He’d actually done it. Thank God.
Overwhelmed, he gazed around at the cheering crowd with wonder before his gaze sought mine. I lifted my eyebrows and tipped my head, silently commanding him to step up and accept his prize already. He lurched forward, and I smiled to myself as I watched his hand tremble when he reached out to accept the envelope and trophy being extended to him.
From that point on, the rest of the contest was a blur. The host wrapped it up, and thanked everyone for coming, and the contestants scattered around me, hurrying off to find their families.
I glanced back to spot Tucker between people as his mom found him, laughing and crying as she gave him the biggest hug ever.
Nodding to myself, I started down the steps, only to nearly bump into my aunt and uncle along with Trick, who were waiting to congratulate me on placing in the top five.
“Not too bad,” Trick told me, chucking me fondly in the shoulder. “I mean, I’d never seen you mess up so bad like you did on the—” He stopped talking and ducked when Aunt Eva slugged him in the arm.
“You did great,” she insisted, turning to me and giving me a warm hug.
“Thanks,” I said, accepting a hug from Uncle Pick next. “I’m just going to grab my things from the changing room, and I’ll meet you guys at the house, okay?”
“Or we could take you out to eat,” Uncle Pick offered. “Celebrate your top five.”
I shrugged before shaking my head. “No, that’s okay. I just…I don’t think I want to go out tonight.”
“That’s completely fine,” Aunt Eva reassured me, squeezing both my hands before glancing at her husband and then telling me, “Well, you did awesome. Better than I could ever do.” As if realizing she was only making things worse, she cringed and hugged me again. “We’ll see you at home, Rory.”
“Yeah. Bye.”
I slumped back to my room and packed away my guitar. Then I sat there in silence a while before deciding I didn’t want to be here any longer. When I opened the door, the place seemed to have cleared out quite a bit. Good. That would make my walk of shame much more comfortable.
I’d just cleared the back hall, and the exit came into sight when a shadowed form stepped into my path.
“Excuse me,” I mumbled, starting to move around him distractedly until he blocked my way again.
“Rory,” he said, tipping his face up just enough to let me see his face under the ball cap he wore.
I met his green eyes and sighed out a breath before saying, “Dad.”
Four
Rory
Dad’s lips twitched into a grin. “Hey, you. Where’s my hello hug?”
Tears wavered in my eyes as I threw my arms around him and hugged him hard, breathing in his familiar scent. It’d been two months since I’d seen him in person. I hadn’t realized how much I missed him until he tucked me into his arms and kissed my hair.
“Who told you?” I asked. “Uncle Pick?”
He chuckled and ran his hand over my short, spiky hair, his gaze going regretful as he probably thought back to why it was so short now. “Who else?”
I nodded, swallowing. “Anyone else with you? Mom? Ayden? Riley?”
“Nah, it’s just me tonight. Mom had a thing with a new client at the studio. Ayden had voice practice, and Riley’s grounded for playing a prank at school.”
I sighed and shook my head. “Do I even want to know what she did?”
He shook his head. “Probably not. I’m more concerned with wanting to know why you couldn’t even bother to tell us you were going to play in a competition.”
I rolled my eyes and groaned. “Because then you guys would want to be here, and—”
“Yeah, yeah,” he murmured, nodding his understanding. “Then we’d blow your cover and ruin the entire reason you’re here in the first place. I get it.”
“I’m happy to see you, though,” I said, squeezing his arm. And I was. Happier than I could express.