Page 140 of Secondhand Smoke
Barrett stared at her, then the pastor, who nodded along in agreement to everything she said. Even Ron, who had started this conversation prepared for a fight, could only watch them in mellowed silence.
Barrett cleared his throat, not wanting his emotion to show. “How is she?”
Mrs. Duncan grinned brighter, if that was even possible, and Barrett saw Nell in it. “She’s never been better.”
Barrett nodded, and she let go of his hand. “We have a show tomorrow night in Bellevue.” He reached over to the counter and grabbed one of the fliers their manager had printed, handing it to them. “You’re welcome to come if you’d like. I can make sure there’s a table for you.”
Mrs. Duncan laughed. “Oh dear, that’s so sweet of you, but I doubt we would fit in there.”
Barrett chuckled because she wasn’t wrong. The image of them wearing their Sunday best in a venue full of screaming, head-banging fans was delightful to imagine.
“But we wish you the best of luck,” the pastor added, and Barrett chuckled.
Shortly after, the Duncans said their goodbyes, with Pastor Duncan telling him to share the cookies with the rest of the band and Mrs. Duncan pausing at the bottom of the steps.
“Oh! By the way, I listened to your latest release. It was a little intense for my taste, but I can see why you kids like it so much.”
Barrett waved as they drove away and walked back into the house, half wondering if he had just experienced an intense hallucination. The cookies in his hand told him otherwise.
57 - Barrett
Bellevue wasn’t a small venue for a concert, but it was nowhere near big enough to fit all the people in front of them. Toward the back, he could see people spilling out the doorways as he played the final riff of one of their new songs.
The screams hurt his ears, but he just laughed and looked out over the chanting audience, trying to make out faces in the crowd.
Everything was blurry outside of the ring of light the band stood in, but it reflected enough to make out some of the ones in the front row. There was a group of girls with shirts that readSeventh Circles First Fansunder a hand-drawn version of the band’s logo. They were the same group who’d first showed up at The Pour House a year and a half ago. Aside from them, he noticed a few more familiar faces of the people who’d stuck around before their names meant much, mixed in with strangers.
He grabbed the mic and pulled it off its stand, walking around and preparing to introduce the next song on their setlist.
He opened his mouth . . . then froze.
He had to do a double take at the person standing just beyond the edge of the spotlight.
Her hair was cut short, just past her shoulders, and the same blinding blonde that he remembered from high school. Any trace of the faded, muddied black had been chopped off.
What had stopped him was that smile.
He almost thought he’d imagined her, but no, there was his Nell.
The crowd had noticed his sudden pause and started looking around, trying to find what had startled him.
Dennis wandered over to him, confused. “Man, what’s going on—” He followed his eyes to Nell, who covered her mouth and laughed into her fingers, making Barrett’s heart flutter in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time. “Holy shit.”
Barrett scrapped the script entirely, his eyes staying on her. “Anyone here ever been in love?”
The confused audience got back on track and started whooping in agreement.
Nell cupped her mouth and joined in. Barrett grinned.
“What’s going on?” he heard Toni hiss toward Dennis, who went back and began whispering in his ear.
Barrett continued. “I fell in love with this girl once. My god, she was incredible.” People screamed, and he continued. “I never wrote my own music before I met her, but I guess you could say she became my muse. You all should be thanking her for this.”
People cheered, some yelling out “thank you” without knowing said girl stood right next to them.
“There’s this one song, though. Now, I didn’t write this song—not all of it anyways—but it’s one none of you have ever heard. A . . . friend started it, and I finished it for them since they weren’t able to do it themselves. This song is a gift for that girl I loved, and only for her.”
Barrett put the microphone back as the rest of the band sat back and relaxed. This was a song only Barrett knew how to play.
