Page 26 of Christmas Music
We’d written a song about hope and longing and the need to come home, and about how hard it could be to deal with all of that by yourself. A song about finding the person who could help you bring it all together.
A song about love.
I’d thought it was strange at the time, since we’d barely even spoken before, but the moment we started singing together, my voice dropping into the right key and backing him up as he soared toward the rafters in the chorus, I knew that this was exactly the right song. It was the song we both needed and the words we both felt, and we sang it together like we’d been singing for years. Like we’d known each other for that long and knew exactly what the other was thinking. When they’d change keys. When they’d look out into the audience. When they’d pause for dramatic effect.
We sang like we were born to sing together, and before long we were looking at each other as we sang, smiling so hard it was hard to form the words and dropping into that magical place you could go to when you were being carried by a song. We were singing to each other, and though I’d never in a million years thought that would be possible, now that I was here, in the middle of it, I didn’t think I’d ever experienced anything so close to heaven.
By the time the song ended and the audience was on their feet, hooting and hollering and roaring for another, I’d decided that I’d probably never feel that way again.
And what a freaking waste that was. I’d be chasing that high for the rest of my life. But looking at Connor, seeing his smile and the elation on his face, I knew I’d be taking something important from it, too.
I’d given him this. Or at least I’d helped him reach for the star that was going to be his. And I would never, ever regret that.
* * *
They barely even waited for us to get off the stage before finding us backstage. The execs were there already, ready to offer Connor a contract on the spot, their faces smiling and their hands gesturing as they talked and their pens and phones already out.
I stayed back and watched him, my heart singing our song and my skin buzzing with excitement. And as I watched his face go from disbelief to absolute joy, I took another step back, and then another.
When I reached the other hallway, the one that led to the exit out the back of the building, I turned and started walking down it, away from the hubbub and deal-making.
A hand grabbed me, though, and I turned to see one of the execs grinning down at me.
“Don’t think we’re going to let you get away, little lady,” he said in that slimy, smarmy way execs had. “You were just as impressive as Connor up there.”
I thrilled at the compliment, but shook my head. “You don’t want me, mister. That was Connor’s song. I just agreed to sing backup for him, because he wrote it for two people. Go sign your contracts. And tell him I said to make a beautiful record.”
I turned before the man could answer and hustled toward the exit, wanting to get away before I started to cry, and hoping that the music industry would be better to Connor than it had been to me.
CHAPTER17
Connor
Ihad a pen in one hand and my phone in the other, my mom’s phone number already entered, when I realized that something was missing.
I looked up at the execs, who were all still talking, and then down at my phone, and tried to get my brain to start working again. Everything had been such a rush since I got off the stage. The execs and the music and the feel of having been up there with Olivia, singing our lungs out while our hearts spoke to each other.
Olivia, who’d given up the song we wrote together, and who’d then come up on stage with me to make it work. Olivia, who I hadn’t found before the contest but who’d somehow seen that I didn’t have a song to sing and had appeared at exactly the right time to save me.
Olivia, my hero.
She’d more than paid me back for what i’d done for her when we were kids. And after what I’d felt when we were on stage together... After what I’d been feeling all week...
I was in love with the girl, I realized. And she’d just showed me that though she might not have liked me when we were kids, she might have changed her mind.
She’d sacrificed her shot at the contract. For me. And now she was gone.
I whirled around, looking for that bright red hair, and scanned the hallway quickly. Where had she gone? She’d been right behind me when we left the stage, and I knew she must have been wrapped up by the execs too. She’d been up on that stage with me and surely they wanted her just as badly as they wanted me. Where was she? How had they let her get away? How had they—
“She went down the hall up there,” a voice said in my ear.
I turned to see one of the music guys gesturing at the hallway on the other side of the stage, a slight grin on his face and his eyes full of understanding.
“Who?” I asked breathlessly.
“The girl with that amazing hair. Oh, don’t look so surprised,” he said, noting my expression. “Anyone watching could see that the two of you felt that song right down to your bones. I have a feeling you wrote it together. And that you wrote it for each other. Go get your girl.”
I almost exploded with emotion at his words, and at how true they were and how beautiful everything was right now. I turned back to the businessmen, my heart in my throat and my words scattering across the floor like dice. “I’m sorry, I have to— There’s something I— A family matter. That’s right. Please leave a message with my—” I saw Parker hustling by, no doubt in pursuit of Olivia, and grabbed her. “My Parker. She’ll be able to give you all my information. Parker, can you handle this for me while I...?”
