As soon as she said her name all the pieces started to click together, and Luke was immediately taken back to when he was a teenager and NACA was his favorite place to be. And then there came the memories of what else had happened there, of the youthful romance he still struggled to escape.
“Oh!” he said, pushing the bad memories down. “Of course I remember you. It’s been a long time! How are you?” p
“Well,” she said, dragging the word out with some reluctance, “the truth is I could be a lot better. The Center isn’t doing very well at the moment. In fact, it’s pretty close to complete insolvency. It’s actually why I’m calling you.”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, his instincts on high alert. Something in the tone of her voice suggested she was about to ask him for something, and Luke wasn’t sure he was going to like it.
“See, it’s like this,” she said, and the pace of her voice picked up. She quickly explained how the Center was in desperate trouble, how she’d managed to put off the board’s desire to close it altogether, and how she was hoping Luke would be willing to do a benefit concert with his old pal Mikey Smiles. The way she phrased the question and the tone in her voice made clear she knew just how much she was asking of him, and he had to admire her. Then again, Brenda was never the type of person to shy away from an unpleasant task. She was far more likely to just charge in and hope for the best.
Luke fought down the urge to decline her request outright. NACAhadbeen key to his development as an artist. When WWVA–the local Wheeling station that had once given young musicians the chance to hone their skills–had started fading in the 2000s, the Center had picked up the slack. They were the little arts center that could, and Luke wouldn’t have become the success he had if it hadn’t been for the people he’d met and the training he’d received there.
Could he really turn his back on them when they needed him?
I can if they want me to work with Mikey Smiles,he thought sourly.
Mikey was the man who’d broken his heart when they were teens, and Luke was able–after a long time spent in therapy–toadmit he still wasn’t over it. Mikey had been the first man he’d loved, the first man he’d kissed, and the first man who became the center of his world. He’d even dared to think the two of them might be able to build a future together. Then Mikey had abruptly ended things, and then he went away to California, hit it big, and that was that. The two of them hadn’t spoken much since then, but Luke had held onto the heartbreak and the grudge, much to the consternation of his therapist.
If there was one thing a country boy from West Virginia was good at, it was holding onto a grudge.
At the same time, Luke’s heart had stayed true to Mikey, despite the heartache. And now, after all these years, he was being given an opportunity to reconnect with his past. Did he dare take it? Was he willing to take the risk of getting his heart broken again?
“Is Mikey on board with this?” he asked instead.
Brenda’s hesitation suggested that no, Mikey wasn’t on board. Not yet, anyway.
“Well, here’s the thing,” Brenda said finally. “We thought we’d reach out to you first. You’re closer.”
And you’re the one whose career needs the boost,was the subtext. She had a point, and maybe, just maybe, a concert might be a way to kill two birds with one stone.
“I see,” he said at last. “Do you think he’s gonna go for it?”
Again, hesitation.
“I think there’s a pretty good chance he will,” Brenda said at last. “He’s been pretty open about how the Center was a key part of his growth as an artist. We like to think he’d do his part to help out.”
Luke could feel his resistance to the idea fading with each word she spoke. By the time she was done, he’d decided, probably against his better judgment, that he was going to do it.
“So,” Brenda said at last, “can we count you in?”
“I’m almost certainly going to regret this,” he said. “But yes.”
He could practically feel her joy radiating down the line, and Luke felt something he hadn’t in a very long time: hope. Hope he might be able to climb out of the slump in which he’d landed himself; hope he’d be able to do something for NACA to repay the folks there for all of the help they’d given him; and even, if he was being totally honest with himself, hope he might get some bit of closure with Mikey.
And maybe something else?A little voice in the back of his head asked.
He put the brakes on the runaway train of his thoughts. He had no way of knowing whether Mikey would be up for reconnecting romantically and, even if he was, Luke was determined to be careful. It was Mikey who’d broken his heart, not the other way around. Luke was going to guard it better than he had when they were teenagers.
Which, given they were in their twenties now, shouldn’t be all that hard. Right?
Besides,he thought,how bad could putting on a concert with Mikey be, anyway?
“I’m so glad,” Brenda was saying. “I’ll be in touch soon with more details. Later, doll!”
And then she hung up.
Luke quickly explained to Bryce just what the whole conversation had been, and when he was done his friend got a shit-eating grin on his face.
“What are you smirkin’ at?” Luke demanded.
