There was that maddening smile again and this time Hannah blew up. “If you hurt Michelle, you’ll live to regret it!” she warned him. “Or better yet, you won’t live to regret it!”

Hannah paced the dressing room floor for several minutes before she was calm enough to change into her street clothes. Her friends and relatives were waiting for her to join them, but she was so angry at Bradford, she couldn’t seem to pull herself together. Thank goodness she had the luxury of time. The Amazing Herb had been the last act before a fifteen-minute intermission, and everyone was milling around in the lobby of the Lake Eden Community College auditorium, drinking coffee and eating the turnovers that she’d made with Lisa at The Cookie Jar.

She’d just gathered up her things to leave when she had a dreadful thought. What if Bradford was waiting for her outside the dressing room door? It wasn’t that she was afraid of him. She knew how to defend herself. It was just that she wished to avoid any more confrontations with the man who’d made her last months at college a misery.

Hannah glanced up at the speakers mounted above the dressing room door. They were hooked to a microphone on the stage, so that occupants of the dressing room could listen for their cues. Right now the only sound they emitted was muted crowd noise from the lobby, but once intermission was over, she’d hear Bradford Ramsey welcome the audience back and introduce the next act. All she had to do was wait until she heard his voice and then hurry out of the dressing room while he was occupied onstage.

It seemed to take forever, but at last Hannah heard people begin to take their seats. Several more minutes passed, and she heard coughing, low murmuring, and rustling as those same people moved restlessly in their seats, impatient for the second half of the show to begin.

A few minutes more, and Hannah was just as impatient as the audience. Why wasn’t the show beginning? There must be some sort of delay. It was silly of her to hide out in the dressing room, hoping to avoid Bradford.

Hannah picked up her things, pulled open the door, and made her way past the obstacles backstage. She was about to turn toward the door that led to the hallway and the audience beyond, when she glanced onstage and saw Bradford Ramsey sitting in a tall director’s chair.

There was very little light onstage, just the bit that seeped under the hem of the velvet curtain from the houselights that shone down on the audience. Hannah took a tentative step toward the chair. Yes, it was definitely Bradford, and he must have falllen asleep, because he’d dropped a half-eaten apple turnover on the stage floor.