Page 85 of Steal My Breath Away

“You’re an okay friend,” I told her, smiling for the first time since we’d left the house.

“So are you.” Paige gave me a quick hug and checked her watch. “I don’t know why they haven’t called you up yet. I sent Skye to check if there was a problem and—”

“Sorry I took so long.” Skye raced down the hallway. “I spoke to the manager. Apparently he was notified at the last minute that an A-list celebrity is coming to the bar tonight and there are security issues that have to be sorted out, and of course someone tipped off the press so now he’s trying to find room for the paparazzi, too.”

My heart sank in my chest. “Does that mean my gig has been canceled?”

“That’s outrageous,” Paige shouted. “I don’t care if it’s Beyoncé or Ed Sheeran. This is Haley’s night. Who do I talk to?”

“No one.” Skye laughed. “The show is still going on. Apparently, the celebrity was visiting Chicago and heard Haley’s track online, and wanted to see her live.”

“Now I’m really going to be sick.” I doubled over as a wave of nausea washed over me.

Skye’s phone buzzed and she checked the message. “Dante says she’s here and the bar is absolutely packed. Lots of friends. Lots of press. The celebrity has brought an entourage…”

My hands found my knees and I moaned.

“Up.” Paige grabbed the back of my shirt and yanked me upright. “Get yourself together. The manager is walking across the stage.”

“Thanks everyone for coming out tonight,” the manager said into the microphone. “We’ve got a special guest in the bar tonight. I thought she wanted to keep it under the radar, but I’ve just been informed she wants to say a few words. I give you Jessica Swanson.”

My stomach clenched and I doubled over again. “Look at her. She’s gorgeous. And famous. How am I going to follow an A-list movie star?”

“You’ll start by being upright.” Paige yanked me up again. “She probably just wants to plug her next movie.”

“Hi, everybody!” Jessica waved from the stage. She looked impossibly elegant and yet perfectly dressed for an upscale dive bar in a black one-piece catsuit draped in an elegant scarf and accentuated with black patent stilettos. “As I’m sure you all know, I’m a South Side girl, and although I moved out to LA for my career, I make a point of coming back as often as I can to reconnect with my friends and family and to eat some real food.” She paused while the audience cheered. “I first heard about Haley when she was singing with a band called Dante’s Inferno, but when I heard her song online, I just had to come out and see her. If you haven’t downloaded it, what are you waiting for? She’s definitely going to be one of the top new artists in the coming year. Ladies and gentlemen, let’s hear it for Haley Chapman.”

Stunned, I couldn’t move. Jessica Swanson saw me playing with Dante’s Inferno? She’d listened to my song? How was that even possible?

“Go.” Paige gave me a gentle shove and I stepped out onto the stage, blinking under the overhead lights. It was just me and my guitar and a sea of expectant faces, but I wasn’t afraid anymore.

“Wow… I don’t even know what to say.” I gripped the mic. “Thank you, Jessica. I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that you’ve even heard my music, let alone liked it! This means… everything. And, um, I hope you all like what you hear tonight.”

I opened with “Echoes of the Heart,” putting everything I had into the song. It was about transformation and my emotional journey from repression to expression. It was about love and forgiveness. It was about Ace.

As the last notes of the song faded away, the stage lights dimmed and I saw two familiar faces at the back of the bar.

Ace and my mom.

And in my heart I saw Matt and my dad, waving proudly fromthe shadows the way they’d done the very first time I’d sung on stage.

I gave my best performance ever. For them. For me. And for Ace, who had helped me find them again.

CHAPTER 38Haley

The bar was alive with energy when I finally stepped off the stage. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, giving me a high like nothing I’d ever felt before. I could hardly believe I had finally shared the music that had been trapped inside me for so long. Ace had been there. And my mom. And then there was Jessica.Jessica Swanson. An A-list celebrity had actually stood in front of the cameras and told the world she loved my music.

I tried to stay in the moment, smiling and chatting with my friends until my mom joined us with her protective detail hovering not-so-discreetly behind her.

“I’m so proud of you.” She squeezed me in a hug. “I’ve never heard you sing so well, and those songs…” Her eyes teared and she pressed a hand to her heart. “There was so much history there, so many stories, so much pain. I wish your dad had been here.”

“He was.”

A soft smile tugged at Mom’s lips. “I imagine you’re right. He would never miss a performance.”

We chatted briefly before she left to catch a flight back to Washington. My friends bought me more drinks and then Jessica joined our little circle. She was as beautiful and elegant as she appeared in the movies, but genuinely friendly and down to earth in a way I had come to identify with the born-and-bred Chicagoans I’d met in the time I’d lived in the city.

“I knew you had something when Ace showed me that video of you singing with Dante’s Inferno,” Jessica said after we’d chatted about her latest movie, my music, and her favorite hidden-gemrestaurants that we just had to try. “I pretty much knew the minute he showed it to me that I’d have no chance with him.”

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