Daniel stepped closer.
“Don't embarrass us. This weekend is important for Mason.”
Behind me stood my sixteen-year-old twin sons.
Eli and Owen.
They wore matching gray hoodies because neither had wanted to waste money buying new clothes for the event. Their backpacks had been repaired so many times that I could recognize every stitch.
Official contestant badges hung around their necks.
Daniel glanced toward them.
For one terrible instant, I thought something might happen.
A flicker of recognition.
A change in his expression.
Some ancient instinct that would tell him those boys carried his blood.
But his gaze moved over their faces as casually as it had moved over the auditorium signs.
Then he looked away.
My ex-husband was standing six feet from his own children, and he didn't recognize them.
I felt Owen shift behind me.
Eli went completely still.
Daniel folded his arms.
“Are you working here or something?”
