Page 77 of Chronicles of a Rockin' Mess

Epilogue

One year later…

I hear the roar of the crowd. Voltage Drop is on stage, and I’m up in a minute. We are headlining a festival together. It’s part of my first major tour, and I couldn’t be more psyched than I am now. Lincoln promised he’d come on stage later and sing our duet with me. It’s been sitting at number one for eight weeks straight.

Lincoln’s parents came out for this concert. We just helped them move to a beachfront condo. There were lots of tears, but in the end, it’s been a great new start for them.

Even Savannah and Amelia are there tonight. My brother promised he’d come, but he, of course, couldn’t make it at the last minute. I’m not entirely shocked. It sucks, but at least my family is consistently disappointing.

I watch Lincoln work the crowd. They just released their newest album, and it is amazing. He catches sight of me at one point and winks. I smile at him and wave, blowing him a kiss.

“You guys need to get a room,” Ellie quips as she bumps my arm playfully. I grin at her.

“You keeping those fuckers in line?” I ask her.

“I try my best, but you know how they can be,” she says with a laugh.

Ellie has two assistants now but is the main PA for the band. I think it helps that Savannah, Amelia, and I made a pact to keep the three of them in line. We do what we can, but they still have their rock star moments.

“You all having fun?” Lincoln calls out to the crowd. The roar of answers is deafening.

“I have a special treat for you tonight,” he says to another cheer from the crowd. “Can I get my girlfriend up on stage?”

Ellie pokes me. “I think he’s referring to you.”

“Oh, uh, right,” I say, confused, but I walk on stage and wave at the crowd. A roadie hands me a mic, and I say a proper hello to the crowd before I turn and give Lincoln a look because I don’t understand what the hell he’s doing.

“I thought you’d like to hear us sing a little song before Lark gets you to herself,” he says to them. I look at him because I thought we were closing with that song.

I shrug. Sometimes, the artist in Lincoln comes out of left field. I’ve learned to live with it.

We start the song. And the last few lines have me in tears like they always do.

When I first saw you,

My heart just knew.

You fixed the broken parts of me,

It’s plain for anyone to see.

You are my everything.

“Goodnight, LA!”he calls out. We leave the stage while they set up for me.

“What was that about?” I ask him with a laugh. “I thought we were closing with that song.”

“I have a new song idea,” he says. Oh god, here we go again. You’d think a year into our relationship, we’d have stopped the craziness of song picking, but you’d be wrong. We still fight over the perfect songs for every occasion. Although we have our favorites now.

“OK,” I say, letting myself go with the flow. I’m bustled off to hair and makeup for touch-ups, and then I’m on stage. And it is everything.

I feel in-sync with the crowd tonight. They belt out my lyrics along with me and fill the stadium with the sweetest music that I’ve ever heard. I allow myself to get lost in my lyrics, and I give them the show they deserve.

Hank, Leo, and Joe join me for a few blues songs I have, which only warms my heart and makes me feel like my life is complete now, or at least the way it always should have been. Mimi cheers me on from the crowd, next to Margie and Eric, and I smile at them from the stage.

As my encore set comes to a close, I call Lincoln back out to sing with me. But when I turn to greet him, I freeze in shock because Asher is bounding across the stage. He jumps up and nearly knocks me to my back.

“Asher! What are you doing here?!” I cry out. “This is Lincoln’s and my dog, Asher,” I announce to the crowd. I’m just getting my bearings when I hear the words to “All of Me” by John Legend come pouring out of the speakers. That motherfucker. He knows this song gets me every time. He just has to start a single note of it, and I want to strip him down and make love to him all night. It’s our song, and it always will be.

---