Page 43 of When It Reins
Bewildered, he shakes his head. “You? You have nothing to be nervous about.”
“Sure, I do. There are a lot of people out there.”
He steps toward me, reaching out and grabbing my hands. I let him, feeling my heart pump wildly in my chest. I ache for him to bring me into his body, to hold me there, and then kiss me until I forget what I’m nervous about.
“You’re amazing, Little Starling. Nothing about you should surprise me anymore, but you always manage to.” He runs a finger over my cheek, and I blink my eyes open, realizing I closed them involuntarily.
“Just look at me out there, yeah? We’ll get through this together.” He moves his hand over my jaw until he’s holding my neck, the hold so intimate that I am worried I am going to burst from how much I love it.
“Why do you call me that?” I ask, my curiosity piqued despite the odd timing. We are getting ready to perform in front of twenty thousand people, but I am suddenly desperate to know the answer.
He opens his mouth, his brow furrowing but not in a frustrated way, more like he’s trying to think of how to say what he wants to.
Finally, he clears his throat and says, “When I first started working at Bottle Grounds, when you’d be getting ready to sing, you’d walk around humming or whistling while you got ready. You still do it. And it reminded me of a songbird.” He shrugs. “It wasn’t intentional, just something I felt fit.” His thumb strokes over my cheek, and I resist the temptation of pressing forward. “Every time I went to work, I looked forward to hearing you sing and feeling peace.”
I wrinkle my brow. “Peace?”
He looks at me, his eyes holding me hostage, and says, “Don’t you know you’re the only thing that brings my soul comfort, Little Starling?” Mitch shrugs. “I can’t be myself with anyone,but with you, someone I consider my best friend in the world, I’m able, for a while, to finally feel calm.”
I press forward then, my lips pressing lightly to his, and feel what he’s talking about. That calm, that peace, that comfort between us is unmatched. Nothing and no one has ever made me feel this way before.
The door opens again, breaking the moment, and I glance over his shoulder to see the guy who I was introduced to as the stage manager motioning us out. “Time to roll, guys.”
I smile at Mitch and start to walk out, startled for a moment when he grips my hand and walks beside me. We catch up to the stage manager, and I look at him. “What’s your name?”
He looks surprised by the question, but gives me a polite smile and says, “Gary.”
“Nice to meet you, Gary. Thanks for helping us today.”
He holds his smile and nods his head. “My pleasure.”
Then he runs us through the set one more time, telling us he’ll let us know when we’re nearly out of time.
“No encores for opening acts,” he states as if Mitch and I were going to go rogue and add in an extra song.
“Okay,” I answer, still confused.
The concert is outdoors, and the sun is only nearly set, so the lights on stage contrast with the sun, making it only a little noticeable when the lights dim before we go on stage.
I gasp when I look at the screen behind the stage and see my name lit up, someone having made some graphic for it. “Oh my gosh.”
Jax pops up and laughs, taking a picture of it. “Your sisters are going to love this.”
Mitch smiles at me, his eyes lit with what I hope is pride. “Ready?”
I take a breath, settling my nerves, and nod. “Ready.”
Flight.
That’s what it felt like.
When I open my mouth and sing my first note, I don’t expect the audience to do anything but listen. And I was right, there were some cheers when we came out, but it was when we finished our first song that applause and screams and cheers rang out that I hadn’t been expecting.
Then we launched into our next song. This one had much more of a stomping and dancing tune to it, making it more fun for the audience, and people started to dance.
I looked at Mitch and saw him already staring at me, smiling broadly in a way that was so rare I’d nearly forgotten the next lyrics.
But I pulled it together and sang my heart out for an audience larger than any I’ve ever sung to before. Slowly, the background started to filter in around me, and I saw lights in the audience, beach balls being tossed around, people holding up their drinks, and singing along to the cover song I did. It was everything I had hoped it would be.
