Afterward, I waited in the hallway with the other parents.
Glitter everywhere, tiny shoes slapping against tile.
When Lily spotted me, she barreled forward, tutu bouncing, bun slightly crooked.
“You came!” she shouted, like that had honestly been in doubt.
She hit my chest full force, almost knocking the breath straight out.
“I told you,” I said, voice shaking hard. “Nothing’s keeping me from your show.”
“I looked and looked,” she whispered into my shirt. “I thought maybe you got stuck in the garbage.”
I laughed, which came out more like a choke.
“They’d have to send an army,” I told her.
We took the cheap way home — subway.
