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And the sight was truly intriguing.
“What song are you gonna sing?” Aliyah asked him, a smile on her face. “I think you should sing one with Miss Harris. She’s the best singer I’ve ever heard. My daddy had a crush on her last year.”
My eyes went wide as I looked over to Aliyah’s mom, who was facepalming. Thankfully, the two weren’t together, but the comment was still embarrassing. I exchanged a smile with the dark-headed woman.
Kids say the darndest things.
8
JACKSON
“You think she sings the best, huh?” I asked the little girl—the same one who had run straight for Lena when she walked in. The sight had given me a weird feeling, but I hadn’t picked it apart…
And had no intention to.
Also, it turned out that sitting in front of a class of little kids was way more intimidating than playing on a stage in a stadium full of a hundred thousand adults. Kids were not a forte of mine, especially under the watchful eye of Lena, who had spent most of the evening so far with a smirk on her face.
“Can she please sing with you?” another girl in the circle asked. “She really is so good. I love it when she sings.”
As irritating as Lena was, I still had this burning curiosity about her, so I turned to the woman, who was sitting at the piano looking mortified. “Why don’t you sing with me then?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know…maybe a different night.”
“Oh please,” a few little girls urged together.
Lena glanced around the room, cameras still trained on her. “Um…okay.”
“Yay!” One girl clapped her hands.
My heart skipped a beat as she stood up, making her way to sit beside me on the bright red shag rug. “What do you want to sing, Miss Harris?”
She eyed me warily, the uncertainty of the moment written all over her face. “I don’t really have a preference. I’ll just harmonize with whatever you have planned.”
“Hmm…” I thought, trying to come up with the most embarrassing song for her—that was also appropriate for the kids.
And that really narrowed down the choices.
I picked on the guitar while I thought about it, and then it hit me. Forget embarrassing her. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…” I looked to her, shooting her a smirk.
“You make me happy, when skies are gray,” she sang, her voice hauntingly beautiful in a low alto range.
Holy shit.
I missed the next line, struck by the melodic tone coming from her mouth. Why is she not fucking famous?
“You wanna quit gawking at me and start over?” Lena leaned in and asked in a near whisper. “You’re making me feel awkward—and making yourself look a little crazy.”
“Yeah, sorry,” I muttered, shaking my head, restarting the intro and then singing the line again. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine…”
“You make me happy when skies are gray.”
“You’ll never know dear, how much I love you, please don’t take my sunshine away.” I tried not to look at her as I broke into a riff like the one Johnny Cash always played. My mind was all over the place as I played, everything in my body feeling…off.
I’m in fucking awe of this woman right now.
“The other night, dear, when I was sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms,” I sang, strikingly feeling the lyrics as I held Lena’s eyes. “When I awoke, dear, I was mistaken, so I bowed my head and I cried…”
She smiled—like, genuinely smiled—and joined me on the chorus, singing a step higher than my low raspy voice…and she killed it. I couldn’t take my eyes off her.
