Andrew had been preparing both himself and his daughter, Maeve, for this moment for a while now. The first day of school. Maeve had always been a shy little girl, often too nervous to even look people in the eye. Though, Andrew assumed that the lack of a maternal figure in her life didn’t help.

To say that this morning was difficult was an understatement. Maeve refused to eat breakfast and get ready, and Andrew literally had to carry her out the door. Not to mention the fit that she threw at the school when Andrew was trying to leave. Of course, Andrew felt horrible for putting her through that. But there wasn’t much he could do.

After all, it wasn’t just for Maeve, it was for himself too. It was beyond exhausting to raise a child by himself, especially while juggling a successful music career. He just prayed that she’d grow out of her anxiety.

It was nearing time for pickup, the day seemingly going by slower without his baby girl running around the house. He parked his car outside of the building, taking a breath to prepare himself before walking over to where the children would be dismissed.

The bell soon rang, and little kids began to filter out of their classrooms. It wasn’t hard to spot Maeve in the crowd, given that she’d insisted on wearing her neon pink jacket this morning. However, instead of the angry expression he was expecting to see on her face, she looked happy, even giggling along to something one of her fellow classmates had said.

Of course, when she saw Andrew her eyes lit up, an exited squeal escaping from her as she ran over to him. Andrew scooped the girl up into his arms, a smile instinctively making its way onto his face. Though, before he could ask too many questions, he was being approached by a young girl. He could only presume that it was Maeve’s teacher by the identification lanyard around her neck.

Andrew smiled politely, giving you a nod before speaking up.

“I’m sorry if she was a little difficult today. She wasn’t necessarily happy about having to come here.”