“Your voices together are just…”
“We need yours,” Faye said.
“What?” Emily asked.
I smiled bigger.
Inside my head, I was clapping for Emily.
“Before I get accused of anything again,” Robin said. She touched her stomach. “I’m pregnant.”
“Oh, wow, congrats,” Emily said. “How far along?”
“Far enough,” Robin said. “My husband and I had been trying for a long time. That’s a whole other story I shouldn’t just start telling a stranger.”
“You do that a lot, Robin,” Faye said. “You chase people away.”
“Why do you think Kyle likes being tied up?” Carla asked.
I laughed. “What?”
“Nothing,” Robin said. She looked at me with a stare that was as fiery as her hair. “Got it?”
“Got it,” I said. “I know nothing.”
Robin looked at Emily again. “Because of our situation at home, I’m not going to be able to sing with the ladies anymore.”
“Hence her being a traitor,” Carla said.
“She wants to be a mom,” Emily said. “I respect that.”
“Don’t take her side,” Carla said.
“She already did,” Robin said.
“Wow, we are off topic,” Faye said. She reached for Emily’s hands. “Listen to me. Emily. We sing all over the city. Mostly for fun. We have a handful of paying gigs too. We’ve done weddings and private parties. We avoid the costumes.”
“Costumes?” Emily asked.
“There are rich pervs who will pay big money to have you dress up like their favorite celebrity,” Carla said. “Then they get drunk and get all handsy. No way.”
“Oh,” Emily said. “Right.”
My mind flashed images of some Wall Street asshole sitting in a chair, calling Emily close to him, his hands touching the back of her legs…
I took a breath.
Calm down, Liam.
“What we’re getting at is this,” Carla said. “We’ve seen a lot of shows. Especially here.” She leaned closer to Emily and I. “Faye is banging the bouncer.”
Faye slapped Carla’s arm. “Don’t say it like that.”
“Well, you are,” Carla said.
“It’s true,” Robin said.
Faye looked at Robin. “Maybe you are a traitor.”
“Hey,” Robin said. “You told us you like roleplaying with Dozer.”
“Shut up,” Faye said.
She touched her cheeks.
Emily looked at me again.
I shrugged my shoulders.
“Okay, now she thinks we’re crazy,” Carla said.
“I do not,” Emily said.
“Yeah, you do,” Carla said. “You just gave your hunky boyfriend the eyes. So now you want him to make an excuse to leave.”
I laughed. “Hunky?”
“What?” Carla asked. She looked right at me. Blue eyes and all. “I call it as I see it. Robin is willing to give up singing to have a baby. I’m going to miss her. But I can’t wait to hold that baby. Faye likes having Dozer carry her around… preferably to the bedroom. And you… you’re hot enough to set off the sprinkler system, Liam. If I didn’t feel the sexual chemistry between you and Emily, I’d probably make some cheap, cliché, dumb blonde moves on you.”
“And what would those be?” I asked.
Emily swatted my arm. “Really?”
“Emily,” Faye said. “Here’s the deal. You’re the best singer we’ve ever heard. Tonight was Robin’s last gig. We want you to sing with us.”
“Yes,” I said.
“Do you speak for her?” Robin asked.
“Sorry,” I said. I touched Emily’s arm and leaned in. “I’m going to go to the bar and get us a drink. Meet me there in five minutes.”
Emily nodded.
I left her alone, smiling ear to ear.
I looked back and watched as the crowd of people began to swallow Emily up.
But I could still find her. Still see her.
Not a single person in the place mattered more than she did.
We stood outside Emily’s apartment.
She touched the doorknob and then pulled her hand away really quick.
“Do you want to see something?” she asked.
“Yes,” I blurted out.
I was ready to do anything to keep the night from ending.
“Follow me,” Emily said.
We skipped going into her apartment and walked to the end of the hallway.
She took stairs that were so old, it made them into one giant echo as you climbed them. It reminded me of the kind of stairwell that would be in a horror movie.
She walked. I followed.
And we ended up at the door to the roof of the building.
“Oh, no,” I said.
“What?” Emily asked.
“Are you going to push me off the roof?”
“Shoot. You figured it out.”
Emily stood at the door and I stepped up to the top step and stood inches from her.
“Did I hurt you, Em?”
“Yeah.”
“You want revenge on me?”
“Definitely,” she said.
She smiled.
I smiled.
The stairwell was mostly dark.
We both had a few drinks at the bar, not that that was any excuse for what was going through my mind and body. That would not be some