Page 40 of A Secret in the Bay

Alissa grinned. “I don’t think you’d embarrass me.”

“You didn’t see me almost fall flat on my face when I first started learning,” he said. “So I’m glad I prepared. I’m trying my best to embrace life here and be a little less serious. I hope this is a good step in that direction.”

Alissa pulled him closer so they were hugging and held him there for several moments. The familiar fruity scent of her shampoo warmed Dane from the inside out. He heard her sniff, like she was crying, so Dane pulled back. She wasn’t crying, but she was clearly overwhelmed.

“This is incredible, Dane. Thank you,” Alissa said.

“It’s no problem.” Dane kissed her on the forehead. “And finally, I can ask you—would you like to go to the luau with me?”

Alissa beamed. “I’d love to.”

They kissed, and Dane felt Alissa’s smile the entire time.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Hannah pulled up to Sandy and Daniel’s house, her stomach in knots. She had gotten off work early so she could record her audition video, telling her dad that she had some errands to run. Luke had gotten off early too to help her record.

She’d practiced every night, making sure she had every last piece down forward and backward, especially the one that the school of music required her to play. Still, her hands were so sweaty that she was worried her fingers were going to slip on the keys.

She got out when she saw Luke come out the front door, waving.

“Hey,” Luke said with a smile.

“Hi.” The same fluttery feeling she got whenever she saw Luke mingled with her nervous stomach.

“You ready?” Luke pushed the front door open for her.

“I’m ridiculously nervous but I’m here. So I guess?” Hannah shrugged as they rounded the corner to where Sandy and Daniel’s piano sat.

“You’ll be great. Once you warm up a little, I’m sure it’ll feel like you’ve been playing on this piano for ages,” Luke said, resting his hand on her upper back.

The warmth of his big hand slowed the nervous butterflies threatening to overtake her whole body.

“Yeah?” Hannah asked.

“I’m sure of it.” He showed her the piano. “Here it is. Sandy said they had it tuned recently, so it should be in perfect shape.”

Hannah ran her fingers along the keys. It was a lovely piano, simple but solid. And it was a similar size and shape as the one she played at The Crab, which brought her nerves down even more. She sat down at the bench, making a fist and releasing it several times to stretch out her hands. She played a chord, just to try it out—the weight of the keys, the tone of it. It felt familiar right away.

“It does sound good.” Hannah grinned, playing some scales to warm up.

“Good, because I’ve got the best equipment to capture the sound as accurately as possible,” Luke said, going over to the camera on a tripod a few feet away. “And I have this microphone.”

He disappeared into the other room for a moment and returned with a microphone on a stand. It was taller than him and hung above the piano when he placed it next to it.

“Want to do a little bit of test playing?” Luke asked. “Just so we can see how it sounds?”

“Sure. I’ll keep playing these scales, I guess. Keep warming up.”

Luke went behind the camera and hit record. Being recorded changed things, making her feel tense and awkward in her skin. She had gone home to change into something a little nicer and had done her hair and makeup, but suddenly it didn’t feel right.

“You okay?” Luke asked.

“Yeah.” Hannah sighed, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Just feeling self-conscious when the camera’s rolling.”

“Ah, that makes sense. Let me stop for a moment.” Luke hit pause on the recording and came around to her. “You want to take a second?”

“Sure.” She let her hands fall into her lap and sighed. “I’m not sure what’s wrong. I felt fine just a second ago. I think I got in my own head about how I look. I’ve never seen myself playing piano before and I’m worried I’ll look stupid.”

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