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She laughed, giving them each a hug and kiss on the cheek. Asher turned his head at the last minute, so she pecked his lips rather than his face.
Emma pulled away and smacked his chest and shook her head. “You are evil.”
“Hey, a guy’s gotta try.” He shrugged.
“Really? I thought we already established I don’t have the right equipment?”
“Maybe we should try again? Just to be sure I’m as gay as I think and not bisexual.” He smirked.
She laughed.
Nicky shoved Asher playfully. “No more. We agreed no one fucks anyone involved in our band or business.”
Asher held up his hands. “All right, all right. Geeze, you guys can’t take a joke.”
“Emma?” Link’s voice cut through her bandmates’ laughter.
She turned. His shoulders were tense, nearly at his ears. His jaw clenched as he looked between Asher and her.
Why is he pissed again? Unless . . . is he jealous? No. He couldn’t be.
“Yeah?”
“We better get this over with.” He motioned to the guitar in his hand.
Right. Papa had requested they play a song together.
“I can read the sheet music if you guys need me to play the keyboard?” Asher asked.
“No,” Link snapped.
Asher nodded and shrugged, totally unfazed by Link’s gruff behavior.
Emma followed Link over to the stage. He plugged the guitar into the amp. They hadn’t practiced at all, so it was possible this could suck. But if a performance was what her papa wanted, this was what he would get.
“Ready?” she asked as he strummed the guitar.
He nodded.
Link plucked the strings, the first chords of “You Are The Reason” by Calum Scott and Leona Lewis playing softly on repeat. Emma closed her eyes, drawing in a deep breath. When she opened them, dozens of friends and family stood under the blue lights of The Shipwreck bar, all gazes on her and Link. She scanned the room. This was the first place her band had played besides her dad’s garage. It hadn’t changed in all these years. Wood-paneled walls and circular fish tanks made it seem like they were underwater in the belly of a sunken ship.
Link leaned towards the microphone. “My dad had a lot of quirks.”
Everyone laughed.
“He didn’t always make sense to me, but everything he did eventually had a purpose. I won’t ever know why he chose this song out of all his favorites, but I’m sure he had his reasons.” Link looked towards the ceiling. “If you can hear us, Dad, I hope this makes you smile.” Link backed away from the mic and strummed the guitar, nodding to Emma with glistening eyes.
His voice was deep and soft as the lyrics bled from him. Emma took a deep breath and sang the second line. Their voices melded together in a duet of love, loss, and heartbreak.
Link’s eyes locked on to hers as she sang the beginning of the second verse. His deep timbre stirred her soul. His eyes lit up like they had the last time he’d sung in this very spot at Charli and Finn’s vow renewal.
It seemed he put his heart and soul into the performance, as was Emma. The world faded away as she sang from the depths of her being. It was just the two of them here in this bubble of chords and lyrics. A symphony of unspoken desire and forbidden affection twisted around them, swirling between them in a thick fog of lust and awareness and grief.
The song faded to an end. Link’s chest rose and fell, as if he were just as moved as she. As if he felt as rocked to his core at the magnitude of the powerful exchange as she did.
The crowd clapped, breaking the moment. Link turned away, setting the guitar down and exiting the stage for the bar. Leaving her alone with the hurricane of emotions wreaking havoc inside her as always.
Unrequited. Unstable. And unlovable. It was time she accepted that what she wanted so badly would never be.
