As she headed up to put her name in for the performance, waving hello to the emcee and several of the regular performers whom she often saw here week to week, June marveled at how much more confident she felt in just a few months of coming to perform.
The part of her that loved to sing was a part that she thought she’d left in her past. And she hadn’t realized how much she had felt as though most of the good things in life, excepting Benjamin, were in her past.
But she’d taken the leap, and it made life look a little bit brighter, as though she could expect things to go in her direction every now and again.
Challenges would come. She knew that all too well. But as she mounted the stage that evening to applause from the crowd and a shocking, ear-splitting whistle from Winnie, June felt the most herself she’d felt in a very long time.
And it felt really, really good.
She opened her mouth and began to sing.
CHAPTER TWO
Levi Hawkins woke in what he immediately decided was theperfectway to wake up.
There was no alarm blaring. The sun was gently shining through his window. There was frost on the window, which said that the world outside was cold, but Levi’s bedroom was warm, his bed soft. It was the epitome of coziness.
And when he looked over at the clock, he saw that it was a little after eight in the morning.
That part made him laugh out loud. When, in his previous life, had he ever gotten to bed early enough that he could wake naturally at eight, feeling fully rested?
Never, that was when.
Levi knew that his career as a country music star in Nashville was the kind of thing that other people dreamed of. Heck, it had been the thinghehad dreamed of for years and years, both when he’d been a kid plunking out his first few chords and when he’d been a rising talent.
But in the last few years, he’d found that his dream come true felt more like a millstone around his neck than anything else. He’d put on smiles for each performance. He’d gone on stage and played his songs, the ones that had made him successful.He’d thanked fans for coming out, had signed autographs and shaken hands.
But there wasn’t any heart in it.
Initially, he had actually gone to a doctor, concerned that his general low spirits had been an indication that he had one of those crazy rare diseases, the kind that mostly only existed in medical dramas on television. Something with an eight-syllable name that only one doctor treated, and that guy lived on a Swiss mountain and would only treat Levi in his remote clinic on a snowy peak. That kind of thing.
Dr. Lennox, though, had given him a patient, understanding look as he’d described his symptoms.
“Levi,” she said, shaking her silver head. “You sound burned out.”
He’d frowned at her, not comprehending.
“But how do I… treat that?” he asked.
This time, she smiled.
“Yourest,” she told him. “There’s no better medicine in the world.”
It took a certain amount of stubbornness to find your way in the cutthroat music industry, so Levi, in true form, resisted this diagnosis at first. He didn’t need torest. It wasn’t even like his job was that hard! Yes, he played almost every night, often until the wee hours of the morning, and then there were meetings with the label, his agent, with other artists whom he liked to mentor…
But some people worked in jobs that had them hauling boxes for twelve hours a day. Or rushing through hospitals to save people after car accidents. Or reporting in war zones!
He was just a guy with a guitar. What did he have to complain about?
But the longer it went on, the less he could deny it. He couldn’t write new songs. Playing the old ones felt like a chore.
Making the decision to step back had honestly been the hardest part. Once he realized that this was what he needed, however, he found that his team was incredibly supportive. They’d made all the calls necessary to get him some time away from the limelight. Indeed, they’d been extremely gracious about it, considering that he was still under contract with his record company. He supposed that it was in their best interests to get him back in shipshape too, though. It wasn’t as though the uninspired songs he was currently producing were going to set any sales records.
All that was left was for Levi to pick where he wanted to go.
That had been kind of exciting and kind of daunting. The world was wide, after all, and Levi was a Tennessee boy born and bred. He’d never lived very far from Nashville.
In the end, he had just browsed real estate websites until he found something that appealed to him. And then, when he looked into the town where this adorable little seaside house resided, he’d fallen properly in love with Magnolia Shore, Massachusetts.
