Page 156 of A Ballad of Betrayal and Beauty

I grin and step out onto the sidewalk, feeling Key exit the limo right behind me. I glance up at the huge lit marquee,Carnal Sinsdisplayed in giant black letters. There’s a warmth from the lights on my face that’s familiar and comforting. Then I see the chip in the molding on the corner, then the faded black paint on the front doors and I forget how to breathe.

“This . . . this is . . .” I whisper, my jaw dropping open. “This is The Sapphire!” My stomach is doing a mambo. “The first performance I get to see of your band and it’s at The Sapphire?”

“That’s right,” Joel says, placing his hand on the small of my back.

“But,” I mumble. “How? How is this even possible? The theater is abandoned.”

I turn toward the two of them with a million questions. What are the odds?

“Actually, not quite abandoned. Just neglected,” Joel corrects me.

My brow creases. “What?”

Key shrugs. “It actually had an owner, but they didn’t have any interest in doing anything with it. So . . .” he says with a look at Joel, “they were willing to let it go to someone who had big ideas to make it into a space where a lot of great things can happen.”

“We thought you should have it.”

I blink. Once. Twice. Three times. What is happening? Then Key holds up an old ring of keys in front of me and my pulse is racing like the rapids. “We bought it. For you.”

“You . . . you what?” I squeak out, barely lucid enough to clutch on to the ring that Key places in my hand.

“It’s all yours to do with how you said,” Joel says, stepping closer. “To show old movies, host performers, and run art and acting classes for kids so they can stay out of trouble. Maybe if kids have a safe place to explore art, they won’t end up in trouble and get sent off to horrible places like we were.”

“You can work your magic,” Key continues, “and bring out the beauty you always knew it could have.”

The tears begin to trickle down my face and for once I have no shame in standing on the street and openly sobbing with joy at this incredible gift.

“I don’t know what to say. I’m . . . is this real life?”

“It’s real,” Joel says, wiping at my cheeks with his thumbs. “You can have all of your dreams come true, too, you know.”

A burst of pure joy radiates out of me in a contagious giggle. I’m crying and laughing and feel like I’m floating. “I don’t think I’ve ever been more surprised or happy in my whole life!”

Key takes my hand and kisses my knuckles. “We know you can take care of yourself. You’ve been surviving for twenty-five years. But now, we want you to live.”

I close my eyes and pull Key into my side, my head falling on Joel’s shoulder.

“I will. I can. Because we’re together.”

Epilogue

KEY

Twelve years ago

“Hey, Key?”

I turn my head to look over at Dusty. Her wild hair is in two knots on top of her head. Her father’s attempt at parenting after he couldn’t be bothered to brush it, she told me. “Yeah?”

She continues to stare up at the blue sky, her chin rising over the long blades of grass we lie in side by side. “Hmmm . . . never mind.”

“No,” I say, lifting myself up on one elbow to see her face better. Her freckles seem to have multiplied by the summer sun and I often catch myself counting them, thinking one day I’ll finally know exactly how many are there. “Tell me.”

She sighs. A sad sound. One that makes my heart twist. She gets like this sometimes, and I can’t always bring her back right away. Back to that smiling, shining person she deserves to be.

“I just had a thought . . .” she says as she bites her lip. “Do you think we’ll ever be truly happy?”

That twisting feeling gets tighter. What a thought for a thirteen-year-old to have. Then I think about it for a minute. Am I really happy? I’m happy now. I’m happier than I’ve been in weeks . . . months—but only when I’m with her. Being at home is like torture. A prison. A specially crafted hell made by my parents and, if I’m really to believe everything they teach me in church, God too. I swallow hard. “Are you not happy right now?”

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