Page 122 of With a Little Luck

Chapter Thirty-Nine

I barely hear Ari’s introduction as she takes the stage. I feeldizzy and nauseous as I weave through the crowd, eager to get back behind the counter. It feels safer there, where I don’t have to give any speeches and no one stares at me and my heart isn’t held right there in my palm.

I drop the box of records on the counter, and my dad surprises me by immediately pulling me in for a hug.

“What a fantastic idea!” he says, quiet enough to not interrupt Ari on the stage. “You put these together all by yourself?” He takes one of the records out of the box, looking it over.

“Do you think she likes it?” I blurt.

Dad shoots me a knowing look. “How could she not?”

I inhale deeply, and then there’s someone on the other side of the counter, asking if they can buy two copies, and just like that—Ari has made her first sale, while up onstage, she strums the chords of her first big hit.

I complete two more sales in quick succession, but most of our customers are watching Ari as she performs. Penny waits just off the stage, her violin in hand. She doesn’t look nervous at all, which surprises me. But then she never looks nervous at her recitals, either, even though she told me once that she sweats so much before a show that she always worries the violin will slip right out of her hands.

Maybe that Charm spell I told Maya about really works.

I wish it would work forme.310

It isn’t until Ari is launching into the second chorus that I feel the tight knot in my chest start to unwind, and I’m able to watch her and listen to her and feel what I feel for her without an endless barrage of worries clouding my thoughts.

Then her eyes meet mine, and for just a second, the world stops, and I think,I can’t be imagining this.

But she looks away again, down at her guitar. My heart aches. The room feels stifling now. Too crowded. Too warm. Too small for everything I’m wanting and hoping for, and maybe I’m too scared to find out what will happen if I try again.

Penny steps onto the stage during the bridge, playing the violin solo that she wrote herself, while Ari strums along in the background. It’s beautiful and perfect, and the crowd cheers when she finishes. Penny bows and steps off the stage while Ari sings the final chorus.

The song ends, the last notes fading away. The crowd breaks into enthusiastic applause. Ari gestures to Penny, and they bow together. “Thank you to Ventures Vinyl for letting me be a part of their annual Record Store Day, and thank you to Penny for joining me onstage, and thank you especially to Jude.” Ari smiles at me—a beatific, unbelievable smile. “For making one of my greatest dreams come true. As Pru mentioned before, we have albums for sale, which is …wow. So … I hope you enjoy them. And I’ll be back to perform more songs throughout the day. Thank you!”

She steps off the stage and gives her waiting parents a hug, and the room becomes chaos. Some people start browsing the bins and shelves and merchandise again, but a whole lot also make a beeline for the back counter. We sell out of the first box in minutes.

“Jude?”

I spin around, nearly knocking over the Jimi Hendrix bobblehead that someone is waiting to purchase.

“Ari,” I say, suddenly breathless. “You sounded—”

I don’t get a chance to finish before her arms are around me. Her ear311pressed to my chest. The citrus-floral scent of her shampoo short-circuiting my brain.

“Thank you,” she says. “The records. They’re incredible. I can’t believe you did this for me. I mean—and for the store, too. Of course.”

She pulls back, holding my arms, which are hanging limply at my sides. Her smile. Her eyes. The way she’s looking at me.

“That’s all,” she says, laughing a little, as if nervous now. “I just wanted to say thank you. You don’t know what this means to me.”

“Y-yeah. No problem.”

She steps back, and I resist the urge to grab her. Pull her close. Bury a hand in her hair. Tell her—

“Jude! Wow, this place is happening!”

My body tenses. Ari and I look over to see that Quint and Ezra have arrived. Quint gladly takes over photographer duties from Lucy, and she wastes no time in snatching the last cookie off the tray, now that her professional duties are fulfilled.

“All right,” says Ari, bouncing on her toes. “I guess Pru wants me to sign the records that people are buying? Which isweird.”

“Tough being famous,” I say, and she laughs as she heads for the small signing table that Pru wasted no time in setting up. My attention darts between her and Ezra, my insides twisting as I wait to see how they greet each other. A hug or …pleasenot a kiss. But Ezra just winks and does a flirty finger-point thing before the crowd swells around Ari, separating her from the rest of us.

The second box of records empties out, too, and Pru has the idea to set a handful aside for Ari and her family and, of course, us. Then my dad has the idea to actually put the album on the turntable so we can all listen to it together.

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