I scowled. He had already talked to them about it. Not fair. I hated that I agreed with him too. I shook my head, afraid of the words I was about to say, but knowing that they needed to be said.
“Fine. He’s in.”
* * *
Dallas was over the moon about joining The Homewreckers. I was nervous about our upcoming show in a week, but thankfully his talent proceeded him.
“I’ve spent the last two months listening to you guys. I know the songs. Let’s try it together.”
He joined us seamlessly. He plugged in his guitar, took stage left with Ronny, and started playing our songs as if he’d been the one to write them. He closed his eyes, smiled, and just like that, he was one of us.
Once we were confident he had our original music down we started working on the set list for the show. While most of the songs were ours, we did want to do at least one cover. We settled on Van Halen. I loved the idea of covering songs sang by men, for men. ‘Hot for Teacher’ was my request and they were all for it. We learned it, put our own spin on it, and I perfected my performance. I couldn’t wait to do it in front of a crowd.
The night family came, we pulled up to the club, fully prepared and ready to rock. When we were announced we bound onto the stage full of energy. We had an electricity that fed off each other. We had all gone far too long away from this world.It was time to play our hearts out.
The show was going fantastic. All of us were doing great. I wasn’t tripping on wires, forgetting lines, or stressing my voice too much. It was the best show of ours to date. Everything was going just as planned until we took a moment in between songs and someone screamed for us to take requests. I glanced at my bandmates who shrugged. I decided to humor the girl screaming at us.
“I wasn’t aware we had a long enough list of music to warrant taking requests. What do you want to hear?” I smiled down at the people dancing and shouting down below.
“I shouldn’t love you!” she shouted, and all the warmth left my body. A cold shiver ran down my spine and I straightened, moving away from her. Not fucking cool. I fought back the urge to say something nasty about it. I actually had to turn away from the audience. I looked at my bandmates and waved for them to continue playing our set. Dallas walked over to me, reaching over to put his mouth against my ear.
“Do you know it? We can play it if you can sing it!” he shouted. I swallowed hard. My eyes went to Tate in back. He was looking disinterested, just like he had been for weeks. I thought about my brother’s words before nodding.
“Alright, let’s play it.”
Quickly, we all shifted around to perform this beautifully depressing song.
I was brought a stool and Cash, Dallas, and Tate pulled back. Leaving Ronny to take my side with his acoustic. I was nervous as he started plucking the strings. I looked up at him. He smiled down at me with honest, kind eyes. He nodded to the green microphone in my hand. The one he had given me. I brought it to my lips and right on cue, I launched into the song he wrote for me.
I felt exposed, singing each word. I hadn’t told anyone that I had memorized it. I had watched the video of him performing it on my wedding day so much I knew every single note on the guitar, and every line of the lyrics. It was the song of a broken heart. He sang it to me the day I told him it was over and married Tate. It felt very fitting that we stood here tonight together as I sang it for him. Each pluck of his hands on his guitar was him giving me his blessing. He was finally saying goodbye.
By the time our song was over I was crying. Tears were flowing freely down my face and I didn’t care who was watching. When I sang that last line, I stood up and Ronny rotated his guitar to his back. We hugged tightly and then he kissed the top of my head.
“You okay?” he asked, dropping his arms from mine. I took a step back and smiled at him through my tears. I nodded, silently thanking him.
We finished the set without any more surprises. Thank God. When we finished loading out, I looked around instinctively for Tate. I wanted to talk to him about what happened on stage, but he was nowhere to be found. I started looking around the nearly empty club but stopped when I found him and Ronny talking near the bar. They didn’t look about to kill each other. Something was said and then Tate nodded. Ronny extended his hand out and Tate shook it. What was going on?
I must not have been as hidden as I had thought because they both turned my way. I straightened, slightly embarrassed to be caught staring. Ronny glanced at Tate again, who nodded. Ronny started over towards me, smiling kindly. I relaxed when I saw that his eyes were just as soft as the rest of his expression.
“You want to come with me tonight? I think it’s time we talk.”
I looked past him to Tate. He was watching us with hard eyes but nodded his approval. My attention returned back to Ronny who was chuckling. “Don’t worry, I got his permission. He’s okay with it.”
My heart fluttered. He asked me to go with him again and I nodded in agreement. We then left the club, getting into a car that was waiting for us.
We rode in silence for a long time. I stared out the window, watching the town pass by us. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but eventually we stopped and were let out.
The driver had dropped us off at a fountain. I wasn’t familiar with it, but it was pretty nonetheless. I commented on it as the car drove away. Ronny smirked.
“I wasn’t sure where to go, so I asked him to take us somewhere public, but private. This works I guess.”
I smiled at him as we walked over to the fountain and sat on the rim. Light mist hit our exposed skin as it roared behind us.
“Are you breaking up with me again?” I teased. He smiled, but it was much sadder than the ones he’d been giving me all night. I frowned, and then my heart sped up at the possibility that he really was. Was he leaving the band? Was he going back home to Australia? He couldn’t. I still... I still what? That was a good question.
“I didn’t know you learned the song. I always thought you hated it,” he started. I shook my head.
“I could never hate that song. It’s beautiful. You are a talented musician. I may not have those feelings for you anymore, but the song still means something to me.”
