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“Callum’s not like that,” Liz said, but I brushed this aside. Of course, Liz would say that.
“I don’t know …”
“It sounds like something else is bothering you.”
I sighed. Liz was always so perceptive. Sometimes she seemed to know my thoughts before I knew them myself.
“I know it’s stupid, but I can’t stop thinking about high school. He was a total jerk. I know it was ages ago, but am I just supposed to forget all about it?”
“You could talk to him about it,” Liz suggested, but the idea of bringing up some incident from so many years ago made me feel sick. Liz could read it on my face, and she quickly tried to change the subject.
“You need to get out and have some fun. You’ve been wrapped up in work and all the stuff with John and your dad for months. Callum has a concert tonight—why don’t you come along? We can have a girl’s night!”
“He already invited me.” I couldn’t believe I had agreed to go. After kissing the man only to push him away, I didn’t know how I would face him tonight without dying from embarrassment. I started to wonder if I could sneak out before the concert was over. I began running through excuses in my mind, working out what might be a reasonable excuse for going home early.
“You have to come!” Liz said, but I was distracted, too busy imagining what the night might be like. I felt Liz’s hand on my shoulder as she gave me a good-natured shove. “Don’t think about things so much.”
“Easy for you to say,” I laughed. “I don’t know if I should go.”
“Just relax, Dar. Callum’s staying for the summer and, since he’s my brother and you’re my best friend, chances are you’ll have to interact a bit. Maybe you can just have some fun?”
I had to admit that fun was one of the last adjectives I would use to describe the past year of my life. Maybe Liz was right. He was only here for a few months. Would it be so bad to let myself relax a little bit?
“Alright,” I said, letting myself feel a bit of excitement about the night ahead. “I’ll go.”
Liz squealed again, and I felt my spirits rise as I thought about a fun night out with Liz. It had been ages since we’d been out for more than a quick dinner or drink after work. With Liz’s kids and my attention on the business, we hadn’t had a real night out together in a long time.
“Let’s go,” Liz said, gathering her things from her desk.
“Where are we going?”
“Shopping!”
6
CALLUM
“Thank you, Maplewood!” I said, smiling across the theater. “I can’t tell you how good it feels to be back home.”
I took a deep breath as I looked out to the crowd. So far, I had played some of the Horizon’s most successful singles. Members of the audience sang along, excited to know every word. But I was at the point in the concert where I planned to debut some of my new music. I felt overwhelmed with nerves as I began, momentarily wondering if I should abandon the idea entirely. But I made myself push forward.
“I’m going to do something a bit different if you’ll allow me,” I said. I swallowed hard and tried to ignore my heart beating out of my chest. “I’ve been working on some new music. And I thought I would share some of it with you all tonight.”
I was grateful the stage lights blocked most of their faces. I could only see people in the first few rows of the theater. I looked out, a tense moment of silence, as I listened to see how they would react to this news. And then, thankfully, the crowd cheered from their seats in the old theater. Thank God they were still with me. I just hoped they would still be cheering when the new songs were finished.
I had a simple setup onstage: just a microphone, my guitar, and a stool. I sat down now and brought the microphone closer to my mouth. And then, I started to play.
This is crazy, I told myself as the first line of the lyrics flowed out of me. You haven’t let a soul hear this song. And now you’re debuting it in front of a crowd of 500 people.
But as I sang, the song overtook me. I lost all sense of self-consciousness or fear. There was something about singing a song you had created. Something about performing something that had come from inside of you. It was a feeling I would never get over. I could only hope the crowd would feel the same love and embrace the songs I was sharing with them.
Is she out there?
Even with all the nerves coursing through me and the adrenaline of performing a new song, my mind drifted to Darcy. The question of whether she would come had been running through my head all evening. Was Darcy Stevens in the crowd? Performing in my hometown meant I had tons of friends and family here, but there was only one person I cared about right now.
Earlier, when I arrived at the theater, I was so distracted I barely made it through sound check. The audio engineer kept asking if I could hear myself in the monitors and if I needed the levels adjusted. But it wasn’t any technical challenges that had my thoughts floating out into space. It was Darcy.
I couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss in the supply closet and the way her warm lips pressed against mine, eager for more. If I closed my eyes, I could still feel the desperate way she held my shirt in her fist and pulled me closer. I could still feel her whole body pressed against mine as I struggled to be closer to her. And yet, she had pushed me away.
