Chapter 19 - THE NEW BOW
The new bow was blue.
Mia picked it herself.
"Pink was before," she said. "Blue is now."
At the theater, Mia stopped outside the same dressing room.
Claire felt her hand go cold.
"We can leave," Claire said immediately.
Mia shook her head.
Daniel approached slowly from the other end of the hall. He had asked permission before coming backstage. He had been asking permission for a lot of things lately.
"Hey, kiddo."
Mia looked at him.
He held out a small paper bag.
"What is it?"
"Open it."
Inside was a cheap silver keychain shaped like a tiny stage curtain.
On the back, he had engraved four words:
I AM PROUD OF YOU.
Mia pressed her lips together.
Daniel crouched. "I should have said that more. I should have made sure you knew it even when I wasn't in the room."
Mia hugged him.
Five minutes before Mia's group was called, she started breathing too fast.
"I can't do it."
Claire knelt. "Then you don't."
"I want to."
"Then breathe with me."
Daniel sat on the floor in his suit pants. "Me too."
Mia laughed through a tear.
They breathed together.
Four counts in.
Four counts out.
The stage manager called, "Junior group, places!"
Mia stood.
Then the lights in the hallway flickered and went dark.
Someone screamed farther backstage.
Mia froze.
Claire's heart slammed against her ribs.
For one terrible second, the past rushed back into the room.
Then emergency lights clicked on.
A technician shouted, "Breaker issue! We're good!"
Mia still did not move.
May you like
From the stage, the music began.
Her cue was in ten seconds.
