“Sure, no problem. I’ve been in some pretty embarrassing situations. What’s up?”
“Well, I’ve got this talent show coming up at school, and the thing is,” he paused before saying in a rush, “I’ve never actually been on stage before.”
Tyce could still remember the first time he went on stage. He’d been so nervous the guitar shook in his hands like there was an earthquake rolling through the theatre.
“Been there, too,” he told Whitney’s brother. “How can I help out?”
“Whitney said that the band you were in was really good,” Sebastian said. “Maybe you could give me some tips? I really don’t want to mess this up. Not with everyone watching.”
Tyce thought for a minute. It would be easy to give Sebastian a few basic suggestions over the phone, but that didn’t feel like enough. After all, this was Whitney’s brother. Besides, it was good to see at least one member of the Banning family going after their dreams.
“We can do better than that,” he said. “You’ve been to the Rose Chalet for one of Marge’s weddings?”
“Sure. Three times.”
“Meet me over there, and bring your guitar.”
Tyce grabbed his guitar. On impulse, he chose his beat up one, rather than the one he usually used for work. Milo looked up at him, then back down to the leash.
“Sorry about your walk,” Tyce said. “Don’t worry, though, you’re coming too.”
Once he’d loaded up his gear, he drove over to the chalet with Milo. The little dog didn’t usually come with him to work, even though Rose clearly adored him. There was usually enough chaos on site without adding an excited dog underfoot. The chalet was closed and empty tonight, but Tyce had a key for late night rehearsals with the wedding bands.
Whitney’s younger brother was trying to look casual as he stood by the chalet’s front door with his guitar case in his hand, because, obviously, looking excited about things wasn’t cool. Still, Tyce could see the nerves.
“Hi, Sebastian, come on inside.”
“I know you’re probably too busy to hang out for too long,” the kid began.
Tyce shook his head and said, “I’m always up for jamming with another musician.”
“Thanks.” Sebastian crouched to stroke Milo’s head, and the dog gave his hand a big slobbery slurp. “Yuck.”
“It’s the first rule of show business,” Tyce said with a smile. “Never work with animals.” He ignored Milo’s affronted look. “Tonight is all about getting experience playing on stage when there’s no one around, so you don’t have to worry about the simple things.”
“I’m not worried.”
“Sure you’re not,” Tyce said as he unlocked the door. “I once had a bass player who was so blinded by the glare from the lights that he walked off the front of the stage.” He laughed. “His playing didn’t get a whole lot worse, to be honest.”
Sebastian was laughing as they went through to the main hall, carefully keeping off the floor RJ had just re-varnished.
“It’s important to make sure that everything is working before you start,” Tyce said as they set up the amplifiers. “I’ve had gigs where we were too rushed to sound check and the gear broke down just as we went on stage.”
Sebastian nodded, obviously taking it all in, then pointed to Tyce’s instrument. “That’s a cool guitar.”
Tyce slipped the battered and heavily customized old telecaster over his neck. “It’s all I could afford to put together back when I was gigging. I don’t play it much these days.”
“Why not?”
“It’s not the kind of guitar people expect when they come for a wedding. It wouldn’t look right.”
“I bet you’ve been through a lot with that guitar,” Sebastian pointed out. “And if it’s right for you, why use something else?”
Tyce shrugged and plugged the old thing in. He had to admit, it sounded a lot sweeter than he remembered. Turning his focus back to Sebastian’s show, he said, “The best thing you can do for yourself and your audience is just to enjoy the show you’re putting on. The people in the crowd want you to succeed, because they want to be entertained. If you look like you’re having fun, it’s easier for
them
to have fun. Go ahead, plug in and play. Pretend you’re out on your school's stage and everyone you want to play for is in the audience.”
Sebastian started to play, and although the first few bars were tentative and shaky, he quickly relaxed. Tyce was glad to see that the teenager had talent. Tyce quickly fell into providing the rhythm parts, stopping Sebastian here and there to give advice.
“Don’t be too focused on making sure your technique is perfect,” he suggested at one point. “Impressing people is fine, but what they’ll remember are the songs that move them.”
“How do I do that?” Sebastian asked.
“Back when I was writing songs, it was always about tapping into emotion. If I could pin down what I wanted to get across and really open up a part of myself, there was always a much better chance of connecting with the audience. Not,” he felt compelled to add, “that I’ve written anything in a long time.” Which then brought him to, “How’s Whitney doing?”
“Good,” Sebastian said as he bent back over his guitar. Almost as a second thought he said, “Even though she cancelled her wedding.”
“So,” Tyce said slowly, knowing he shouldn’t be mining her little brother for information, but unable to stop himself, “I guess she’s told everyone by now, huh?”
Sebastian shook his head. “No, she’s weird about that stuff. Like Mom and Dad would ever be upset with her.”
Tyce frowned. Why hadn’t she told her parents?
But he knew when it was time to back off, so he went back to showing Sebastian the basics of how to use the stage to get feedback through his guitar, and talked with him through the brief talent show set list.
“Close with your best song.”
“Close with it?” Sebastian was clearly surprised. “Shouldn’t I start with it instead?”
Tyce shook his head. “It’s the one people will remember most.”
Sebastian swallowed hard. “What if I still don’t feel like I’m ready for this?”
“Then we can keep playing,” Tyce said, “but honestly, it’s mostly just a question of attitude. Remember that you’re doing this because you love it. Sure, you’re going to be up on stage with people staring at you, but that’s exactly where you want to be. It’s just a part of doing what you really want.”
Sebastian looked around the Rose Chalet. “So playing weddings here is what you really want?”
No.
The answer came so swift and so clear to Tyce and he knew there was no hiding from the truth anymore.
What he really wanted was to be able to write a song again.
And he wanted Whitney, too.
Chapter Ten
The high school auditorium was packed by the time Whitney arrived. Fortunately, Sebastian had reserved a seat for her. Even if he hadn’t, she would have found a spot close to the stage, because she was the only member of the family in town and Sebastian needed to know his family supported his dreams. He might have spent the week pretending the talent show didn’t matter, but Whitney knew he was nervous.
Not as nervous as she’d been for most of the week, however, as she’d told her relatives about Kenneth, one by one.
Her brother had been easy to tell, because Whitney knew he wasn’t going to judge her. Annette had been easy, too. The hardest part was stopping her cousin from continuing to suggest other men to date to take her mind off the “pain” of losing Kenneth. It had taken a good quarter of an hour to persuade Annette that “we both decided to end it” was not code for Kenneth having run off with someone else.
Her parents had been the hardest ones to tell. She’d put it off all week, expecting her mother to cry and her father to say how disappointed he was in her for letting a good man like Kenneth go. The last thing that Whitney had wanted was to hurt them.
Despite her fears, her parents had actually been great. Once she’d finally managed to get the words out, her mother had hugged her. Her father had asked her if she was sure it was what she wanted, and when she said yes, he’d seemed almost relieved.
“All we want is for you to be happy, honey,” he’d said. “I’m glad you realized this now, before you and Kenneth got married.”
“We’ve always liked him,” her mother had added, “but if the two of you don’t have that spark, then you obviously aren’t right for one another. I know one day you’ll find someone who will make you truly happy.”
It had been surprisingly easy to tell them the truth. So much easier than Whitney had thought it would be. So easy that sitting there in the darkening auditorium, she found herself wondering if she couldn’t tell her parents the rest of it, that she wasn’t sure she wanted to spend her life running their company.
Only, the truth was that resigning as head of operations of the Banning Group would affect everything. And Whitney couldn’t possibly forget the conversation she’d overheard five years ago.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do now that Whitney has decided to go to veterinary college,”
her father had said.
“You aren’t thinking of staying at the company, are you Graham?”
her mother had replied.
“You know what the doctor said about stress and your health.”
“I don’t know what else I can do, Jen. Whitney’s the only one I trust to take over. Could you imagine one of her cousins doing it?”
“We could recruit someone else to take your place, someone who has been in the business for a while already. Your health isn’t good enough to put in those long days anymore.”
“I won’t have a stranger running the family business.”
“But if Whitney doesn’t want to do it…”
Her father’s face in the shadows had been resolved.
“Then I have to keep going.”
Had anything really changed since then? Whitney wondered, as the last few people came in to the auditorium.
No, it hadn’t.
After thirty years behind a desk her father had been pale. Too thin. He traveled too much and didn’t eat right. As soon as she’d taken over, his health had improved. Now when he traveled it was for pleasure. And he was full of laughter whenever they were together. She loved knowing she’d been there for him the way he’d been there for her her whole life.
Her parents still wouldn’t want a stranger running the business they had worked so hard to build up. So who did that leave? Sebastian in a few years, after he graduated from college?
Whitney looked up at the stage and knew her brother’s heart was in music, not running an international corporation.
The reserved seat next to her was the only empty one in the room. Just as the lights went all the way down, a man sat down beside her. Whitney couldn’t help staring, her pulse speeding up automatically, her breath coming fast.
“Tyce? What are you doing here?”
Even in the dark auditorium, she could see he looked particularly good tonight, wearing a dark shirt and slacks. Whitney thought that she could see the muscles moving under his shirt as he sat down, then chided herself for noticing.
“I came down to support Sebastian,” he said. “After all the work he’s put in over the past week, I wanted to be here.”
“All the work…” Whitney stared at Tyce for a moment or two, drinking him in. His nearness. His clean scent. The beautiful flash of his eyes as he stared back at her. She’d asked him for time and he’d given it to her, but now she wished he hadn’t. “You’ve been helping him?”
“Shh!” a parent behind them hissed. “The show is starting.”
It was so hard to keep her hand on her own lap, rather than slipping it into his. Tyce helping her brother was so sweet.
She had to forcefully remind herself that she’d only just told her parents about Kenneth. And that she hadn’t even begun to work out what she really wanted when it came to her future.
All too aware of Tyce sitting next to her, she kept her eyes carefully glued to the stage as groups of high school students started to perform. Whitney did her best to focus on the acts that came on one after the other, but it wasn’t easy. The kids were quite talented, and she had to admit that the talent show was a lot more fun than she’d thought it might be, but when his hand brushed against hers on the arm rest, Whitney simply couldn’t concentrate on what was going on up on the stage.
She quickly pulled her attention back to it when Sebastian walked out onto the stage with his guitar, though. No, not walked.
Strode.
Her brother strutted like he owned the auditorium, and when he began to play, every eye in the room was on him. He looked around the crowd as he played, seeming to connect with all of them at once. It wasn’t quite like watching Tyce perform, but it was close. Closer than Whitney would have believed it could be.
He’d obviously put in a
lot
of work with her brother.
Everyone else in the audience seemed to think Sebastian was great, too, judging by the way they applauded. She could hardly bring herself to stay in her seat for the rest of the show, she was so eager to find her brother and congratulate him.
When the talent show ended, Tyce and Whitney both headed to the front of the stage.
She hugged her brother. “You were wonderful.”
Beside her, Tyce nodded. “You did great. I knew you would.”
“After all that time on the stage at the Rose Chalet, it wasn’t so bad,” Sebastian said. “It was fun being up there with everyone looking at me. Thanks for coming.”
“I wouldn’t have missed it for the world,” Whitney assured him.
“Me either,” Tyce said, reaching out to shake Sebastian’s hand. “Listen, I thought I could take you out to celebrate. After all the hard work you’ve put in, you deserve it.”
But Sebastian’s eyes had already wandered to his friends. “A few of the guys from my class were talking about hanging out over at Connor’s place, and I’ve kind of already said that I’ll go. Plus, Michelle from my math class is going…”
“You don’t need to say anything else,” Tyce said with a smile that seemed to Whitney to be just a fraction too wide. It obviously had Sebastian convinced, though. “Go hang out with your friends. We’ll jam together a different time.”