Page 111 of Heartstring

“I think it was my friend who told everyone about me.”

“Why do you think that?”

“One time when I had a sleepover, we were playing games on my phone. I went to the bathroom, and when I came back, she was looking at my photos. They were from your last gig, but I don’t know if she saw other photos. I told her I’d been to see the band before I moved to Stillwater.”

I want to have a serious word with the kid that invaded my daughter’s privacy, but I remain calm as she continues.

“Afterward, she kept asking me questions about my family and where I come from. I’ve never had to answer those questions before, so I got confused and kept backtracking. We were on her bed, and my back was to the wall. There was a poster of the band just above the bed. She kept looking at the poster and then at me.”

“She guessed the truth,” I say. With Kay’s big blue eyes and light-blonde hair, there’s no doubt she’s my kid. She even has my nose and lips.

Kay nods.

“I tried to laugh it off, but she wouldn’t let it go. She even got the poster down from the wall and put your face next to mine. I made her promise she wouldn’t say anything. She promised.”

“I know, baby. People sometimes aren’t good at keeping their promises. And sometimes they don’t understand the effects of breaking them.”

“I sent her a message the night of the gig. She said she didn’t tell anyone who I was, but then she said I shouldn’t hide, and if you were her dad, she’d be telling everyone because it would be the coolest thing ever.”

“Well, it is pretty cool having me as a dad.”

Kay gives me one of her looks.

“How do you feel about her betraying your confidence?”

“I’m not her friend anymore. The next day I called her and told her that. I can’t believe I shared so much with her. After she promised to not say anything, she asked me about how it was when you’re on tour, the people we meet and places we visit. I’ve never had a friend like that, so I was excited to talk about it.”

My heart breaks for my little girl. For all the protection I can offer, I can’t be with her all the time. This will be the first time someone lets her down. I’m sure it won’t be the last.

As much as I want to do anything I can to stop her from feeling this way, it’s all part of growing up, and she’ll be a more rounded adult because of it. After all, isn’t that why I’ve gone to all the trouble of keeping her a secret? So she could have a normal life away from the spotlight?

“I’m so sorry about what happened.”

“Are we moving again?”

That is the twenty-million-dollar question.

“Honestly? I don’t know.”

“But you love Tyler. Don’t you want to be with him?”

I stare at my wiser-than-her-years daughter.

“I do, but it's not that simple.”

She rolls her eyes. “Really? Because from where I'm standing I see you look at him like he can make everyone else in the room disappear. You talk about him all the time, and you never stop kissing. Seems pretty simple to me.”

I snort. “One day, when you find your forever girl, you’ll want to kiss her a lot too. But that’s in a long, long, long time. You know what? Forget I said that. You won’t like kissing at all. It’s gross.”

She laughs. “I’m not five, Dad.”

I tickle her tummy, and she squirms beside me.

“You’ll always be five to me, my baby girl.”

“No way. Besides, I got my period already, which means I’m a woman now.”

I cough when spit becomes lodged in my throat. “I’m sorry, what? When did that happen?”