were something she’d thought about before. Emily realized she probably had, if not in her own life, then with her patients.
“Exactly,” Emily told her. “Exactly.”
Ezra should understand that more than anyone.
“Can you rewind and tell me more about this band, though?” Priya said. “Because I, for one, am intrigued.”
And Emily did, talking about the performances, about the songs they used to sing, and remembering how happy she was on stage, how it defined so much of who she was back then. How different she was now.
38
Priya and Emily walked into the Snare, Tony’s bar, the name of which had made Emily laugh. Tony always used to call his snare drum a real boyfriend snare. Whenever he soloed on it during shows, he’d have tons of men trying to buy him a drink afterward, once he’d let their fans know that he was into guys and not girls.
“Which one is he?” Priya whispered, as they walked through the door.
But Emily didn’t have to answer. Rob was at the door in a second and a half. “Queenie!” he said, bending in for a hug. “Your hair is back!” He turned to Priya, sticking out his hand. “And you must be Priya; it’s so nice to meet you. Do you play, too?”
Priya shook her head. “I wish. I’m just an appreciative audience.”
Rob smiled. “Well, I hope we’ll give you a show to appreciate tonight.”
Emily took him in. He looked pretty much the same as he had the night before, but his energy was different, relaxed and keyed up all at once, like he was really delighting in being in this bar about to perform at an open mic.
“You wanna open the show, Queen?” he asked her.
Emily shook her head. “No chance. How about third?” That felt comfortable to her. She’d realized on the walk to the bar that the last time she’d performed all alone was her piano recital in eighth grade. Throughout college, she’d always been part of the group—either with the whole band, or just with Rob. She didn’t want to have to kick things off by herself.
“You got it,” Rob said. “Tony’s got some friends who can start us off. He and I’ll close the show. And we’ll see who else we get along the way.”
“Sounds good to me,” Emily said. She was starting to feel that pre-performance energy. She’d forgotten how it felt—like her whole body was ready, her muscles were alert, her mind was starting to focus. Her blood felt like it was moving through her body faster, oxygenating every part of her, making everything sharper, brighter, louder.
Priya and Emily headed over to the bar, and after they ordered vodka tonics from the bartender, Priya turned to Emily. “Why does he call you Queenie?”
“The first time we met, he called me a crystal queen, and then he wrote a song about me back then called ‘Queen of All the Keys.’ After that, it stuck for a while. And Queen became Queenie. A nickname of the nickname, I guess.” Emily shrugged. She was simultaneously embarrassed by and proud of the name. It was fun to be a queen.
“I’m still not over this,” Priya said. “We’re in the same room as Austin Roberts. And he hugged you. And shook my hand. And called me by name. This is kind of nuts.”
Emily laughed. “He’s just a person like everyone else,” she said. “I always thought he’d be a star one day.”
The two women sat down at a bar table for two as the room started filling up. Word must’ve gotten around that Rob was there. When the bar was packed to the point that people were lining the walls around the small stage, Tony came by to say hi. Emily wouldn’t have recognized him if she’d seen him on the street. In college he had long hair that he’d worn layered and wavy. Now his head was shaved and it seemed like he worked out pretty hard.
“You look great, Tony,” she said, when she hugged him.
“You too, Queen,” he said, looking at her. “I’ve always wondered if you’d pop up again. I searched for you every now and then on social media, but I never found you. I did find a lot of other Emily Solomons, though.”
“I’m not on it,” Emily said. “I’m a psychologist, and I didn’t want my patients to be able to find out too much personal information about me.”
“Huh,” Tony said. “I never would’ve pegged you as a shrink. Well, I’m glad you popped up tonight. We’ll