Tom Randall stepped up to the podium, and the room filled with applause, whistles, and whoops from the crowd. Josh stood against the wall to his left, with his mom, Lily, and Herman, as his dad spoke to the many supporters gathered here to rally him on his campaign for mayor.

There were so many badges in the room, Josh wondered if anyone was out protecting the citizens of Umbridge on this snowy night. But then again, most of the town looked to be here anyway. Josh’s father stood tall before them in a gray suit that complemented his cropped silver hair. Tom Randall spoke to the crowd about his distinguished career in the Umbridge PD, and Josh felt his chest swell with pride.

When he finished speaking, he motioned for his family to join him. Josh, his mom, Lily, and Herman gathered around him to more applause.

A woman pointed from the third row. “Hey, aren’t you the guy who’s dating Katherine Hayes?”

Josh recoiled. A murmur rippled through the crowd.

“I thought you looked familiar,” someone else said. “Tom Randall’s son. Josh, right?”

Panic crept up Josh’s sleeves and gripped his chest. He took a step back, trying to make himself less conspicuous. Lily grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze.

His dad smiled. “That’s right. Any other questions for me before dinner begins?”

“Is it true she’s addicted to pain pills?” someone asked.

“Why did you take her back after she cheated on you with Ted Wilhelm?”

“I heard a rumor about a sex tape.”

A sex tape? Josh couldn’t breathe. His stomach felt like he’d swallowed lead.

Tom Randall cleared his throat. “I should have clarified, are there any questions about my campaign?”

“Isn’t it hypocritical of you to run for mayor on the coattails of your crackdown on drugs here in Umbridge while your son is dating a drug addict?”

The room erupted in a series of shouted questions.

Josh’s horror burned into rage. He surged toward the podium, but Lily grabbed his elbow. “What the hell is the matter with these people?”

She shook her head. “Don’t take the bait. Dad can handle this.”

“I don’t get it,” a woman said. “Why would a nice young man like your son be involved with a tramp like Katherine Hayes?”

Josh’s vision went hazy. He shoved blindly at the bodies separating him from the microphone. His dad turned on him with eyes as cold and hard as flint. Josh pushed past him to reach the podium.

The room fell silent.

His heart hammered, and his hands shook as he faced the crowd. “Yes, I’m dating Katherine Hayes, and I won’t stand back and listen to you talk about her like this. She’s a wonderful person who’s done nothing to deserve your judgment. On the contrary, she’s worked damn hard to set a positive example for her fans.”

A middle-aged woman in the front row leaned forward. “You call posing nude and doing drugs setting a positive example?”

“Don’t believe everything you read in the tabloids. And you know what else? None of this has anything to do with my dad, his campaign, or his ability to serve this town as mayor.”

“Why don’t you let us decide that for ourselves?”

He drew a deep breath. “Kate’s a human being, just like the rest of us. She’s not perfect. She’s also not a drug addict or any of the other things you’ve called her tonight. In fact, I think she’s pretty damn exceptional. So let’s quit spreading rumors and focus on what’s important—my dad and his campaign, okay?”

Everyone in the room was staring at him. He felt his dad’s eyes burning holes in his back. Then, someone in the back started to clap. A few more people joined in, just enough to cover the awkward silence.

His dad leaned over the microphone to invite everyone to dinner at the VFW hall.

Josh turned to see Lily staring at him, jaw slack, eyes wide. He pushed past her and walked straight out the back door. He stood in the cold darkness with snowflakes dusting his cheeks. Anger burned in his chest on Kate’s behalf. He couldn’t explain the sudden need to defend her honor. Except that he could. There was a very simple explanation.

He was in love with her.

He was tired of denying it, tired of hiding their relationship. On some level, he would probably always love Noelia, but Kate was something different, something special. She didn’t replace Noelia; nothing could. But it turned out he didn’t need a replacement.

He just needed Kate.

---

Kate met her mother for lunch on Sunday, since she was off from filming and Josh was in Massachusetts for a campaign event with his dad. They ate at a little café on Broadway that was one of her mother’s favorites. Doreen talked endlessly about the Rockettes’ show she’d been to the night before with Fred while Kate daydreamed about the way Josh had kissed her on Friday…

“You would have made a great Rockette,” Doreen commented as she polished off her sandwich. Now that she’d completed her radiation treatments, the color had returned to her cheeks. She looked healthier than she had since she’d first turned up on Kate’s doorstep back in September.

Kate knew her long-term prognosis was still questionable, but for now, her mom was on the mend, and the knowledge was an incredible relief. “I’m barely tall enough, and anyway, I’m a singer before I’m a dancer.”

This was true, but she’d auditioned anyway—twice—back when she was still struggling to make a name for herself. She’d never made the cut.

“You’ve always been a beautiful dancer,” Doreen said.

Something warm swelled in Kate’s chest. That was the most sincere compliment she could ever remember receiving from her mother. Lately, it felt like a scab had formed over the wounds Doreen had inflicted, as if maybe with time, the pain would fade. “Thanks, Mom.”

“Fred and I are going to the movies later. We’re going to see War Days. Isn’t that the same actor you had your little fling with in LA in October? He is so hot!” Doreen’s eyes sparkled.

Kate’s stomach soured. “Ted Wilhelm, yes, but we were never together.”

“Well, if you haven’t slept with him, you should,” Doreen said with a wink. “He is delicious.”

Kate shook her head. “I have zero interest in Ted Wilhelm.”

“Because you’re too busy swooning over Josh, who is also delicious, I must say.”

Kate looked down at her plate with a casual shrug.

“Hey, did I show you the flowers Helen and Krista sent me?”

“No.” Kate sipped her cappuccino. She was so tired, and so caffeinated, that her left eye had started twitching. If she didn’t get some sleep tonight, she might actually lose her mind.

“Aren’t they beautiful?” Doreen passed her phone across the table.

Kate looked at the brightly colored bouquet. “They’re gorgeous.”

She tabbed through photos on Doreen’s phone, looking at all the flowers people—including Kate—had sent her when she completed her radiation treatments. She swiped the screen again, but she’d reached the end of the flower photos. She started to hand the phone back to her mother before she realized what she was looking at.

Her prescription pill bottles. Her purse.

The photo that had been sold to the tabloids on Friday.

A funny feeling slid down her neck, as if someone had just dropped an ice cube down the back of her blouse. She stared at the photo on her mother’s phone as the icy feeling reached her stomach and congealed there.

Oh no. No no no…

She raised her eyes to see Doreen smiling at her, talking animatedly, but her words couldn’t reach through the numbness in Kate’s ears.

“What the fuck, Mom?” she hissed, her voice little more than a whisper as she shoved the phone across the table.

Doreen looked down at the phone and grimaced. “Shit.”

“You?” Kate could feel herself trembling with fury. “It was you?”

“Well, I—it’s just a photo, Kate.”

Kate had the sensation that she’d been sucked into a whirlpool. The room was spinning around her, and it was hard to draw breath. Her mother had sold her out to the tabloids.

My mother did this to me.

“And the other photos? The ones from high school?” The ones that had been turned into nudes…oh God.

“Well, I didn’t know what they were going to do with them!” Doreen’s eyes went wide.

“You sold me out.” Tears pushed at the back of her eyes, and she blinked them back angrily.

“Okay, I was angry when I sold those pictures of you from high school,” Doreen said. “I’d just found out you were all rich and famous, and I wanted my fair share.”

“I’ve given you more than your fair share,” Kate said through gritted teeth. The ice inside her had melted, and her temper flared so hot, she felt like her scalp was burning.

“Well, honestly, all I did was take a picture of all the pill bottles in your purse. You should keep them somewhere more private if you’re addicted to that kind of stuff.”

And the top blew right off her head. “I am not addicted to pain pills!”

“Come on, Kate. Look at you. You’re all pale and jittery. How many bottles are in your purse right now? I was just trying to help you face reality.”

“You’re right. You have helped me face reality.” She gulped air, fists clenched around the edge of the table. “I don’t know why I was crazy enough to let you back into my life when you never even acknowledged or apologized for all the ways you hurt me twelve years ago.”

“Not this again.” Doreen rolled her eyes dramatically. “How was I supposed to react when you slept with my boyfriend and then cried rape?”

Kate lurched from the table so suddenly that it tipped to the side, sending their plates and glasses plummeting to the floor in a resounding crash that was almost drowned out by the pounding of blood in her ears. “That’s it. We’re done. Goodbye, Mom.”