Page 18 of The Mountain Man's Secret Star
So I'm done with merely coping,
Done with love that's just heartbreak.
Some dreams are worth the staying,
Some love is worth the choice,
Some magic needs our saying
'Yes' with our authentic voice..."*
As I sang, something extraordinary happened. The crowd began to sway as one, their voices joining mine on the repeated chorus as if they'd known the song their whole lives. Children sat on their parents' shoulders, pointing at the blazing comet. Couples pulled each other closer, and I caught glimpses of tears on faces illuminated by Christmas lights and cosmic fire.
This. This is why I make music.
The song ended to the most genuine applause I'd ever received—not the polite appreciation of industry events or the manufactured enthusiasm of ticketed concerts, but the raw response of hearts touched by something real.
"Thank you," I said into the microphone, my voice thick with emotion. "Thank you for reminding me that the best audiences aren't the biggest ones—they're the ones who understand that music is meant to be a conversation, not a performance."
I set down my guitar and stepped back from the microphone. I'd said what I'd come to say, made the choice I'd been avoiding all week. Now I needed to find out if Gavin was brave enough to believe in it.
Keisha intercepted me before I'd gone three steps, her expression carefully controlled but her eyes blazing with professional concern.
"Sadie," she said, steering me toward a quiet corner. "We need to talk. The label offer expires at midnight. If you want to reconsider—"
"I don't." The certainty in my voice surprised even me. "Keisha, I love you, and I know you've worked incredibly hard on this deal. But I can't build my life around someone else's vision of what success should look like."
Her face softened slightly. "You're absolutely certain? Because there's no going back once that deadline passes."
"I'm certain." I squeezed her hand. "But I'm also hoping you'll help me figure out how to build something sustainable here. Shorter tours, selective recording opportunities, music that matters more than music that sells."
She was quiet for a moment, then nodded slowly. "Okay. But we're going to need a new strategy."
Relief flooded through me. "You'll stay? You'll help me figure this out?"
"Someone has to keep you from making completely impractical decisions," she said with a smile that was part exasperation, part genuine affection.
I hugged her fiercely, then pulled away as urgency hit me. "I need to find Gavin."
"Go," Keisha said, already pulling out her phone. "I'll handle the industry fallout. You handle the important stuff."
I pushed through the festival crowd, searching for pewter eyes and the kind of love that didn't ask me to be anyone other than exactly who I was. The comet blazed overhead, its ancient light growing impossibly brighter as the seconds ticked toward midnight—toward the moment when Comet Kringle would reach its perfect zenith and begin its thousand-year journey back into deep space.
I found him near the edge of the main crowd, standing perfectly still while chaos swirled around him. When our eyes met across the snowy ground, everything else faded to nothing.
"So," he said when I was close enough to touch, his voice rough with barely contained emotion, "you meant what you said up there?"
"Every word." I stepped closer, close enough to see the way the comet light caught the silver in his pewter eyes. "The question is: do you believe me now?"
His hands came up to cup my face, thumbs brushing across my cheekbones with devastating gentleness. Above us, Comet Kringle blazed toward its destined moment—eleven fifty-nine and thirty seconds, the cosmic clock counting down to perfect alignment.
"I believe you," he whispered, and then his mouth was on mine.
The kiss was everything—apology and promise, fear transformed into hope, the taste of winter air and forever on his lips. Around us, someone began counting down the final secondsto midnight, and I felt the cosmic significance of the moment settling into my bones.
"Ten! Nine! Eight!"
The crowd's voices rose in unison as Comet Kringle blazed brighter than seemed possible, its warm fire turning the entire sky into molten gold.
