Page 116 of Crave Thy Neighbor

I yank River back down into her chair, shaking my head at her.

“What?” She shrugs. “I was totally going to say butt.”

“Uh-huh. Just sit down and quit embarrassing your nephew.”

“It’s my job to embarrass him,” she insists.

I roll my eyes, turning back to the stage in time to see Sam take his spot. He places the guitar on his knee and adjusts his microphone stand.

Tears spring to my eyes, but this time they aren’t sad ones. He looks so grown sitting up there, and I’m so proud to call him mine.

“Uh, hi,” he whispers into the mic, and the audience giggles. He clears his throat. “This, uh, this is a song called ‘Everlong’ by Food Fighters.”

“Did he just sayFoodFighters?” River whispers, giggling.

He misses the first few chords.

“Shit,” he mutters, and the mic picks up the feedback.

My cheeks flame as embarrassment floods me, but everyone seems to get a good laugh out of it. Maybe I should have gotten onto him about the cussing after all.

He picks it back up, and this time he doesn’t miss a single chord. When his voice carries through the makeshift auditorium, he has everyone’s attention.

He’s good, better than I’ve ever heard him before, and if I could bottle this moment in time to keep forever, I would.

Especially the part with Nolan being here.

When he squeezes my hand, I glance up at him. He’s looking down at me, and I see it all in his eyes.

The regret.

The apologies.

Love.

For the first time since I walked out of his apartment, I have hope.

“I’m so proud of you!” I squeeze my son tightly, and despite being in public and having all his friends there, he hugs me back. “Second place is amazing! I don’t know where you got those pipes. I can’t sing for crap.”

“Thanks, Mom. Dean’s been teaching me some techniques on singing too.”

“Guess that means we have to keep him around then, huh?”

“As if you had a choice.” Dean holds his fist out to Sam. “Proud of you, bro.”

“Thanks for everything, Dean.”

He winks at him. “Any time. Just make sure you tell River how awesome I am as often as possible. I could use the brownie points.”

“You spoiled that one for yourself. Now I’ll never believe a word he says about you,” River says.

Dean’s face falls. “Well, shit.”

We all laugh.

“Mom, where’s Nolan? Did he come?”

“He’s…”

---