Page 293 of The Nanny and the Heartthrob

He’d been here.

It was the intimate concert hall where the second challenge had taken place. He spied the musicians on stage, lit by the spotlight. It was odd to see it from this vantage point. He was always the one lit in a flurry of spotlights. He walked down the aisle toward the stage.

“Maybe we should try it in a different key?” a guy suggested from the second row.

It wasn’t that.

“You’re in the right key, and you’ve got a great post-grunge sound,” he said, jogging down the aisle, then taking the steps to the stage. He set the pillow on a stool. “I’d suggest changing the tempo and fine-tuning the resonance. You’re looking for harmony and balance, but I hear three distinct instruments, not one cohesive sound.”

A young woman with pink braids holding a violin, a guy with spiky blond hair on the drums, and a woman with dark ringlets framing her face holding a guitar stared at him wide-eyed.

Holy shit!He recognized them. They’d asked questions during the Q and A.

“Do you remember me?” he asked.

“Everyone remembers you. You’re Landon Paige. You’re crazy famous,” the girl with pink braids answered.

He could help them. But he had to put them at ease.

“Just think of me as another musician. What are your names?”

“I’m Kai,” the guy said, looking shell-shocked. “DeeDee is on the violin, and May is on guitar.”

“All right, Kai, DeeDee, and May, listen to this.” He opened his guitar case and removed his instrument. “I’ll play your original melody, but I’ll slow it down. Kai, I want you to come in first. But you don’t need to beat the hell out of the drum kit.”

The kid chuckled.

“But don’t be afraid to let me know you’re there,” he continued. “Imagine walking into a room and feeling out the vibe. That’s the energy you want to put into it.” He played the melody on his guitar, then nodded to Kai. The guy came in sharper and provided the perfect base layer. “That’s it,” he said, nodding to the drummer. “May, you’re next. You’re going to come in smooth. Picture gentle waters. There’s nothing choppy. Only the ebb and flow.”

“Got it,” she said, joining in.

And there it was.

That tingle. That synergy of sound. The connectedness he’d felt with his sister, Trey, and Harper.

He swallowed past the emotion in his throat. “DeeDee, you’re up. Start a measure behind. The contrast in the notes will add the right nuance.”

The woman positioned the violin at her chin, raised the bow, and followed his instructions.

The air shimmered as ripples of sound pulsed through the space. The notes ceased being notes and became storytellers. They carried a narrative. They delivered an emotional message. The instruments melded together, and the melody expanded and contracted like a living organism.

He took a step back and stopped playing. “This is all you. Keep going,” he said, tapping his foot and keeping the beat. “You found it. This is the sweet spot.”

The musicians beamed and surrendered to the tweaked melody. They played it through once, twice, and a third time before he signaled for them to wrap it up.

Kai pressed his drumsticks to his chest. “That was incredible.”

“How did we do that?” DeeDee asked, staring at her violin as if she were seeing it for the first time.

“That was taking a risk, facing what scared you, and following your gut. That was living your truth through music,” he answered. He hadn’t formulated the response. It hadn’t come from his head—that’s for damn sure. The words had come from his heart.

He pictured Harper’s face.

When she visited him in his dreams, he could only see the anguish in her eyes. But the image that came to him now carried no pain or disappointment. He imagined watching her sleep during those few seconds before she would awaken each morning. He’d roll onto his side, gaze down at her, and twist a lock of her hair around his finger. She’d smile a sweet ghost of a grin as she open her eyes, and he’d see his forever in her pools of hazel.

“Mr. Paige, could you write that out for us?” Kai asked.

“What?” he stammered.

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