After all, Collette had changed my life. She’d opened my eyes, she’d helped me see what I wanted, what made me happy, and how I’d been running away from it all like a coward. Whether she’d meant to or not, she’d helped me find the confidence I’d needed to stand up to my father.
Whether she’d meant to or not, she’d made me fall in love with her. And that wasn’t something I could forget or walk away from…even if she could.
“You ready?” The lady with the clipboard looked frazzled and impatient.
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” I said.
She gave a short nod and threw open the door. I walked in to a silent, intimidating room with a small stage, a spotlight, and several rows of seats that were packed with people.
I couldn’t make out all the faces thanks to the lights, and maybe that was for the best. If I was up there alone, I could pretend I was in the dance studio, playing only for myself and for Collette. I could ignore the questioning looks and the whispered questions of why a dance audition was being overrun by a mediocre guitarist playing Coldplay.
There were no seats on stage so I stood in the middle, holding my guitar up and looking one last time toward the door.
Nothing.
Itwas just me.
Alone.
“Whenever you’re ready, Mr. Morrison,” a voice called out.
I could have heard a pin drop in the silence of that auditorium. I gave a nod, unable to form words as I started to pluck out the first few notes of the song I knew by heart.
I’d only played two chords when my song was interrupted by the click of the door opening. My head snapped up, my hands froze.
I think I knew it was her before I even saw her. My heart knew the moment the door clicked. I saw her silhouette first, her perfect body a dark outline against the bright lights of the hallway.
And then she was moving toward me into the light, her expression filled with more emotions than I could read. Hope, fear, regret…love.
At least, I hoped it was love that had her eyes shining with unshed tears as she met my gaze and held it.
It might have been seconds or years—the silence between us was filled with meaning. Thankfully, my fingers took on a life of their own and music filled the air. It allowed me to stand there, completely consumed with my feelings of love and admiration for Collette.
My heart thudded painfully in my chest. Hope was overwhelming; it made my ribcage feel like it might burst with pressure, it made my pulse race and my heart leap.
It took everything in me not to drop the guitar and racetoward her. I needed her in my arms more than I needed air to breathe.
But then she went up on tiptoe and I knew that was my cue.
She was doing this. My beautiful, graceful, passionate, perfect Collette was putting herself out there.
She was taking a leap of faith.
My heart nearly burst but I shoved aside my emotions and focused on my guitar. With a nod, I gave her the cue to start and we were off.
She was off. Dancing in the way that mesmerized me as my music filled the air. Her body light and graceful as she moved to the tune of Coldplay’sFix Youthe way she had so many times before.
But this time was different.
Shewas different.
And I had never been more in love.
TWENTY
COLLETTE
Never in my life had I ever gone from such a low to such a high in a matter of seconds. Every step I made toward the studio had my heart pumping and my chest feeling as if it would burst.
