and tears welled in my eyes.
He stroked the strings one final time, like a musical exhale, and the crowd breathed right along with it, before breaking out into thunderous applause.
“Thank you so much,” he said, sounding in awe. “I’m Troy Osbourne, and it’s been a pleasure. Stick around. The Red Door Band will be up here in a few minutes and they’re going to keep y’all entertained.”
The stage lights faded to black to more applause, and Troy’s shadowy figure remained at the microphone until it was over, soaking it all in. Then he turned toward me, took off his guitar, and strode slowly in the dim light to the edge of the curtain. He handed off his guitar to an equipment tech, passing it with care, but also urgency.
It was because as soon as his hands were clear, he scooped me up into them, lifting and spinning me in a half-circle, making me squeak with delighted surprise. He was high from his performance, and he planted his lips over mine long before setting me back on my feet.
“I don’t want to wake up from this dream,” I whispered.
“Me neither.” God, his smile. He kissed me again, threw his arm around my shoulder, and started walking us toward the stairs. “Did you like it?”
I laughed at his ridiculous question, and I wasn’t sure if he meant his rendition of ‘Reckless’ or the performance in general, but the answer was the same for both. “It was incredible.”
His chest rose as he took in a satisfied breath and the arm around me squeezed me closer.
When the cart delivered us back to the bunker hallway, Ardy stood in the open doorway to the suite at the other end, and waved at us to come in. As I walked toward the room that was undoubtedly Stella’s dressing room, Troy wove his hand through mine.
Ardy watched this, but his expression didn’t change, as if he wasn’t bothered in the slightest. The stage manager hadn’t been fazed by our hand holding earlier, either. Maybe it was because music folks had seen it all and generally were easy-going. It wasn’t their business how the music got made; all that mattered was the show went on.
“Great job, kid,” Ardy said, gesturing to the suite.
We stepped inside, and although the room was decorated the same as Troy’s, the energy was wildly different. It was full of people, most of whom congregated by the table at the back, brimming with fancy appetizers and drinks. Stella sat in a chair in front of the large screen TV while a woman knelt beside her and applied bronzer. Behind her, a man had her long blonde locks rolled in a huge round brush and worked to blow dry it sleek and straight.
“Oh my God, Troy,” she exclaimed in a bright voice as soon as she saw him, lifting a hand to signal to her hairstylist to give her a second. The hairdryer cut off. “You were amazing! I got chills.” She turned to her makeup artist. “Remember, Lorraine? When I said I had goosebumps?”
The woman nodded in confirmation. “She did.”
Troy shook his head as if he couldn’t believe it. “Thank you.” His tone was full of gratitude he struggled to adequately express. “I can’t thank you enough for everything.”
Stella scrunched her face in a warm smile. “You’re welcome. I loved getting to do it.” On screen, the crowd murmured in excitement. The lights had gone down, and the next act was preparing to start their set. She turned her gaze to the TV, but her attention was still with us. “Y’all are welcome to stay and hang out.”
Troy wasn’t really given a choice. Some of the music executives he’d dined with last night were here in Stella’s suite, and they came over to offer their congratulations on the show.
“Do you need anything?” I asked him in the spare seconds we could grab between conversations. “Something to eat or drink?” I gestured to his monitor that was no longer hooked in his ear but hung by the cord around the back of his neck. “Want me to find someone to take that?”
“It’s fine,” he said quickly.
I smiled knowingly. He’d commented he felt legit when he’d first put it on, and he wasn’t ready for that feeling to be over.
His expression suddenly went blank. “My parents.”
I nodded. “I’ll let them know you’re here, and you’ll see them after the show.”
When I turned to go, he grabbed my wrist. “Wait, Erika . . . it’s fine, I