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It was a compromise, to say the least, but perhaps they didn’t think they were even going to get this far with me. At any rate, Kim finally turned back to me with another of her bright smiles.
“Great! You know us. We don’t tend to hang out long after the shows ourselves. We like to go to bed early, so we can all leave once the music is done. But I want you to promise that you are going to be present while we are there.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“I mean, you won’t stare off into space or not pay attention. I think this music is going to do you good, and the only way you’re going to be properly exposed to it is if you give it a chance and pay attention.”
“Fine,” I said. “As long as it means I can get out of there once the music is done, then I’ll pay attention enough to keep you happy, okay?”
“It’s a deal,” she said with a grin. “Now we better get going. We have good seats, and we don’t want to lose them because we don’t sign into the venue on time.”
With a sigh, I slipped into my sandals. I could have stood to change my shirt into something nicer, but since I wasn’t out to impress anyone that night, I didn’t bother. I wasn’t wanting to catch the eye of anyone, and if I could avoid seeing Krissy, that would be the best scenario of all.
When we arrived at the hotel, Kim got the three of us in. I’m not too surprised that she had a ticket for me already. I knew she wasn’t going to leave me alone until I came along with them.
They then walked me into the venue, and I was a little dismayed to see that Erin and Neils were there. They had both their kids with them, and Kim beamed as we sat in the three seats right next to theirs.
“Glad you made it!” Kim told them. “We were hoping the kiddoes would get to see this.”
“Once Libby heard she was going to see Erin on stage, I don’t think there was any holding her back,” Erin said. “Thank you for getting our tickets. We really appreciate it.”
“Think nothing of it,” Kim said with a smile. “It’s nice to have more kids around. I wish there were more that lived here.”
Erin waved to me, as did Libby, but Neils remained icy. Not that there was much for me to say to him after the last time we spoke. I held my head high, however, taking the seat Kim offered and interacting with Connor and Libby when brought him over to see what was going on.
I knew being here could very well be shooting myself in the foot, and I kept telling myself that I had done plenty of things that were a lot worse than this in my life. I just had to get through the next two hours, and I could go back home and forget about the entire thing.
The first two acts were pretty good, I had to say, though my heart tightened when Krissy was the one to take the stage. She was solo with her guitar, looking like an angel who just stepped out of heaven. She wore a white sundress on the short side. Heeled sandals made her toned legs hard to keep my eyes off of.
Her dress was simple but luxurious, like so many other things about her.
I could clearly see she was nervous, but I wasn’t sure if she even looked into the audience enough to see that I was there. Instead, she launched right into the song she had prepared for the show.
And I didn’t recognize it.
“I don’t know this one,” I said in a low tone to Erin.
“She’s been working on it for a while and just finished it last week,” Erin said. “This is her premier performance.”
“Gotcha,” I replied as I sat back in my chair to listen to the lyrics. It was a beautiful song, and I was so proud she had composed it on her own. But, once she started singing, my heart dropped into my stomach.
She didn’t even make it to the chorus before I knew why she had written this song.
It was all about me.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Krissy
My hands shook as I took the stage.
It wasn’t the first time I had performed a song I’d personally written, but in the past, those songs didn’t do as well as I would have liked. It was part of the reason why I wanted to be a backup singer in a group rather than a solo artist.
But Erin and Kim had basically tag-teamed each other that day to convince me to stick with the gig and perform the song I had planned, so here I was.
And I was doing it for Libby above all else.
I wanted to close my eyes to sing. I didn’t want the audience to have any indication of what I was feeling internally as I sang the words. But I also didn’t want to make it appear as though I was that scared to be on stage, either. So, I pushed myself to the limit to get the song out, and with the emotion in my voice, the delivery of the lyrics was even more powerful than it would have been otherwise.
