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It took a minute for André to realize Bob was speaking tohim.
“Oh, I’m not getting in the middle of this.” André shook his head.
Bob lifted his chin, a hint of mirth touching his gray eyes. “I thought she was avoiding you with the way she hollered when she saw your car pull up. But now I think you’re trying to get her to come back with you.”
André turned his gaze on Nikki, amused. “You were mad to see me?”
“Spitting,” Bob confirmed.
Nikki was mad now from the way she was shooting daggers at both André and her dad.
But Bob held his ground, unconcerned with his daughter’s ire.
“Just tell me what you’re running from and let’s see if it holds water.” Bob waved a hand like he was offering the floor.
It was unlike anything André had ever experienced with a parent.
Discussion, compassion, conversation.
He had to quell the urge to laugh out loud. It would be an inappropriate reaction to what was happening but it was the way his emotions wanted to be expressed.
Nikki let out a disgruntled sigh. “Fine. I have the opportunity to produce an album.”
Bob narrowed his eyes and waited.
“This…person thinks I’d be a good fit.” Nikki scratched the side of her neck and looked away from the two of them.
Bob lifted an eyebrow at André and he felt compelled by the dad energy coming at him.
“Not just anyone. One of the biggest artists in the industry,” André added.
She glared at him, but she didn’t mean it.
He was pretty sure anyway.
“And?” Bob prodded.
“And I’m not qualified to do that, Dad.” Nikki picked at the grass in front of her. “And any minute Zara is going to realize it and find someone better.” She sighed, closing her eyes. “I’d rather she realize that before I get attached to a project I have no business being attached to.”
André’s heart squeezed with her words.
None of them were true.
But he couldn’t just shake that information into her.
“Nikki,” Bob said, his voice gruff and earnest. “You have always lived by one creed. What is it?”
She rolled her eyes and her lips twitched with an almost smile. “Chase your joy.”
André had never heard that before.
Bob nodded slowly. “You will stand and fight for the weirdest of the weirdos to do what makes them happy. Even if no one else sees it as important or practical. Because you believe what?”
“Life is art. And art is subjective. So no one gets to decide if someone else’s art is acceptable.”
Chills raced over André’s skin.
He’d never heard her say it so succinctly but that’s exactly how she lived her life. That’s how she treated everyone.
