June took the microphone.
“Our father couldn’t be here today,” she said.
My stomach dropped through the floor of that auditorium.
Daniel.
Something tightened in my chest, but I couldn’t say why.
They were going to talk about Daniel.
Twenty-two years of birthday cards he never sent, phone calls he never made, and now, on the one day I’d actually shown up for, they were going to honor the man who didn’t.
I felt the hurt rise in my throat as if it had been waiting for me. I told myself to sit still, smile, and let them have this if they needed it.
