When he pulled into his driveway, the house was dark. Angela must have already left with Ella. The realization hit him like a physical blow somewhere across town. His daughter was about to perform the biggest moment of her 8-year-old life, and she would look into the audience and not find her father's face. He had done the right thing.
He kept telling himself that as he helped Carara out of the car, as he guided her up the front steps, as he unlocked the door to his modest two-bedroom house, the right thing. But sitting in the darkness of his living room, listening to a stranger's breathing from the couch while his daughter performed without him, Harry couldn't help but wonder if the right thing was going to cost him everything. Harry didn't sleep that night. After settling Carara on the couch, he found a clean blanket in the hallway closet and draped it over her. Her silk dress was wrinkled and stained from the evening's ordeal.
So, he left one of his old t-shirts and a pair of sweatpants folded on the coffee table along with a glass of water and two aspirin. He noticed her phone on the floor where it had fallen from her purse. The screen was cracked, but the phone itself seemed functional, just dead. He plugged it into a charger near the couch so she would have it when she woke up. Then he sat down at the kitchen table and wrote a note on a piece of paper torn from Ella's homework notebook.
Miss Carter, you're at my house. You had too much to drink at the company party and couldn't get home safely. I'm sleeping in my daughter's room. If you need anything, knock on the door at the end of the hall. Harry.
He placed the note next to the water glass, positioning it where she would see it the moment she opened her eyes. Then he turned off the lights and retreated to the hallway, leaving the bathroom light on so she wouldn't be disoriented if she woke up in the middle of the night. At 9:30, his phone buzzed. A text from Angela. She did amazing standing ovation.
But she kept looking for you. I recorded the whole thing. Sending it now. Harry stared at those words until his vision blurred. A video file came through a moment later, but he couldn't bring himself to watch it.
Not yet. He typed back a simple thank you, then set the phone face down on the kitchen counter. The sound of a car pulling into the driveway came at 10:45. Harry was at the front door before Angela could even knock, stepping outside and pulling it closed behind him so the noise wouldn't wake Cara. Angela was a retired school teacher in her 60s who had been watching Ella since she was 3 years old.