“Okay. How about her?” Wyatt asked pointing to the songwriter who was scheduled to go on right before me.
I sighed. “Fine, you’re right. I don’t have a competitive bone in my body. That was always Lola’s territory.”
Wyatt put his hands on either side of my shoulders. “Come on, I know there’s a fighter in there somewhere. Where’s the girl who’s not afraid to call me out when I’m being a wanker?”
I laughed. “That’s different.”
“How?”
“I don’t know.” I winced as I looked at the hopeful faces of my competition. “I guess because I know if I win, it means they don’t, and I hate the idea of taking anyone’s dream away from them.”
Wyatt’s face got that dopey smile I loved. It always accompanied his declarations that made my knees weak. I wasn’t sure I could handle that right now. My knees were shaky enough as it was. But Wyatt didn’t seem to notice. He just went about being dashing and tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “How on earth did I ever get so lucky?”
“What do you mean?”
“You’re beautiful, funny, smart, talented and kind. And the fact that you’re so unassuming about it, just makes you even more special.” He placed the softest kiss on my lips, drawing back to take my face in his hands. “It’s okay that you don’t have a competitive nature. You don’t have any competition. No one else in the world is on your level. Just go out there and be you, and you’ve already won.”
My lips began to quiver as I felt the emotions I’d barely been containing finally burst. I threw my arms around Wyatt’s neck and held him tight.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
“For what?”
“For being you, for seeing me, for making me feel special.”
“You are special, Layne.” He grinned. “And we’re gonna go out there and show everyone just how special your music is.”
Wyatt held me until my shaking stopped and I was able to rein in my emotions. I was actually glad I’d gotten a few tears out. I felt more solid now as I watched the first girl in the songwriter group get announced. She took the stage to massive applause.
I harnessed the energy from the butterflies in my stomach as I listened to her songs. She was good. Really good. But I knew that didn’t mean I wasn’t. I leaned back into Wyatt’s chest and let him wrap his arms around me as we both watched the next performer take the stage.
A calm settled over me as we stood there together sharing in this special experience. In a few minutes it would be even more special when we took the stage and sang together. There was nothing else in the world quite like making music with the boy I loved.
When it was finally our turn, Wyatt grinned at me and held out his hand. “You ready, Penny Layne?”
I nodded, slipping my hand into his. For the first time in my life, I truly was ready to go after my dreams. I grinned at Wyatt. It didn’t seem half as scary now that one of them had already come true.
Chapter Sixty-Three
Wyatt
I couldn’t help grinning as I watched Layne. She was in her element strumming her guitar. I was so happy that she’d carried that same confident grace I knew she possessed onto the stage today. I’d seen a lot of talented performers bomb in front of a live crowd. It was different than being in a recording studio. But Layne looked like a seasoned pro as she took the mic, thanking the crowd after the applause for our first song died down.
Bent was up next. It would be the second and final song of the audition. We’d planned to sing it together, but I caught the twinkle in Layne’s eye when she turned to me. My heart swelled, because I knew what she was going to say even before she spoke, and I’d never been more proud of her.
“This next song, I wrote for someone very special. I wrote if for myself, so I think I’m going to do this one by myself if that’s okay.”
I gave her a nod, grinning so big it hurt. “Knock ‘em dead, Penny Layne,” I whispered, giving her a wink as I got up from the piano and hurried off stage.
I dashed down into the audience as quickly as my Franken-boot would allow, grabbing one of the seats up front that had been reserved for the performers. I blew Layne a