The desire to save her replaced the urge to flee. Instead, I brought the bottle of beer I’d been clutching to my lips and took a heady sip. She wasn’t mine to save, and she wasn’t in any real danger anyway.
As uncomfortable as she seemed in that moment, Connor belonged on the stage the way her brother did. If only she would see that. She thought everybody was here just because she was Calum’s kid sister, she didn’t see that half the room was as enthralled with her as I was.
It was easy to sense her greatness, her potential. The others had only caught glimpses of it, but even they knew she was something to watch. I’d witnessed her shine for decades. Watched her try to stuff it in, keep it contained, so as not to upset her bear of a father. But it lurked within her, begging for an escape.
“As you could probably tell by all the banners and the literal tiara…” Cal paused, flicking the diamond encrusted tiara on his sister’s head that he’d bought as a joke. “My little sister is celebrating another year around the sun!”
He beamed down at her with affection and pride, while the party attendees cheered and hooted. For some inexplicable reason—I was jealous of his arm around her.
Because I couldn’t do that, I couldn’t touch the untouchable, and Connor Jacobs wascompletelyuntouchable. Off limit…and yet, every fucking atom my body was comprised of wanted her desperately.
It’d hadn’t always been this way, but something had changed a few summers ago. Rotated in me. I’d seen an entirely different side to the red-headed girl I thought I knew.
“Not many of you know this, but my sister is actually awaybetter singer than me.”
“He’s not lying!” Evan shouted, a shit-eating grin on his face. Calum nodded, like the fact couldn’t be helped, and continued with his speech. For as drunk as he was, he managed not to slur his words—which was impressive, considering I caught him tossing back shots of Patrón.
“She’s currently in her last year of university, and she’s studied her ass off to get the top student slot. She’s a genius.” He paused to affectionally ruffle her hair. “I fucking know for a fact, if she ever decides to do this shit professionally, I’ll have to watch my back.” He was teasing but being completely honest at the same time.
She was born from stardust and made to shine.
“Oh stop, you’re being ridiculous,” she laughed, a flush colouring her cheeks.
“Wanna hear her sing with me?” The entire room erupted in cheers.
Lifting the bottle of beer to my lips, I took another long sip, watching Connor’s smile spread as she shook her head and tried to duck out from under Calum’s arm. She was blushing under the attention of the room.
Connor had sung with Cal a hundred times in front of Evan and me, but she seemed nervous now with everyone watching. She’d never sung in front of our industry friends before, although Calum seemed oblivious to her hesitation.
But music flowed through her, and the call to perform was too much for her to resist. Connor closed her eyes and drew in a breath, as if reminding herself who she was, of whose blood ran through her veins.
Her grandmother, Mary O’Connor, had been a pianist and singer before she married her grandfather. Both had become music teachers later in life and worked tirelessly in the community’s local music programs. Connor’s mother’s family had a rich, long history with music, raising their only daughter to love it as much as they both did. Maeve passed that love to both her children.
Sometimes, it was impossible to believe a woman like Maeve Murphy had settled for a man like Michael Jacobs. She was soft and gentle, the polar opposite of him. She saw music as a gift, a way to spread joy. Michael hated it because he didn’t understand it, and he couldn’t do it.
When Michael Jacobs didn’t understand something, he defaulted to hating it. If he couldn’t enjoy it, he didn’t like anyone else enjoying it.
Frank had spoken about Maeve’s potential a few times before, about how she had a lark-throated voice as captivating as Rita MacNeil. If she hadn’t given up on her dreams of being a singer, she would have found success with it. Before she’d walked away, she was already making waves in the local music community…but Maeve Murphy had left it all behind for Michael, to marry him and raise his children.
Like those in her family before her, Connor naturally shined, as if she perpetually stood beneath a beacon of light from the heavens. Her draw was angelic, what with her long red hair and gentle green eyes, while Calum’s was darker. Two sides of the coin, opposites in every way. She had an aura of the heavens, while he exuded darkness and regret.
Connor was focused on the future, on creating something for herself, while Calum’s eyes were on the past—even if he denied it to everybody—including himself. Except in certain moments when we played a show or worked on music, Calum was perpetually miserable.
He thought Evan and I didn’t see it, but we did. We just didn’t know what to do about it. It loomed over us, ready to break us at any point. All we could do was hold the ship steady and pray he sorted it out eventually.
We were guys, talking about our emotions and feelings and regrets wasn’t something that came easy to any of us. I never knew what to say, and Evan didn’t know how to have a serious moment to save his life. But even if we had a sharing session, I doubted Calum would tell us the truth. He was never the kind of guy to divulge his feelings or struggles with anyone.
The only person he ever came close to being that vulnerable with was Harper, and he’d cut her out of his life. Now, he only expressed himself through his music, and it didn’t take a therapist to see what was wrong with him.
He’d lopped off a part of himself when he left Harper Morrison, and that phantom limb haunted him, even after all those years, the regret sitting like poison in his veins.
Over the years, we’d tried to herd him back in that general direction…but we only ever got as far as Halifax. It was as if an invisible, impassable wall existed, keeping him from returning to the shores we’d left. His regrets created boundaries he couldn’t cross, and didn’t want to.
Right now, in this particular moment anyway, he was happy his kid sister was around. He’d had a genuine smile on his face since she’d arrived the day before. It’d been a while since she’d had the opportunity to fly out for a visit; school had kept her just as busy as label demands and touring had kept us.
“I don’t know, Cal…” Connor said into the microphone, apprehension clouding the smile. It tortured me she second-guessed herself that she might not feel like she belonged up there. She couldn’t see the allure she had, but the rest of us could.
The crowd hooted and shouted, urging her to do it. She smiled, the apples of her cheeks reddening.
