Page 136 of Rebel Romeo

I sigh. “Dad, I’m not leaving you?—”

“Kate, listen to me for one goddamn minute! You are not missing this show because of me, you hear me? This fucking cancer is my fault. I smoked my whole life despite you, Mallory, and your mother all begging me to quit. I didn’t listen because I was a stubborn ass. And now, I’m paying for it. I can accept that. But I can’t accept you paying for my bad choices.”

The resolve I’d been clinging to shatters and a tear falls down my cheek. “I can’t leave you in a hospital alone, Dad.”

“I’m not alone. I’ve got your mother. But if you want to know what my one dying wish is? It’s that you get your ass on that Broadway stage and fulfill your dreams. And that you never, ever have to work in a pub again unless it’s what you want.”

I sit there at his bedside for a long second, locked in a staring contest.

Dad’s hand shifts over to the nursing call button. “If you don’t leave, I’m going to call the nurses and have security escort you out.”

My eyes go wide. “Dad!”

“You know I’ll do it.” His thumb hovers over the call button.

I launch forward and hug him as tightly as I can, kissing his cheek. “I love you, Daddy.”

“I love you, too, Sprout.”

I rush for the door, but his voice stops me. “Katie… be sure to tell that Holden boy he’s still got a lot to prove.”

I smile softly from the doorway. “Tell him yourself when you get out of here and come see the show.”

I get lucky and hail a cab, rushing down the West Side Highway at record speeds.

It’s seven-thirty-four as we pull up in front of the theater and I climb out, running full speed for the stage door. It’s tight, but I can do this. There’s enough time for me to get into costume and makeup and make the curtain. Distantly, I hear my phone buzzing in my purse, but I ignore it.

Taking the stairs two at a time to my dressing room, I skid to a stop, nearly slamming into Laurie where she stands with Missy only a couple steps behind her, both scowling at me.

Out of breath, I pant, my hands falling to my knees. “I’m here. I made it.”

Laurie claps slowly. Unimpressed. “Congrats. You made it to a canceled show.”

“Canceled? What are you talking about? I thought?—”

Laurie doesn’t let me finish. She merely shoulders past me, knocking my purse from my hands. It hits the floor at my feet, spilling the items from within it.

Instead of helping me clean up, Laurie steps over the mess and walks away from me, leaving me standing there alone with Missy.

“I was supposed to go on,” Missy says. “When Addison was too sick to come in, Laurie called me.”

Shock slams into me like ice water. “Laurie called you,” I repeat.

McCay called her. Not Holden. “Is Addison even sick?” I whisper, dropping to my knees to gather the fallen items. “Or did you force her to stand down so you could swoop in?”

My eyes lock on the program my Dad had given me just hours ago. Right before everything went to hell.

“It doesn’t matter,” Missy says from above me. “It doesn’t matter that today’s show was canceled. Because you’re quitting.”

I snort, shaking my head as I pick up the lipstick that fell, sliding it back into my purse. “Like hell I am?—”

But before I can finish my objections, Missy’s laugh interrupts me. “You know,” she says. “I was supposed to be doing this with Holden right now. I was supposed to confront him, but there is something beautifully poetic about you being here in his place.”

Utterly confused, I shake my head. “What are you talking about?”

“Stay here. I’ll be right back.”

Missy steps onto the program my father had given me, leaving a dusty Louboutin shoe print across little orphan Annie’s face. I suck in a sharp breath and try to dust it off as emotion clogs my throat.

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