AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Hey," Jake said as we turned to walk in the other direction. "What was that?"
"Oh, Isaac. He was just asking what we're doing. He's calling Micah back—something about him having a stomach ache."
Jake grabbed my hand. "What time are we heading out? I need to get home and grade papers, and I was hoping we could hang out a little while, just me and you."
"Oh yeah, that's fine. We can leave right after we see the car."
Chapter 6
Four months later
Late May
Isaac and Ari's rehearsal dinner
"I know it's Isaac and Ari's night," Rita said to us all at the very end of the rehearsal dinner. "And I haven't mentioned it, but I just wanted to say how proud I am of you, Micah, and the extraordinary way God has grown your music career. It seems like yesterday you were working at Calvin's store and staying holed up in that room writing songs day and night, and now, look."
"Now he's got pecs and abs," JD said, teasing Micah. "He's not skin and bones anymore."
Micah spent a lot of time in the gym as a way to blow off steam and release some of the adrenaline from the pressures of stardom. He was in really good shape, but some of it was from necessity.
"We're talking about his music," my mom said, not wanting to embarrass Micah even though JD was just messing around.
Jake leaned in his chair and put his arm around me protectively. He was a low-key guy who wasn't usually into PDA, but I could tell he got a little nervous around my family, so I leaned toward him for reassurance.
"I hear that Spiderman song everywhere these days," my mom added. "My friend, Sharon, had it behind a video she posted of her family on Facebook, and she didn't even realize it was Micah singing it. You remember my friend Sharon Nickerson," she said, looking at Micah.
"I'm glad you brought that up, Birdy," Isaac said. "I know Micah's busy with all he has going on, and I wanted to thank him and everybody else for taking the time to be at our wedding. Thank all of you for being here. But, Micah, bro," Isaac reached out and gave his hand to Micah. They were sitting close enough that Micah leaned over and shook Isaac's hand hardily the way guys do. "Thank you for being here. I couldn't believe it when I saw you come around the corner."
"I couldn't believe it either," I said. "I talked to him yesterday, and he was in Mexico." I stared at Micah who smiled and shrugged innocently. "Now that we're talking about Micah, though, I have something for you upstairs—a vintage find."
Isaac's rehearsal dinner was at the restaurant and since I now lived in the apartment upstairs, our location was convenient for my impromptu surprise. My heart raced at the thought of Micah's guitar. I had it in my possession, and it was finally time. I had it stashed under my bed.
I bought it over a month ago and had it restored. I had held onto this secret for so long, and I hadn't planned on Micah's surprise appearance tonight, so I felt like the information might just burst out of my mouth, right there in front of everyone.
I took a deep breath because everyone was still looking at me, waiting to hear about my vintage find. I sat up in my chair and leaned forward to get a better view of Micah. He was looking over my brother and two other people, smiling curiously back at me when my eyes found his.
I had lost contact with Jake when I sat up in my chair, and he reached over to hold my hand as I told the story. I didn't mind, and I held his hand without even thinking about it.
"Okay, so it started with a guy named Aaron Harrison. You all know who I'm talking about. He's a big deal. He plays for the Seahawks. His wife came into my store. I happened to be there at the time, and she liked all my stuff and was wondering if I would want to go through some things she had been meaning to sell. So, I make friends with Beth Harrison, go to her house, and end up meeting Aaron, who you guys all know. They're a really nice couple, and I was at their house for a couple of hours one afternoon. So sweet. Aaron wanted me to be on the lookout for some things he collects—a kind of old bottle. He also likes a certain type of sports coat when they have travel days… anyway… that's off-track. So, I'm hanging out with this nice couple, and I see a few guitars, over in the corner in their family room, hanging on his wall." I paused and looked around dramatically. "Now, I always, always inspect every single acoustic guitar I ever see in my whole life. I've done that for years now, for some certain somebody" I made a face and pointed at Micah. "You all know I've been looking for Micah's old, broken guitar for going on eight years."
"Was it at Aaron's?" my mom asked.
"No. So, I look at Aaron's guitars, and I give him and his wife the whole story about how I normally don't mess with broken things, but for all this time it has been my main mission in life to find this dad-blasted broken guitar."
"Did Aaron Harrison have Micah's guitar?" my grandma asked again, since the suspense was killing her.
"No, he didn't Birdy. But Iexplainedto him and his wife. I told them the whole story about my friend who lost a certain guitar years ago. I give them the speech and explained it all to them, and the whole time, Aaron has this look of concentration on his face, like he's trying to remember something. So, I asked him what he seemed to be concentrating on, and he said he remembered seeing a guitar like that. It took him a minute to dig up the memory, but he called a teammate named Mac Klein who put me in touch with Justin Teague." I aimed a glance at Micah and raised my eyebrows at him before smiling. "Long story short, is that I had to go through three Seattle Seahawks and then Justin was out of town, so I had to make an appointment to go to his house when someone was there who could meet me. I explained the whole thing on the phone to him—that it was for a dear friend and how much it meant to us. So, I get an appointment to go to his house, and there it is, sitting in front of me. The very guitar. A Fender body with a Martin headstock. I felt like I was dreaming. I literally cried."
"You saw it? Did he let you buy it?" Rita asked.
"Yes," I agreed.
Rita gasped and let out a whoop of celebration. She saw Micah as a grandson, and her reaction was adorable. I let out a delighted laugh at the sight of her happiness for him.
"How long ago was this? Why didn't you tell me you found it?" she asked.
"I didn't know, either," Jake said.
