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“Candy Land?” she asks with excitement beaming from her pores.

“Yes, we’ll play Candy Land.”

She holds out her hand to shake mine. “You got yourself a deal.” We shake one solid shake before she jumps off the rest of the stairs and into Linda’s car.

As they drive off, I nod my head toward the swing that’s around the back of the house. “Shall we?”

Adam suspiciously eyes me. “Everything okay?”

I wrap my fingers around his. “Actually, it’s more than okay. I just need to fill you in on something.”

We make our way to the swing and position ourselves side by side as I nuzzle up close to him.

“Do you remember when you asked me if I always wanted to be a teacher?”

He rubs his thumb over my shoulder, leaning down to kiss the top of my head. He feels I need the strength from him right now, and knowing he’s here to catch me if I fall helps guide me forward even more.

“Yeah,” he whispers.

“Meeting you was bigger to me than just meetingtheAdam Jacobson.” He laughs out loud before I continue, “I moved to New York when I was eighteen. I had a dream.”

“What was that?”

I turn slightly to face him. “I wanted to be a singer.”

His eyes sparkle. “Everyone says you’re an amazing singer. Both Cailin and Linda rave about your voice, and I love what I’ve heard so far, even if it was a children's religious song.”

I inhale a breath and lean back against him. “They’ve heard me sing gospel, which I like, but I wanted to be a rock singer, like Jen Ledger from Skillet or Hayley Williams from Paramore.”

He sits up, shocked. “Shut up! Seriously?”

I cover my eyes. “I told you I listen to rock music. Don’t seem so surprised.”

He tilts his head and grins at me. “I can see it.”

I hit his chest with the back of my hand and curl back into him. “Seeing Diamante making it has been hard and brought back a ton of memories. That should have been me. Though I couldn’t have pulled off the blue hair like she is.” I try to bring light to our conversation before the bomb I’m about to drop.

“I chose New York because I knew it was big enough that I could try to make a name for myself, and my parents wouldn’t catch on because I was there to attend Columbia in their eyes.”

“Why would they be against you wanting to sing? They obviously enjoy your voice if you sing at your father’s church.”

I inhale and slowly let it out, picking up his hand and toying with his fingers. “I lied about having something to do at church.”

He stiffens. “Why?”

I rest my head against his shoulder. “It’s my father. I’m afraid he won’t accept you.”

His laughter bellows out from his chest. “Yeah, I’m a dad too, remember? No one will ever come near Cailin. Nope. Over my dead body.”

His carelessness over the mater makes me smile. “It’s more than that. When I was in New York, I was making a name for myself, booking shows and really starting to see progress. I felt like I was going to make it.”

He runs his other fingers over my hair, tucking it behind my ear. “Then, what happened?”

I reposition myself to bring my legs up on the swing. “There was a band that was going head-to-head with me. We were booking the same gigs, and I was getting more attention due to being the female lead. The other group was all guys, and they didn’t like me taking the spotlight away from them.”

I pause, and he eggs me on, “So, what happened?”

I turn my head to show him the scar that runs up the back of my head. Before this morning, I wouldn’t have dared to show anyone this scar, and I wear my hair down to cover it at all times.