Page 81 of Holiday Star
I swallow, my throat suddenly full of too many emotions. Fear, sadness, joy at seeing him again.
“Come closer.” His hand beckons, and then he adds quietly, “Please.”
My numb feet automatically respond to his call, leading me down the aisle until I’m standing at the edge of the stage, my head tilted up to see him.
I search his beautiful familiar face for any changes since I saw him last. Mostly, he looks the same. Same aqua eyes and tousled golden hair. But there’s a seriousness to him now, a quiet stillness. Like he’s matured in the time we’ve been apart.
Glancing around again, I see no one in the wings of the theater. No one in the orchestra pit. We’re completely alone.
“Caleb?” I stutter. “Wh—what’s going on? I thought I heard music.”
“It was me, practicing before you came in.” He brushes a single lock of hair off his forehead, only to have it fall back into the same position.
“But…why?” Have I tumbled into a rabbit hole and come out in an alternative reality? Caleb belongs in L.A., not New York. He should be on a movie screen, not alone on a stage with me as his only audience.
Yet he looks so good up there with the guitar in his hands, so confident and powerful. His eyes are steady, focused solely on me. The familiar timbre of his voice, low and smoky, sends a shiver of longing down my spine.
“I had you brought here because I wanted to play you a song.Your song. It comes out on the radio tomorrow, and I didn’t want that to be the way you first heard it.”
“What?” My jaw drops with shock. The old Caleb wouldn’t have been able to release his music like that. To send it out into the world for mass consumption. It would have terrified him.
“Your songs are going to be on the radio?” A thrill of excitement for him rushes through me. “That’s great. I’m so proud of you.” I snap my mouth shut, sure I’ve gone too far. Why would he care if I’m proud of him or not?
His smile is sweet but sad, as if he’s lost something. He breaks eye contact with me and bends over the guitar. Eyes closed tight, he strums the first chord and then the rest. Playing along with the music, Caleb sings my song.
His voice lifts like a bird soaring into the rafters of the theatre. The melody echoes through the room until the lyrics surround me, a soft caress.
My lips against yours
I’ve fallen under your spell
Never known anyone quite like you
No one’s ever known me quite so well
I’ve heard my song before, but never like this. Each word is filled with pure, raw emotion. You can tell that he loves this woman he’s singing about. That every single thing about her is precious to him.
There are tears in my eyes when he finishes. It breaks my heart to know that he used to feel that way about me. All these months apart I’ve doubted him, doubted that what we had together was real. Hearing him sing puts all those fears to rest. There’s no way he could compose a song like that if he hadn’t felt the connection between us. The love that Istillhold in a room hidden deep in my heart.
Once he’s done, Caleb walks down the stairs to the level where I stand. He’s so vibrant and gorgeous standing before me. I want to reach out and touch him. To run my fingers through his hair and brush my hand across those sharp cheekbones and down his firm body. All to prove he isn’t a dream. I don’t dare do any of those things, though. It’s too combustible, this tension I feel whenever we are close. I thought after all these months that fire would fade, but it’s still here in me, igniting at the sight of him.
It frightens me.
“Let’s sit.” He leads me to the front row. “Best seats in the house,” he jokes as we sit next to each other, my body sinking into the plush velvet. He’s so close that I can smell his spicy cinnamon scent. I can see the variations of blue in his eyes, like in the puzzle we once completed together.
He bends over to lean the guitar against the seat on the other side of him. My gaze snaps from the guitar, then to Caleb, and back to the guitar. “Is that?” I ask uncertainly. “Is that mydad’sguitar?”
He nods. “Yeah, your mom said I could borrow it. Just for a little while. She made sure I understood she wasn’t giving it to me permanently.”
My face screws up in confusion. “But Mom made me ship that guitar to Japan. I did it right after Christmas.” I distinctly remember her telling me she wanted it sent by express mail from California to Japan. She said something about Seth wanting to take lessons so he could play with Caleb the next time they were together. It had been such an awkward conversation. Mom was still furious with me at that point, angry that I had lied to her about Caleb’s and my relationship.
Caleb straightens and meets my eyes. “It was a long flight there and back.”
“Wait.” I shake my head, trying to clear it. “Are you saying that you went to Japan and talked to mymother?”
This time, his smile has some of the old swagger in it. That little fizz of cockiness, like he’s enjoying my befuddlement. “Yes, Gwen. I went to Japan. Figured I owed your mom a big apology for ruining her Christmas.”
I can’t imagine that. Caleb flying all the way to Japan. Caleb and my mom in a room together without me. The thought is surreal.
