“Holy shit,” Tabitha whispered, eyes wide.
Sophie sucked in several deep breaths. “Should I call Jules?”
Tab gave her a sympathetic look. “I think maybe you should just let her be. She’s with her mom, right?”
Sophie nodded.
“So she’s not alone. You need to focus on yourself right now. This is a big deal for you.”
Itwasa big deal. Sophie was going to headline their first performance. Her phone started to ring, and she grabbed it from the counter to see her mom’s name on the screen. “Hey. Did you guys make it out of Syracuse?”
“No,” her mom said, disappointment heavy in her tone. “The airport has canceled the rest of the flights for today. It’s really bad up here. And now it’s too late for us to drive or get a train. I’m so sorry, Soph. We’ll be there tomorrow night instead.”
“That’s totally okay,” she said, ignoring the biting disappointment that her family would miss seeing her take the lead. Of course, as an understudy, it had always been likely that they would miss it when or if she got that chance, but it had come so close to happening tonight. “I’d rather you be safe in Syracuse than out traveling in this weather.”
“I know, but I hate that we won’t be there. Take a selfie before you go on and send it to me, okay?”
“Will do, Mom. I’ve got to run, but I’ll text you in a bit, okay?”
“Okay. I love you, sweetie. Break a leg out there tonight.”
“Thanks.” Sophie ended the call with tears on her cheeks. It took a lot to make Sophie Rindell cry. This night was going to be her undoing.
The next hour was a flurry of activity as she was fitted with Bianca’s wig and did her makeup. She couldn’t stop thinking about Jules, worrying about her, wishing her starring role tonight hadn’t come at Jules’s expense. She kept trying to sneak away and see her, but there was always something going on, a visit from Kari, and then Micki, and then it was time for vocal warmups. Bianca’s red dress hung on the rack in the corner.
This was Sophie’s understudy costume, though, not the actual dress Jules would wear. Would have worn.Oh, Jules…
Sophie slipped into the red dress and stood in front of the mirror. She looked so different than Jules did wearing it. There were a lot of important people in the audience tonight, people expecting to see Jules make her debut. Would this be a turning point for Sophie? Would it be her big break?
Tabitha took several pictures with Sophie’s phone for her to share on social media after the show, and she stared at them with shaking hands.This is really happening.
Sophie and Tabitha ran through their vocal warmups together as Sophie started fizzing from the inside out from the anticipation of taking the stage as Bianca. There was a knock at the door, and Tabitha answered it while Sophie looked over her cues one final time.
“Hey, ladies.” It was Andrew.
Sophie gave him a steady smile. “I’m ready.”
His smile, in return, was apologetic. “I can see that you are, and I have no doubt you would have been magnificent, but Jules is dressed and ready to go. Apparently, her mom worked some kind of last-minute magic with her.”
“Oh.” Sophie felt an odd sort of embarrassment to be standing here in Bianca’s dress, wearing Bianca’s hair, thoughts of grandeur in her head when this role had never been hers. And she was so glad that Jules would get her moment. Shereallywas. There were those damn tears again. She blinked them back.
“So, we’ll see you tonight in the ensemble,” Andrew told her, resting a hand on her arm.
Sophie nodded. Then he was gone, and she was rushing to change. There was no time to think, no time to process. She scrambled into her ensemble costume and held herself still while the hair stylist removed Bianca’s wig and gave her the usual sleek ponytail.
Sophie rushed to the stage just in time to see the curtain rise. Jules stepped out wearing the red dress that looked so much better on her, looking every inch the star. She glanced over, and their gazes locked. Sophie blew her a kiss, wishing desperately that this entire day had gone differently. But it had ended the way it was supposed to, because tonight’s spotlight had never truly belonged to Sophie.
19
Jules closed her eyes as her lips met Micki’s, feeling the heat of the stage lights on her face. Their hands were clasped as they spun slowly toward the audience. Thank goodness her stomach had finally settled, because she’d never particularly enjoyed kissing Micki, and the last thing she needed right now was anything else making her nauseous.
As their kiss ended, the curtain dropped for intermission. Beyond it, Jules heard a respectable amount of applause. She sucked in several slow, deep breaths as she stepped out of Bianca and back into her own shoes, allowing herself to feel the way her muscles shook and the vague sense of dizziness that had plagued her throughout the first act, no doubt a result of the lack of food in her system combined with the adrenaline rush of the show.
Immediately, the stage filled with various staff and theater employees, rushing about to ready things for act two. Andrew stood in the middle of the stage, guiding the action.
“Okay?” Kari asked, materializing beside her, a discerning look on her face.
Jules nodded, well aware she had damaged her director’s faith in her earlier that evening. “I’ll be ready for act two, promise.” And then she headed for her dressing room, doing her best to make it there without stopping for anyone else on the way. She needed a few minutes to collect herself before the curtain rose for act two, because now that intermission had begun, all kinds of emotions were surfacing that she’d held in check for the past hour.
