Page 5 of The Singer and the Silent Type

Glancing up, I saw that Iris was already pushing buttons on the sound system, giving her head a shake. She grabbed her phone from her pocket, and I assumed that she was calling her son Gary, who had set up the system for her.

I instantly whipped around the room, checking on everyone, pretending that everything was perfectly normal. After fetching a few more desserts and drinks, I saw that Iris was waving to me.

“It’s a blown fuse,” she said the second I was close. “Gary said the sound system was on its own circuit, and since that’s the only thing that’s down, it must be it.” I nodded, knowing that in this ancient building, things were bound to be unstable.

Iris was giving me a very strange look. “How do you feel about grabbing your guitar and playing some old favorites for twenty minutes until he gets here?”

The air in my lungs suddenly felt stuck. “You…you said you don’t have live music in here because it’s too loud. Because it makes other people raise their voices, and get all aggressive…”

She stepped closer, patting my shoulder gently. “That’s with a full band, with drums. Your pretty voice and quiet guitar in the corner will keep everything light and airy. You can play anything you like. All of your favorites.”

“I can’t…I mean, what if people don’t like it?”

Iris put her hands on her hips far too high, as she did when she was laying down the law. “My customers will like what I damn well tell them to like,” she laughed. “It’s just for twenty minutes or so. Half an hour, tops. Will you be my little superstar?”

My chin dipped up and down, as I realized that I really had no choice. This was one of those trial by fire situations, and I could either step up to the occasion or hide like a scared child.

Looking around the room, the only empty place where I could really set up was at the end of the bar between Cody and the window.

“You’re right,” she said, following my gaze. “You can sit on a stool so you’re raised up a bit, and the lighting is nicer by the window, since the patio lights are beaming in.” She raised her perfectly arched eyebrow and leaned in to whisper. “And your fan club is right there for you.”

I nodded again, taking a deep breath. “I’ll go get my guitar,” I said quickly, marching down to the stock room before I could change my mind.

As soon as I was safely hidden, I did a couple of quick throat opening exercises. I didn’t have time to do a full vocal warm-up, but since I’d be singing quietly, hopefully I could just wing it.

As I tuned my guitar, I tried frantically to think of all the compliments I’d ever received from vocal coaches, my guitar teacher, and my family. My mom loved the way I sang men’s country songs, putting a softer angle on them. I could get through this. It would be good for me, I tried to tell myself.

Walking back into the bar, I forced myself to smile. Iris already had a stool in the corner for me, and had placed my water glass at the end of the bar.

As I passed Cody, he took my hand, pulling me close to murmur, “I can’t wait to hear you sing, gorgeous.”

Nobody has ever said anything like that to me before. I tried to smile, but I’m sure he could see my eyes were dazed. It was also such a tiny thing, but he sort of held my hand in front of everyone. My stomach was flipping out for a whole new reason now.

This was a job, I told myself as I sat down. Happy customers, mellow customers. Maybe nobody would even realize that it wasn’t the sound system, since they were all more interested in their own conversations.

My hands were shaking as I took a slow, deep breath. Looking up into Cody’s deep, soulful eyes, I could see that he was rooting for me. He could easily see that I was nervous, but he was going to stay there and smile at me, making sure that I was calm.

No man had ever taken care of me before, and suddenly it seemed like his only focus was me. It was strange, but made me feel a tingle of happiness deep inside.

Strumming quietly to start, I kept my volume very low, so the music sort of snuck up on people gently. As I began to sing, I noticed people looking around the room, as if wondering where the sound was coming from. Eventually, most of the eyes landed on me. A few of them looked absolutely shocked. I guess nobody expected the shy new girl to be a performer.

As I sang a bit louder at the chorus, I snuck a look in Cody’s direction. His mouth was actually hanging open in surprise.

When I finished the song, I intended to go straight into the next one, but was interrupted by a boisterous round of applause.

My cheeks felt like they were on fire. “Thank you, folks.” I began another tune that I knew was a favorite with the ladies in the bar. I’d heard most of them quietly singing along here and there.

Just before the chorus, I called out, “Sing along if you know it,” as if I were accustomed to this sort of thing. To my absolute delight, they did. If I hadn’t been singing, I would have choked up. A room full of people were singing along with me and my guitar. It was the warmest, most beautiful feeling I’d never experienced with a huge group of people. Their smiles would have knocked me over if I weren’t so focused on the task at hand.

This time the round of applause was even more enthusiastic. I glanced quickly to Iris, but she was grinning and nodding, so I assumed a little bit of rowdy behavior was acceptable. I also noticed that Esther looked perplexed, and had actually stopped texting for a moment.

A few songs later, I saw Gary rushing in to speak with Iris, then run downstairs to the fuse box. I almost didn’t want to stop, especially since Cody was positively beaming at me from just four feet away. I’d never seen him smile so much. I couldn’t believe that he was so fixated on me, in front of everyone.

My stomach fluttered again, but I forced myself to keep going. “This might be my last song,” I said, “So sing along and think of someone you love.”

I broke into a good old heartbreaker, one that I knew showcased my voice to the fullest. But this time nobody sang along. I saw that men were grabbing their sweetheart’s hand across the table, and girlfriends were murmuring quietly to each other. The single men were staring at me as if I were telling them the secrets of the universe.

Cody’s eyes blazed. He was staring at me with a strange intensity that I could only describe as hunger.

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