Page 11 of Sing Me Home
Cash
The stadium pulsed, the energy of thousands of people pressing in on the green room from all sides. I bent over, head between my knees, trying to get my heart rate to drop. The concert was starting in less than ten minutes. But my panic had nothing to do with that and everything to do with the fact that Millie was a snake, just as Mom had predicted.
“C’mon, Cass-Cass,” my very soon-to-be-ex begged, hands clasped together. “I promised Opal and Ivy that you would propose.” Opal and Ivy was the high-end jewelry brand on the verge of signing Millie as an influencer. “It’s the last hoop I have to jump and then the deal is mine.”
My fingers closed around the ring she’d slipped into my pocket—its sheer size making one thing clear. Opal and Ivy must’ve wanted the entire stadium to spot it without binoculars. “Why would you promise something like that? We’ve been dating for two months. I’m barely twenty-two. I’m not ready to get married.” Not to her anyway.
Travis, Dad’s drummer, pretended to check his belt buckle, but I saw him giving us the side-eye. Bro was eavesdropping, hardcore. He eyed Millie’s outfit and frowned.
Mycheeks flushed at her outfit. A skin-tight, see-through lace tank top that left nothing to the imagination, Daisy Dukes that didn’t begin to cover her butt cheeks, and a ridiculous red feather boa around her neck that she kept whipping above her head like a lasso. The only part of her getup I could get behind was the white cowgirl boots. But it was all an act. Millie wasn’t even southern. She was from New York.
She playfully batted my nose with the end of the boa. “Relax. It’s just for the cameras. We don’t have to be engaged for real.”
Crew members shouted over the noise. “Cash,” Joanie, the tour manager called, glancing up from her iPad. “You’re on in seven.”
I nodded, my face frozen in a scowl. Dad had given me strict instructions not to let anything get me down right before the show. I had to be hyped. The concertgoers would feel it if I wasn’t. This was the last thing I needed right now.
Millie grabbed my cheeks, forcing me to look at her. “You’re going to propose right after ‘Please Come Home Tonight.’ I already told the camera crews.”
I definitely wasnotproposing after “Please Come Home Tonight.” I’d written that song for Charlie. Then again, I’d written most of my songs with Charlie in mind. Which, I realized at that moment, should’ve been a clue that Millie was not the one for me.
“No.” My head gave a hard shake. I held the ring out for her to take back. “That’s not how I roll, Millie. I don’t lie and I’m not a show pony to be trotted out whenever you need to go viral.”
Her eyes flashed like lightning. “Make it happen or I will,” she threatened.
My mouth fell open in shock. “What does that mean?”
“That means I’m hyping up a proposal to the audience. And you can’t stop me.”
Travis and I locked eyes for a split second before he darted out of the room.
I held my hands up. “Oh-kay. You know what? We’re done. Finished. Consider Cash and Millie over.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re not breaking up with me right before your concert. It took both of us to decide to be in a relationship and it takes two to decide it’s over. Once you’re over your little mood?—”
“I’m not in a little mood?—”
“You’ll regret it tomorrow,” she sang over me. “So no. I reject your rejection.”
“That’s not how breakups work.” I shoved the ring at her again. “Take it.”
Maybe Millie was a direct descendant of Dr. Jekyll. Because, as fast as Hyde had appeared, Jekyll took his place. A dazzling smile burst open on her face. “Break a leg, cutie!” She blew me a kiss. Then she whirled so fast, her boa slapped me across the face before she sauntered out of the room.
It felt like a grenade had gone off in my gut.
Joanie tapped away on her iPad before pressing her earpiece to say something to the crew, completely oblivious to the bomb that was about to detonate.
I waved to get her attention. “Do you know where my dad is?”
Before she could answer, Dad walked in with Travis, a look of serious concern on his face.
“Dad?” I said. “We have a situation.”
* * *
The sun was long gone but the stage lights were bright, making it hard to see. Even if they were here for my dad, being in front of all these people was the best shot of adrenaline I’d ever experienced.
My entire body was in tune with this moment. My fingers glided over the guitar strings effortlessly. My brain told me where to go and when to go there. The lyrics flowed out of my mouth like I’d performed in front of a crowd this large a thousand times. I was made for this.
