Page 80 of No More Secrets

“Do you mind if I go sit over there?” Shiloh asks him. She points at an empty seat in the first row. “They’re about to start.”

“Don’t you want to meet her?”

“She can’t now,” Olivia says. “Lily’s busy.”

“Sure, go ahead,” he says to Shiloh, frustrated it doesn’t look like they’ll be leaving anytime soon. “Meet me here afterward.”

“Who is that?” Olivia asks when Shiloh’s out of earshot.

“She was homeless. I saved her from a couple of guys trying to rape her.”

Her complexion turns ruddy. “Where are her parents?”

His jaw flexes.

Her eyes widen. “Lucas, please tell me you aren’t doing anything illegal,” she hisses under her breath.

“It’s a long story.” She glares at him. “I’m handling it.” He can’t meet her eyes.

“Which scares the shit out of me.” She grabs his wrist and drags him away from the security guard and pretty door monitor, instantly making him feel like he’s ten years old again. She stops near the outskirts of the stage. A curtain blocks them from the crew, but they’re still visible to the audience, and he can still see Shiloh. She whirls on him. “There’s a warrant out for your arrest.”

“Why do you think I ran?” he states, calmer than he’s feeling.

“But to risk getting caught with an unaccompanied minor? Look around you. This is the worst place you could have come to. Why are you always doing shit that gets you into trouble?”

It isn’t intentional.

He loves Olivia, but he doesn’t want to get into it with her right now. With each passing second the crowd’s cheers crescendo. He swears the music is getting louder. Press fill the back rows. Cameras are everywhere. His determination starts to waver.

“Why are you here?” she shouts above the noise.

He runs a hand over his head and grips his hair. “I owe Lily an apology.”

“You owe us both apologies.”

“I do, but for different reasons.”

“Explain.”

He starts to, but the crowd claps. Feet stomp. Someone rushes onto the stage dressed as an old woman with exaggerated glasses and frazzled white hair. Someone else in a giant gray-squirrel costume leaps onstage from the opposite side. The characters wave at the audience. They cheer. Kids scream. Lucas sweats.

Then the music cuts out, and a woman announces, “Hello and welcome.”

Olivia leans in close. “Do not leave. We’re talking when this is over.” She folds her arms and turns toward the stage.

Lucas swears at himself and considers bailing. But he’d only let Shiloh down again. And that isn’t an option he’ll consider. He’s let too many people down in his life, including himself. He’ll just have to convince Olivia, too, that he believes what he’s doing for Shiloh is right.

The woman onstage introduces herself as Camille Fleming, Lily’s publisher and the sponsor for today’s lavish event. She couldn’t be more excited to see the success behind not one, but twoTabby’s Squirrelbooks. And she’s even more excited for the movie, which the critics have already hailed as this summer’s animated blockbuster. The crowd roars again.

Camille waits out their screams before reciting the interviewer’s bullet-point list of achievements. Then she throws her arm toward stage left. “Please welcome Felix Donohue withComic Sonic.”

A short, wiry man with thinning hair, baggy khakis, and a neon-blue shirt with aTabby’s Squirrelscreen print runs onstage. He dances with the life-size characters and hugs Camille before she walks off stage. He turns to the crowd and fist pumps the air. The audience roars.

“This is a circus,” Olivia shouts in awe.

Lucas can only nod. His heart pounds, his body growing tense in anticipation of Lily’s appearance. He’s waited years to see her.

Felix is good, uproariously funny. He’s a presence on the stage, rousing the audience until they’re cheering for Lily at a decibel that stings his eardrums.

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