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Chapter one
CARISSA
It’s my ninth shot tonight.
Yet, it doesn't feel like I’ve had enough to get me as wasted as I would love to be.
“Okay, that’s enough, lady,” the barman says, shooting me a cautious look when I ask for one more shot.
I look back at the people who were once dancing. Now, they’re just hanging around while a red-haired girl takes to the karaoke stand and sings along to Beyonce’s“Single Ladies”.
I scoff and tuck a strand of hair behind my ears.
After almost getting married and left at the altar, I will say that it’s such a coincidence.
My eyes scan the hall and I see other young girls singing along and swaying their bodies to the beat of the song and the karaoke singer’s almost perfect voice.
For a minute, I wish I could genuinely join in and dance like they are.
But I’m just too weary from thinking about how I went from being excited to be a Mrs., to being single and spending most of my evenings at the club.
It seems like this will be the last time before I go back to my new job, so it won’t hurt to have some fun. I’m usually too shy to face a crowd but perhaps I’m too drunk to care about standing in the midst of people, bodies, sweaty bodies, looking all intoxicated and horny.
As soon as the red head steps off the podium amidst cheers, I hurry right up, almost clashing with a man who is also interested in the karaoke session tonight.
“Watch it!” he retorts but I ignore him.
I know what I want to sing.
“Al Green,” I call out to the DJ. “How Can You Mend a Broken Heart.”
He lifts a brow as though confused, but eventually the tune starts playing.
I look back at the crowd, who barely notice me staggering a bit on the stage.
I shut my eyes to savor the tune as memories of my childhood play in my head.
My cousin, Lily, and I would pretend that we were two heartbroken old women and sing loudly along to a song Grandpa always played on his radio.
“Tell me, how can you stop the sun from shining?”
I drift back to reality thanks to the horrible sound of my own voice. I didn’t realize I had been singing.
I open my eyes, but to my dismay, no one is even looking at me. The audience seems uninterested.
Dismayed.
My voice begins to shake, and the words are heavy in my mouth.
Maybe this was a bad idea.What was I thinking?
My eyes dart back and forth as I freeze on a spot. I’m not drunk enough not to care about a crowd’s reaction after all.
I shut my eyes and exhale deeply, silently wishing for the Earth to open up and gulp me in. That doesn’t happen. Instead, a male voice comes alive.
The melody escaping his throat conveys a cascade of emotions that wrap around my heart like a warm velvet embrace, bringing me back to life.
With every word, it feels as if he’s whispering sweet nothings to me, painting love in the air with the brush of his voice. It’s like our souls connect even before I see his face as he joins me on the stage.
