Chapter 3

The sun on sports meet day was so bright it hurt to look at. I stood under the sycamore tree by the school gate half an hour early, waiting.

"Ellie, the parent-child relay race starts in ten minutes. Is your dad here yet?"

The teacher walked over holding a starter pistol.

I stood on tiptoe looking toward the intersection, my neck getting sore, and nodded hard. "He's coming!"

But the gate was empty.

The warm-up music started playing.

All the children and parents held hands in a circle. I stood alone. The teacher came over and took my hand. "Ellie, let's do this with Ms. Wilson first, okay?"

I nodded but kept my eyes on the gate.

During the third section of warm-up exercises, I saw Dad.

He was running in, carrying a plastic bag, his forehead covered in sweat.

I almost jumped and waved at him.

But the next second, I saw him run straight to Max.

Max was sitting on the ground hugging his knees, crying. Mrs. Rivera was anxiously making a phone call nearby.

Dad rushed over and crouched down, carefully examining Max's knee.

I stood on tiptoe and saw a small red mark on Max's knee—probably just a scraped patch of skin.

Dad pulled iodine and a band-aid from the plastic bag, his movements practiced like he'd done this a hundred times.

He said something to Mrs. Rivera while treating the wound. Mrs. Rivera covered her mouth, her eyes red again.

The teacher urged the parent-child relay participants to gather at the starting line.

I stood in place, watching Dad fifty meters away gently blow on Max's knee, then scoop him up and walk toward the nurse's office.

"Ellie Miller! It's your turn!" the teacher shouted beside me.

I mechanically walked to the starting line. The referee teacher looked beside me. "Where's your parent?"

"He..." I opened my mouth and saw the nurse's office door close.

"Her parent is here."

Mom's voice came from behind me.

I whipped around and saw Mom running over, pulling an uncle I'd never seen before.

Mom was out of breath, her hair a bit messy.

"I'm sorry, Ellie. Mom's late." Mom crouched down and hugged me. Her arms were trembling.

The uncle also crouched down, looking me in the eye. "You must be Ellie. I'm Liam. I'm your mom's friend. I just heard from your mom that you're in the relay race. I even borrowed matching clothes. Want to bring me along? I'm really fast—I won first place at my company sports meet last time."

The teacher walked over just then, looking at Liam in surprise. "And you are?"

I stared at the smile in Uncle Liam's eyes, then glanced at Dad who had just walked out of the nurse's office and was looking this way.

Suddenly I raised my hand and pointed at Liam, my voice loud enough for the entire field to hear: "This is my dad!"

Time seemed to freeze.

Dad stood twenty meters away, frozen mid-step.