I swing my guitar behind me and hug both of them.
“Okay, okay, okay.” I shoo them away playfully as I wipe my eyes. “Crying isn’t going to help me finish the show.”
I hear everyone laugh and am filled with so much joy as the crowd screams and shares in our excitement of the moment.
“Let’s get this show back on track, but how about we bring out a few other people as well?”
The back curtain, which is hiding all of Sweetwater’s equipment, opens up, and the three musicians who are joining me come out onstage, getting the crowd even more pumped up.
“You guys don’t mind if they join me for a few songs, do you?” I ask and laugh at the response I get as I put my guitar down and grab the microphone in one hand.
“How about we play another Shania Twain song? Then, I’ll do another original too. What do you guys think about ‘Any Man of Mine’?”
Not having to play the guitar gives me so much more freedom to bounce around the stage, making the experience so much more fun. I move from one side to the next, engaging both sides of the stage, and I smile so big when I spot Katy and Lunajumping up and down on the right side a few rows back. I wave at them during a break in the song, then get back to the other side of the stage.
At the end of the song, when the lyrics break down a country line dance, I do the moves as I sing the song, which is probably the most fun I’ve ever had onstage.
When the song is over, I open my arms wide for everyone to cheer on the band, and they all point back at me, making me laugh even harder.
“Thank you all so much for being here with me tonight. I have one more song. It’s an original, so I hope you enjoy it just as much as I do.”
The crowd stays on their feet, clapping and happily anticipating the next song.
To my surprise, there’s zero falloff in crowd engagement as I sing a song they’ve never heard before. They all still clap and dance along, and when it’s over, there’s not one person who is sitting. Everyone is cheering and clapping above their heads with people whistling and screaming their appreciation for the show.
“Thank you all for being here tonight!” I wave my goodbye and walk off the stage and directly into Silas’s arms, who picks me up and swings me around.
“You were amazing out there!”
“Did you hear them? They were cheering so loud!”
“Hell yeah, they were! They loved you. I knew they would.”
I hug him again, still in awe of how amazing this night has been and not sure how my life could possibly get any better than this.
27
Kara
I wakeup in Silas’s arms, still riding high from the night before.
“How’s my little country star?” he says, kissing my head good morning.
I hold him tighter. “I can’t believe this is my life.”
“Believe it. You deserve all of the success.” He motions for me to move so he can get up. “I’m sorry, but I have to go to work today.”
“No problem.” I move to the pillow and cuddle up with the blankets.
He kisses my forehead. “Don’t feel like you have to get up. You can stay in bed for as long as you want.”
I close my eyes and get even comfier. “I might take you up on that.”
He walks to get in the shower, and I realize just how thirsty I am, so I move to get up just as a wave of nausea hits me. I lie back down, taking a deep breath in, and wait for it to pass, then try to get up again.
I make it to the kitchen slowly and get myself a glass of water. Standing over the sink, I take a drink and instantly throw it up.
I place my hand on my stomach, thinking about how I felt this way the past few days, but thought it was just nerves. Now that the show is over, confusion starts to set in because I don’t feel sick any other way, and I don’t know of anyone being sick around me.
