The Act of Forgiveness

22

"I love you." He murmured, leaning down and speaking into my ear. I blushed and glanced up at him.

"I love you too." I replied gently, pulling myself a little closer to him and moving our legs in sync.

As we approached the theater I knew exactly which one it was as soon as I saw it. There was the class pyramid shape coming out from the front above the entrance. Jasper Dean, tonight! 7:30 pm was placed by the small tiles in the white slats. There were large bulbs blinking around the gold casing and it was really neat to see his name like that. I stopped for a second to pull out my phone and take a picture. We then entered the theater through the front door and we were immediately greeted by Mark.

"Glad you made it alright." He grinned, leading us down a hallway with beautiful red and gold carpet guiding us. There were meticulous details everywhere, from the designs on the ceiling and the crown molding that ran along the wall.

We turned and he opened the door to a small prep room, but that also took my breath as there were large mirrors with light bulbs around the edges, three along the back wall. There were director style chairs placed in front of each mirror and one even had Jasper's name on it. Jasper slowly set Evelyn down and she toddled around, grabbing onto the couch cushion that sat perpendicular to the wall with the mirrors.

I walked over to her as Jasper and Mark spoke about tonight's events. I dropped the small bag I had on my shoulder and set it on the couch. I pulled out some of Evelyn's favorite toys setting them on the ground, quickly catching her attention. She sat down and picked up one of the toys, immediately drawing her focus. I stood and walked back over to Jasper as the door opened again.

Hanna walked in, her cheeks rosy from the cold and her hand was gripping Carters.

"Hi guys!" She greeted us in true Hanna fashion, her bubbly personality bringing a smile to everyone's faces.

I reached over and quickly hugged her. It had been four days since I had seen her at our last stop in Arkansas.

Carter was still quiet but he was very slowly coming out of his shell. He and Jasper had become good friends over the past couple of months that he's been working with us. Carter released Hanna's hand and stepped over to Jasper and Mark, joining their conversation.

"How's little?" Hanna asked, already looking over at Evelyn who was still busying herself with the toys that I had given her.

"Good, still sassy, just a little more bundled." I laughed, realizing I hadn't taken off her coat.

I walked over and crouched down. Unzipping her coat and pulling it off her shoulders, then I plucked the beanie off her head. Her hair stood straight up, making me laugh as she looked around obliviously.

"Poppy, I'm gonna go do sound check, you can come if you want." He offered with a sweet smile, already being dragged out of the room with Carter slowly following him.

"Are you going?" Hannah asked, sitting in one of the director chairs.

"Probably not, I have some stuff I have to take care of, emails and what not." I shrugged, pulling my laptop out of the bag that I had on my shoulder earlier.

"Hard being a social media girlfriend." She laughed, opening the small suitcase she brought to each show, it held everything she needed to help Jasper. I rolled my eyes at her comment and sat on the couch, Evelyn at my feet as I began answering emails.

We worked quietly for about twenty minutes before my heart dropped at the next email. It was from Anna, from her personal account .

Poppy-