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Natalie’s beer hit the coffee table with a thud as she got up and joined her at the door just as Sienna was ready to open it.
“I hope I didn’t say anything to offend you. I just…” Natalie folded her arms across her chest. “I’ve been away from the music business for so long. I’ve completely forgotten about the rush of adrenaline that takes over when you know you’rehearing someone with so much talent, with such a beautiful voice, and that it’s only a matter of time before everyone else gets that same privilege.”
Sienna forgot to breathe, standing in front of Natalie and hearing her say such nice things about her.
Sienna knew she was good, but she’d been singing in front of her friends and family for so long. It was unusual for someone to be complimenting her like this, and it wasn’t some guy telling her she had a pretty voice.
This was Natalie Spencer.
Someone who, even if it had only been for a few years, had been right where Sienna wanted to be.
And Sienna wanted to tell her. She could feel her heart pounding against her ribs.
She could say it.
She had no doubt that Natalie would keep her secret.But Sienna had a funny feeling that it would change things, that Natalie wouldn’t be so encouraging if she knew the truth.
Natalie might tell her to stay in the closet, although Sienna doubted that, so then what was the other option? Natalie could tell her to forget about her dream, to find something else to do with her life, because this was only going to end one way for her.
Sienna’s eyes moved beyond Natalie to the acoustic guitar sitting on a stand just beside the TV. A wave of sadness washed over Sienna, the words Natalie had just said coming back to her with new meaning. How many people had been robbed of the privilege of hearing Natalie’s music?
Sienna searched Natalie’s caramel-brown eyes, not allowing herself to go down that road. “I better not let all this praise get to my head.” She said it with a smile and a lightness in her voice, trying to keep Natalie from worrying anymore.
“Do you really need to go?” Natalie asked softly. “I was going to…” She shook her head. “You know what? Never mind.”
“No, what were you going to say?” As crazy as this evening had been, it was never far from Sienna’s mind how attractive this woman was, how drawn Sienna was to her, and maybe it was just a music thing, but Sienna couldn’t leave here without knowing what Natalie wanted to say or do.
“It’s silly.” Natalie waved her off. “I’ll let you get home.” She opened the door, and Sienna turned to see the rain bouncing off the ground in the dim light, the fresh scent of rain filling the night air as a rumble of thunder almost shook the ground. “It’s worse now than it was when we left the fairgrounds.”
A moment ago, Sienna couldn’t get out of here fast enough, overwhelmed with all of this, and even as bad as the rain was, sheets of it blowing across the driveway now, she could have gone home. If she didn’t want to drive back into town to her apartment, she could have gone to her parents’ house, just a few minutes away.
But Sienna was beyond curious about what Natalie had wanted to ask her. “Maybe, I should give it another few minutes,” Sienna said, sliding her feet back out of her shoes. “If that’s okay?”
“Yeah, of course,” Natalie said, closing the door and joining Sienna although she was still standing between the living room and the door even though Sienna had taken a seat once again.
“What did you want to ask me?” Sienna detected a hint of nervousness in Natalie. She just seemed unsure of herself, and Sienna had no idea what was bothering her.
“It is silly,” Natalie said, her gaze focused on her guitar. “I still write songs. I never stopped. It doesn’t really bother me anymore that no one’s going to hear them. I’ve made peace with that. But since that day that everything blew up… I haven’t once played one of my own songs.”
Sienna looked up at Natalie with a mixture of heartbreak and awe, because she knew what Natalie was going to say, and Sienna had to swallow down the lump that returned to her throat.
Natalie’s hands were on her hips now as she eyed her guitar, like she wasn’t sure if she could really do this. “Hearing you tonight… I don’t know. It kind of just came over me when we were talking here, but I just had this weird, almost itch, to sing that song, which is so strange, because out of all of my old stuff, that song should be the very last one that I’d want to play. It made me famous, but it gave me this false hope, that I could have both things. That I could be myself and still have this career.”
Sienna held her breath as Natalie picked up her guitar, but she didn’t sit down with it. She was bringing it over to Sienna.
“I meant it when I said that I loved what you did with it,” Natalie said, her voice laced with emotion as she visibly swallowed. “Would you sing it with me?”
Sienna nodded, taking the guitar from her, already getting it in tune while Natalie sat on the other couch, on the end closest to Sienna.
For a few moments, it was just the sound of Sienna plucking each string, making a few last adjustments, the rain steadily hitting the roof, and the wind whipping occasionally that filled the room until Sienna cleared her throat, her fingers sliding over the frets as she played the intro before stopping again.
“It sounds so much more haunting like that,” Natalie said, her eyes on Sienna. “In a lower key. I wish I’d thought to do that. But it’s the way you played it too, lingering on certain notes.”
“I know it was an upbeat, almost anthem-style song about discovering your real passion, your truth, and everything, but I don’t know. I just wanted to lean on the emotion of it, take it down a key, strip it back. Plus, it suits my voice better,” Sienna said with a grin, trying to lighten the mood with Natalie’s intense gaze on her and the pressure of singing with this woman seconds away.
Natalie looked away as she took a deep breath. “Do you mind if I join you? If you go ahead and play it like you did earlier?”
Sienna nodded. “Sure.” The nerves fell away as soon as she made it through the intro, the muscle memory of playing that song hundreds of times taking over, allowing Sienna to close her eyes and let instinct take over, singing the first few lines of the song, her eyes fluttering open when Natalie joined her for the chorus.
