“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to open mic night at The Joint.” The usual cheers follow his greeting. “We’re going to start things off a little differently tonight. We’ve had a special request, and since it’s from someone who’s a close friend of a member of The Joint family, we’ve cheerfully agreed to break with tradition just a bit.”
My stomach is beginning to churn. Where’s James? I need him here right now, in more ways than one. I look toward the employee break room and see him emerging through the doorway. He smiles, and I immediately feel a little bit better.
“Most of you know we usually begin with Anthony Tomaso,” the MC says. He waits while another flurry of cheers quiets down. “Anthony is here tonight, and he’ll be performing for you in just a bit.”
Tomaso is sitting up front to the left, and he smiles and waves his hand to the crowd as they applaud him.
“Before we get to Anthony, though,” the MC continues, “we’ve got a special guest for you.”
James has made it to our table and takes the seat next to me. He’s brought my guitar, which has been waiting safely in the break room.
I’m really nervous now. My hands are shaking as James hands me my guitar. The special guest the MC is talking about is me. I had James ask if I could perform first, so I’d have less chance to chicken out or be intimidated by the other performers. Now I wish I hadn’t requested the favor. Maybe I should have gone last, or after that crummy comedian, if he’s here. Yeah, that might have been better. Anything but going first.
Marissa knows how I’m feeling. She lays her hand gently on my forearm.
“You can do this, Heather,” she says. “I know you can. You’ll be great.”
I wish I shared her confidence. How did I get myself into this? I wonder if it’s too late to change my mind. I’m about to do just that.
“Our first guest will be performing tonight for the first time anywhere,” the MC says. “We’re thrilled she chose The Joint for her debut. Give it up for Heather!”
Oh god, what have I gotten myself into? I’m frozen in my seat. That’s probably a good thing, because if I try to stand, I don’t think my legs will support me. James gets up and takes my hand. He gently pulls me from my seat and walks me up to the stage. He gives my hand a firm squeeze before returning to his seat.
I sit down and the MC lowers the microphone for me.
A moment later, I’m all alone on stage. My heart is racing and my mouth is dry. How am I ever going to sing? I look at James. He’s smiling warmly up at me. He doesn’t know it yet, but this is my present to him.
I close my eyes, trying to wipe away everything but the feel of my guitar on my lap. I’m in my room, playing by myself, the way I’ve done a thousand times before. I begin strumming the strings. I’ve picked the perfect song, and I’ve been practicing it for weeks. It’s one of Taylor Swift’s, of course, because who does awesome love better than Taylor? And this one almost could have been written specifically for me and James.
I play the introductory chords several times—more than I’m supposed to. I need to begin singing soon, or I may never start. Not to mention that I could get booed off the stage if I don’t do something pretty quickly. Thank goodness the opening words are so simple—just a string of “oh’s” is all. I begin singing.
There’s no turning back now. But that doesn’t mean I have to open my eyes yet. As long as I keep them closed, I’m alone in my room. I’ll open them when the time is right.
I’m singing about being down by the lake, and I ad lib a line about skipping rocks on the water. The words come easily to me—why shouldn’t they? It may be Taylor’s song, but it’s my story. I reach the key line in the whole song and I open my eyes, fastening them on James’ face. I’m singing to him. There’s no one else in the room.
A huge smile lights up his face. He’s looking at me with more love than I ever thought I would find. Fairy tales can come true, I think as I sing to him that he is far and away the best thing I’ve ever had in my life.
He truly is. The very best thing ever. And he’s MINE!
The End
If you’d like to check out the Breathless book mentioned in this story, it was also written by Scott Prussing. It has more than 300 5-star reviews on Goodreads and is permanently FREE on Amazon.
Click here to visit Breathless on Amazon
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Scott Prussing was born in New Jersey, but was smart enough to move to beautiful San Diego as soon as he received his Master's degree in psychology from Yale University. In addition to Mine: A Love Story, Scott is the author of a seven book paranormal romance series called the Blue Fire Saga. He also wrote Blue Fire Heat, an erotic companion piece to the Blue Fire Saga, and Blue Fire Beginnings, a collection of short stories recounting the origins of some favorite Blue Fire characters. He is also the author of the mystery/suspense novels Unturned Stones and Tangled Webs and the fantasy/adventure novel Dreams of the Last Born. For those who like their reading a bit hotter, Scott recently completed two XXX-rated erotica novels, Seduction and Surrender.
Besides writing, Scott enjoys riding his bicycle near the beach, going to the movies, reading books of all sorts, hiking, and golf. He remains one of the few people in the United States without a cell phone.
Learn about Scott’s books at http://www.scottprussing.com
You can also follow Scott on Facebook and on Twitter:
http://www.facebook.com/scottprussingauthor
https://twitter.com/BreathlessBook
Subscribe to Scott Prussing’s newsletter to keep up on the latest new releases: http://bit.ly/ScottPrussing
Scott loves to interact with his fans and has placed many of them into his books as characters. Why don’t you find him on Twitter or Facebook and say hi!
Mine: A Love Story Page 20
