I take a bow and then gesture to my bandmembers to do the same. A single tear runs down my cheek and lands with a tiny splash on the stage.
I look up, directing my focus back to Harrison in the Clubs section. He’s on his feet again, his cigar completely forgotten in the ashtray on the table next to him.
I place a hand over my heart and mouth the words “thank you” to the audience. I scan through the crowd, trying to make eye contact with as many people as I can.
My heart is soaring…until it drops into the pit of my stomach.
Because there’s one person who isn’t applauding. One person whose lips are fused into a straight line, her arms crossed, her perfectly manicured nails tapping against a nearby table.
My sister has come back to Aces early.
7
HARRISON
My God, she’s brilliant. One of the best singers I’ve ever heard.
And she’s so damned beautiful, too. Angelic in her cream-colored gown that shows off the graceful curves of her body.
I’ve heard that last song before. I’ve never been that big of a West Side Story fan, but any theater scholar worth his salt will be familiar with every song from it.
But I’ve never heard it sung the way Bianca just sang it.
It was so different from the rest of her set. It had so much of her heart, her soul in it. It was like the other patrons and I were getting a rare glimpse into her soul. Her other songs were great, and she sang them with even more gusto her second time around, but it was nothing compared to her encore.
I don’t know if I’ll ever listen to another singer the same way again.
I laugh at my own thoughts. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was falling in love at first sight with this woman.
I barely know her. The longing wistfulness of her last song touched me in a way I never knew music could. That’s it. Nothing more than that.
I’ve been so busy at the hospital lately. I haven’t gotten a chance to go out to live performances as much as I’d like. It’s so easy to get muddied down with the little things, forget how much beauty exists in the world.
Bianca Montrose gave me a huge reminder of that this evening.
I’ll never forget it.
You’d think that all the time I spend around the sick and dying would make me seek out the things that make life worth living, but it’s had the opposite effect. I’ve become numb. Going from day to day without feeling anything, just putting in the motions and then going home, watching TV with a half-empty glass of wine in my hand before going into a night of dreamless sleep, ready to start the cycle again the next morning.
Bianca could break that cycle.
Even if I never see her again, I’ve been inspired by her performance. I won’t take the little things for granted in the future. I’ll seek out the world’s beauty and relish it.
One thing is for sure, though.
I want to get to know Bianca Montrose better.
Her sister is on the board of my hospital. It can’t be that hard to get to know her.
Then again, Rouge has always come off as pretty withdrawn in the few board meetings I’ve attended. My best move is to pursue Bianca while she’s still in my sightline. And right now she’s scurrying into her dressing room.
I need to talk to her.
To tell her how much her performance moved me. That a few minutes of her singing one of her favorite songs completely realigned the way I think about life.
But also, perhaps, to ask her to dinner.
To dinner…and then drinks.
