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Now, a few hours later after a big spread of food was put on in the compound, it was time for The Dubes to hit the stage inside Deke’s Roadhouse.
The first song played was Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Gigi was not on stage for that one. One of the band members sang the woman parts in a high soprano, which was something The Dubes always did as it was a crowd pleaser.
Their second song, she got on stage for, and she got a lot of cheers.
My girl looked gorgeous in a strapless bustier and patchwork leather pants, smoky eyes, and her gorgeous blonde hair now a few inches longer. It was straightened and fell over one eye sexily as the spotlight hit her and she sang along to Rob playing alone, acoustically.
It took me a minute to realize he was playing Ike and Tina Turner’s River Deep, Mountain High.
And every single person in the space was riveted by her voice, by the words she sang to me. By the emotion on her face as she sang it. And I knew she wasn’t just singing it to me because of nerves. She was singing that song to me. I felt every word. Rob didn’t even sing along, and I’d find out later that she asked to sing that one. For me.
When the song ended, the rest of the band joined as they got into The Chain by Fleetwood Mac. Rob and Gigi singing together sounded as good as Lindsey and Stevie.
The next song was Don’t Go Breakin’ My Heart, which got everyone singing. Then everyone was laughing their asses off because the band member that’d sang in the high voice in the Meatloaf song was chiming in for the ooh hoo parts in a high falsetto.
Gigi then sang a duet with Rob to the old song, I’ll have to say I Love You in a Song, then Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around by Tom Petty and Stevie Nicks.
And then Rob called out, “Special thanks to our guest singer Gianna Jones” which brought the house down with cheers and clapping before he launched into another Dubes cover I’d also heard many times. Deke got on stage with the band to play harmonica to a Blues Traveler song.
My girl joined me at the bar, getting kudos from everyone she passed.
She fell into me, and she was shaking.
“Good shaking? Adrenalin?” I asked.
She signaled Coco, who passed her a vodka and orange juice that she’d already poured. “Great voice, girlfriend,” Coco exclaimed, “You did awesome! That drink’s on me.”
“Thank you,” Gigi exclaimed and then didn’t stop gulping until the entire large glass of vodka and orange juice was gone.
I waited.
“No. Not the good kind of shaking, baby,” she finally said and then signaled to Coco for another drink as she put the empty glass down. “Not at all.”
I put my arms around her. “You did great. I’m so fuckin’ proud of you.”
“I didn’t pee my pants, but I am never flippin’ ever doin’ that again,” she vowed, still trembling, and then took a sip of my beer while waiting for Coco to bring her a new drink.
“Don’t drink that, baby. Gluten.”
“Shit. Shit,” she muttered. “I need more alcohol.”
“Excuse me. Gianna?”
We turned and the lead singer of AbstractED was approaching.
The rest of the color drained from my girl’s face.
“You remember me?” he asked. “I’m Chase from-”
“I remember you,” she said. “Hey.”
He cocked his head. “Not sure where to start here, so… um… I’ve been lookin’ for you.”
“Looking for me?” She bit her lip.
I looked him over, ready to get between them if he was about to give her shit for something her stepsister did.
“Yeah. Kailey… uh… sorry to hear about your loss. I read about that in the paper.”
“Thanks,” she said softly, then cleared her throat before hugging herself. I wrapped my arms around her.
Chase’s eyes briefly bounced to me before he gave her a look of sympathy and kept talking. “Back when she and I had our brief thing, she left your demo tape at my place. She asked me to listen and honestly, I tossed it in a drawer. Didn’t take her seriously.”
Gigi frowned. “She did?”
“It kicked around for a while and then I moved, and it wound up in a box with a bunch of other music. Few months ago, coincidentally the day I read about Kailey in the paper, I was going through shit and organizing my tapes. I listened to the unmarked ones so I could label them. I heard it. And… gotta say, wanted to run into you to talk to you about your tape. I listened to it. Looked for you.”
She stared blankly.
“Remembered your first name from when we met at that party. Didn’t know your last name. Asked around and nobody’d seen you in a while.”
“Yeah,” she said softly. “I left Sioux Falls just before she was murdered, otherwise I might be gone too.”
