“How long have you been dating?” Evie asks me.
“Oh . . . well, we’re not really dating. It’s kinda new. I’m a thirty-six year old new divorcee. I met him to get a tattoo done, and we sorta hit it off.”
“That’s great! He’s really cute.”
She’s so right, and he seems to get cuter every time I see him. “I guess.” I smile at her. “I don’t know . . . he’s much younger than me. He’s only twenty-four. I have a teen daughter who has a crush on him, and she loves this band. This is all really new for me. I think I’m kinda too old for this.”
She waves her hand at me, dismissing my comment with a smile. “Get out of here! You don’t look thirty-six! And who cares about age anyway? Storm speaks really highly of him. He’s a good guy. If you’re happy, just go for it! ”
“Look who’s talking!” Evie’s friend interjects, nudging Evie’s arm.
I lower my voice, so her boyfriend can’t hear me. “I heard about you and Storm. Lukas told me what happened.”
“What did you hear?” she asks, her big eyes growing wider with fear.
“About the blizzard and how he fell for you. Don’t worry. I won’t say anything. Lukas really wants to see Storm happy.”
Her eyes soften. “I do too.”
I look up at the stage as the song ends. The singer grabs the mic off the stand and walks a little closer to the edge of the stage.
“So, as you guys know, my brother got stuck in a blizzard a few weeks ago, right?” He turns to Storm, laughing in his direction. “Like trapped in his truck out in the woods?”
The crowd screams, and Evie looks like she is going to pass out.
The singer continues. “So, this chick he was stuck with had no fucking idea who he was. Can you believe that shit?”
“No!” the audience yells.
“Fuckin’ A, right! So Storm gave her one of our sweatshirts to wear, because he steals them all and he had one in his truck.” He looks over at Storm, who’s shaking his head and laughing over on his side of the stage. “And she says, ‘oh is this one of those bands that just yell, and you can’t hear the fucking lyrics?’”
The crowd roars and laughs. Evie’s friend, Amy, laughs hysterically, while Evie sips her drink. I feel bad for her. She looks like she is going to be sick.
“So we decided to do a song with no fuckin’ yelling, just for Blizzard Chick! And as a special treat, Storm’s gonna sing this one. It’s one of his favorite songs.”
“Oh, God,” Evie says as the audience jumps up and down.
Storm’s brother continues. “Now, you all know he can’t sing as good as me, so let’s go easy on him, okay?” He puts the mic back in its stand and walks away as the lights go down.