To Riley’s horror, Nita pushed herself off the bench and shuffled toward the band. Less than half the crowd was left, mainly families letting their kids play and some teenagers hanging out. Dean came in through the park’s side entrance, and she rushed across the grass to get to him. “Mrs. Garrison’s trying to make me sing. She says it’s her birthday present.”

Dean didn’t like Mrs. Garrison, and she waited for him to get mad, but he seemed to be thinking about something else. “Are you going to do it?”

“No! You know I can’t. A lot of people are still around.”

He looked over her head, like he was trying to find somebody. “Not so many.”

“I can’t sing in front of people.”

“You sing for me and for Mrs. Garrison.”

“That’s different. That was private. I can’t sing in front of strangers.”

Finally, he seemed to be paying attention to her. “You can’t sing in front of strangers, or you won’t sing in front of Jack?”

When she’d explained how she felt, she’d made him promise never to say anything about it. Now he was using it against her. “You don’t understand.”

“I understand.” He wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “Sorry, Rile. You’ll have to figure this out for yourself.”

“You wouldn’t have got up and sung when you were my age.”

“I can’t sing like you.”

“You sing pretty good.”

“Jack’s trying,” he said. “If you sing, it won’t change the way he feels about you.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Neither do you. Maybe it’s time to find out for sure.”

“I already know for sure.”

His smile looked a little fake, and she thought he might be sort of disappointed in her. “All right,” he said. “Let me see if I can get the old bat to leave you alone.”

As he headed over to talk to Mrs. Garrison, Riley started to feel dizzy. In the old days before she’d come to the farm, she’d always had to stick up for herself, but now Dean was sticking up for her, just like he had when her dad wanted to take her back to Nashville. And he wasn’t the only one. April and Blue stood up for her around Mrs. Garrison, even though she didn’t need them to. And her dad had stuck up for her the night he’d thought Dean was chasing her for real.