggie to come through, don’t you?”
It amazed him that his mother could still read his mind even though he was thirty. “We’re here for the pageant, Mom. We can talk about this later.”
“Are you mad at me for trying to bring you and Maggie back together?”
Before answering, Caden looked in his mother’s eyes. They were dark like his but feminine. They crinkled in the corners when she smiled. “Your heart was in the right place. But there’s a lot about me and Maggie that everyone doesn’t know.”
“Like your fake engagement?”
“You knew?”
“A mother always knows,” Kit said. “You didn’t have to go to such extremes to beat your brothers, either. Want to tell me what’s really going on between you and Maggie?”
“Or how about me?”
Kit and Caden looked up at the sound of a deep voice. They’d been so engrossed in their conversation neither of them had paid attention to Mitchell and Paula Swayne walking in the door behind a group of young girls.
Kit squeezed Caden’s hand. “Perhaps you should speak with him first.”
Reluctantly, Caden stood and led Mitchell down a back private hallway. The space worked as a passage way to the stage. Staff filtered through in order to bring in props for the upcoming shows. Once they had a moment alone, Mitchell was the first to speak. Or at least clear his throat. Caden figured Maggie’s father was waiting for him to start.
“So have you heard anything interesting on the internet?” Caden thought he’d start the uncomfortable conversation with a joke. It didn’t go over well.
Mitchell crossed his arms over his chest. “Want to tell me what the hell you and Maggie are doing together?”
“We are, well...” Caden stumbled.
“So this whole fake engagement is for what? So Maggie can get her inheritance?”
Caden did a double take. “Inheritance.”
“Like you didn’t know she needed to hold down a job for six weeks and stay off social media until her birthday.”
All this time Caden thought Maggie was being genuine, letting go of her past, living simply. He’d thought her family was in financial straits, and she’d been helping. He blinked in disbelief, not sure what to believe or think now. “I didn’t know,” he said.
“Don’t play me for a fool,” ordered Mitchell.
“I promise you, sir, the only person who’s been played for a fool has been me.”
A group walked between them carrying a set of walkers and canes, Caden figured for the senior citizens’ segment. Once everyone passed by, one person remained. Caden’s heart froze, not sure what to do. Be mad or not. She played him.
“Maggie?” Mitchell asked. “Is that you or your hologram?”