Stevie’s hands shook so violently that she thought she might drop her guitar.She hated how foolish she felt.In Grayson’s eyes, she probably looked old, washed-up, and sad.She didn’t have the money to buy herself the right oils, creams, and face treatments to make herself look young and pretty.She wore her years on her face.She was proud of them, sometimes.
“She was electric,” Grayson said.
At this, Stevie forced herself to look at him, and a shiver went down her spine.Just as she’d felt at twenty, Grayson’s gaze made her feel like more than the meek West Virginian she was.He gave her the force of twenty women.He made her feel the weight of her big, beating heart.
“Camille,” Grayson said, “I had the pleasure of listening to Stevie perform in Manhattan before you were born.”
Stevie closed her eyes.It was too much.Maybe she was dreaming.
“You are very lucky,” Camille said.“Both of you are lucky to have experienced the New York City of that era anyway.Everyone is telling me that I am twenty years too late.”
Stevie forced herself to look at the young woman, the young woman who’d once been the unborn baby who’d taken Grayson from Manhattan.She was Joni’s half sister.It didn’t take long for tears to drift from her eyes.
“I’m sorry,” Stevie said.“Performances are always emotional for me.”
“We are also crying!”Camille said.She touched Stevie’s shoulder.“You are a star.”
After that, Camille disappeared through the crowd, leaving Stevie and Grayson alone together.Stevie wet her lips.She couldn’t drop Grayson’s gaze, not now.It was too intense.
“I didn’t know you’d be here,” Grayson said.
“I didn’t know you’d be here either,” Stevie said.
“It feels strange,” Grayson offered.“I mean, I haven’t seen you since…”
“It’s been twenty-five years,” Stevie said.
In her mind, she could hear Joni’s first cries in the Los Angeles hospital room.She’d promised to take care of her.She’d promised that Stevie was all Joni needed.But Joni had needed her father.Joni had needed Grayson.
At that point, a woman Stevie had been introduced to earlier arrived on stage with an acoustic guitar and began to sing.Her name was Aurora.For a moment, Stevie and Grayson turned to watch her, wordless, as her beautiful and melodious voice streamed through the crowd.Her songs were more background music than Ella, Will, and Stevie’s performance, and people slowly turned toward the food table, chatting about the music, the food, and Greta’s divine party.
Stevie needed a drink more than anything.
Without saying anything to Grayson, she turned and rushed for the drink table, where she grabbed a glass of wine and took a long, eager sip.Grayson took one for himself and raised it to her.“To old times,” he said.
Stevie allowed him a meek smile.She imagined spitting it out immediately.“I had your baby.I was in California, raising your baby alone, while you raised Camille in Paris.”She imagined the hush from the crowd.She imagined Grayson falling apart.
But she wasn’t much for drama.Her heart raced.
“How are you?”Grayson asked, which felt like a flimsy question, given the circumstances.
When she said she was okay, Grayson pushed it.“Where have you been living?”
“Los Angeles,” she said.
“And have you been making music?”
She shook her head.“I recently started again,” she explained.“Life got in the way.”
Grayson scratched the back of his neck.It was strange.His mannerisms were the same as they’d been when he was twenty-four, when she’d ached to be near him.He smelled the same, too.Not his cologne, which was something else, something expensive.But the scent beneath the cologne, his essence, was the same.Stevie closed her eyes and swam with memories.
“I can’t believe how long it’s been,” Grayson said again.He sounded disappointed, as though he’d hoped she’d tell him more about herself.As though he’d wanted a reunion that he could tell his friends about in Manhattan.
But what could they say to one another?The truth was too powerful.
The crowd parted to deliver Ella and Will to the drink table.Ella was flushed after the concert, and Will beamed like a much younger man.
“Ella!Will!”Grayson said exuberantly.“You didn’t tell me you were playing with the iconic Stevie Franklin!You know, we knew each other back in the day?”
