Selena felt as though she'd been dreaming for a very, very long time.
As if she'd shrunk back into the little girl she used to be—crying, laughing, throwing tantrums without a care in the world. Impossible to handle. Willful beyond reason.
And her father had held her hand through all of it, never once letting go.
Never once showing her a flicker of impatience or disappointment.
As long as she existed in this world, her father considered it cause for joy and gratitude.
Happy memories buried deep kept flickering through her mind—her height climbing inch by inch with each frame, the baby fat melting from her cheeks as the years passed. From the tiny ball her father could lift over his head with one arm, to the girl who had to stand on tiptoe to reach his chin, to the young woman who coul
