She wrapped her arms around the frail woman. It was all she could do not to cry. She never thought she would run into this situation as a studio owner. Teenagers aren't supposed to die from cancer.

The mother had come in to pay a bill for lessons. Lessons her daughter may never take. A woman who was never late with a payment, was in the front row of every performance, and seemed to be strong and confident from the outside, was now just a shell of what she had been. Chemo treatments and hospital stays had been harder on the family than the fourteen year old, it seemed.