Author: Jaci Burton

“Break a leg, sister.”

She swallowed and headed out to the mic, grabbed the metal stool, and perched on the edge. She did her best to not look like she might throw up or pass out at any minute. She scanned the crowd and found Liz and Tara, who both grinned and clapped loudly for her.

Taking a deep breath, she settled in and began to strum the guitar, falling into the music she’d written. It was a mournful love song about a breakup, about hurt and pain and what happens when you thought you were in love, but it didn’t work out, and how you found the strength to go on from there. She hoped a few people in the audience could connect with it.

She could always get lost in music, so she let it flow through her fingertips and through her voice, letting the words and the meaning pour through her soul to everyone who’d ever had love and lost it.

When she finished, she looked up, and no one moved, spoke, or said a word.

Oh, shit. She sucked.

But then everyone leaped to their feet, thunderous applause and claps and foot stomps springing tears to her eyes. She slid off the barstool and bowed, grinned, and left the stage.

The deejay stopped her. “Oh, no, honey. They want more.”

“Really?”

“Hell yeah. Give them another.”

She turned around and went back, stunned to hear the whistles and hollers and clapping as she took her seat on the stool once again. This time she gave them a song more happy and upbeat, about finding your first love in the middle of summer, when everything is sweet and innocent, the kind of love that could never be forgotten. It was a fun song, something they could stand and clap their hands to.

At the end, they cheered for her just as loud and she couldn’t wipe the grin from her face.

“They love you,” the deejay said. “Don’t leave. I’m sure you’re going to want to play more tonight.”

“Okay, sure,” she said with a laugh.

She got stopped along the way back to her table for congratulations and pats on the back.

When she got back to the table, Tara threw her arms around her and squealed.

“Holy shit you were good,” Tara said. “I had no idea you could sing like that.”

“Thanks.”

Liz, however, sat back with her arms folded and glared at her.

Uh-oh. The true test. “You didn’t like it.”

“Are you fucking kidding me? What I want to know is why you’re wasting your time as a bartender when you should have a recording contract?”

Jenna took a long drink from her bottle of water, then set the bottle down. “Oh, come on.”

“Don’t you ‘oh, come on’ me. Surely you have to have some inkling of how talented you are.”

Jenna shrugged. “I like to sing and write music.”

“And I’m an agent and know talent when I see it.”

“Yeah, sports talent.”

“Talent, sweetie. You are talented. Amazingly, fuck-my-brains-out talented.”

Jenna shook her head. “No.”

“Yes. You need to get an agent and a recording contract, pronto.”

“I don’t think so.”

“Did Ty hear you sing?” Tara asked. “What did he say?”

Jenna didn’t answer right away.

“Jenna,” Liz said. “What did he say?”

“Pretty much what you said.”

Liz threw her hands in the air. “And you, what? Ignored him?”

“I figured he was just saying nice things because we were having sex.”

Liz shook her head. “You are such an idiot.”

Jenna looked at Tara, who said, “I’m going to have to agree with Liz here. You are an idiot.”

“You two are good for my ego. I appreciate it.”

“And you’re frustrating me with every second that goes by. Why don’t you believe in yourself?” Liz asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Did you hear the crowd out there tonight?” Tara asked. “They loved you. I mean they applauded for the other acts, but they loved you. They stood on their feet and asked for an encore.”

It was all too much to take in. “It was nice.”

“Tara, talk to her,” Liz said. “She’s killing me.”

“No, I get it, I really do,” Jenna said. “I’m just not ready for…all that.”

“You mean the chance to be famous?”

“I’m not that good.”

Tara laid her hand over Jenna’s. “Honey, I think you are. Liz thinks you are. Obviously the crowd here thinks you are.”

Liz studied her. “Who told you that you weren’t good enough?”

Leave it to Liz to be able to read her. She sighed and related the story of what happened in Germany.

“So some asshole kicked you out of a band a million years ago when you were a kid and you let that change the whole course of your life?” Liz rolled her eyes. “Come on. I thought you had bigger balls than that.”

She shrugged. “I was sensitive.”

“Oh, bullshit. You’re awesome. And what’s the name of the band?”

She told them.

Liz looked at Tara. “Never heard of them.”

Tara shook her head. “Me either. So obviously they would have been better off to keep you. Honey, you have the voice of an angel. You need to be heard.”

Their encouragement meant everything to her, but there were still roadblocks. Plenty of them.

“I don’t want fame. I just want to open up my own club, play some music of my own.”

“Ohhhh,” Liz said.

Crap. Now she’d said it. She’d given voice to her dreams to someone besides Ty.

“So why don’t you do that?” Tara asked.

“Because I run Riley’s.”

“And you can’t open up a second bar because…”

Liz made it sound so simple, when it wasn’t. “It’s complicated.”

“Because you’re making it complicated. If that’s what you want to do with your life, then don’t let anything stop you.”

“I’ll think about it. In the meantime, please don’t say anything to the rest of the family about this singing thing.”

“Why on earth not?” Tara asked. “You have an amazing talent, Jenna.”

“Thank you, but I’m just not ready to share it yet.”

And if she kept getting this kind of reaction, she might never be.

TY WAS SURPRISED TO HEAR FROM LIZ, BUT SINCE SHE was in Los Angeles for business and he was there as part of his road trip, she suggested they meet for lunch. He didn’t have to report to the arena until four, so there was plenty of time to eat and get a workout in.

Since he was in Anaheim, she picked him up at his hotel. As usual, she was in a crisp black business suit, wearing killer heels, her hair pulled up in some kind of twisty thing that defied logic. The driver of her private car took them to some trendy restaurant that took a while to get to. He guessed Liz wasn’t into family friendly restaurants since they were in the heart of Disneyland.

“So what’s up?” he asked after they ordered lunch.

“Jenna took Tara and me to the club to hear her sing the other night.”

“She did? Good.” Maybe she was finally climbing out of her shell.

“She’s an amazing singer.”

He took a drink of water. “Yeah, she is.”

“No, I mean, her voice is killer. Like she should get an agent and cut a record.”

“Is that what she wants?”

“She said she wants to open a club and sing there, plus bring in other musicians, kind of similar to the club we went to.”

“Okay. So what’s the problem?”

Liz waited while the waiter laid their salads in front of them, then she leaned forward. “You have heard her sing, right? She has way too much talent to waste.”

He picked up his fork and dug into his salad. “And you’ve been down the interference road before, haven’t you?”

She frowned at him and pouted her lips. “Ooh, touché, Ty. I get your point. But she’s my friend, practically my sister. I just want what’s best for her.”

“Probably better if she decides for herself what’s best for her.”

“You’re right. I was just blown away by her singing, and my first thought was that someone needed to make her famous.”

“I don’t think that’s what she wants. What she really wants is a place of her own—a bar where music is played. She’s not looking to become famous. She just wants to sing.”

“You do realize that may not be what she gets. Say she does open a second bar—a music club. And she’s in there singing. She’s that good, and word of mouth travels. Some music exec happens to be in there some night and hears her, and her desire for obscurity is over.”

He chewed, swallowed, and nodded. “That may be. If and when that time comes, she’ll decide if that kind of life is what she wants. In the meantime, it’s been hard enough to get her to go for the dream she has.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, Liz. I’ve tried to figure it out, to talk to her about it. She won’t budge. My best guess is she’s either afraid to fail, or afraid to succeed.”

“Pretty broad concepts.”

“Yeah. Either way, I’ve tried to encourage her, but I’m stepping back.”

“Don’t do that. She needs you. She trusts you and your opinion. You’re the first one she sang for. That means something. If you let it go now she might never do anything with this gift she has.”

He took a long swallow of water and set the glass down. “I don’t know about that. She’s making progress. Look, she took you and Tara to the club and sang for you. That’s a big step in the right direction.”

“Exactly. And if you back down now, she may forget the whole thing. She needs encouragement—a big push.”

“I’m not much for pushing people who don’t want to be pushed. She’s made it clear she wants me to back off.”

Liz sighed. “Fine. I’ll let you make your own decisions there. I love that girl and want what’s best for her, but I know better than to mess in someone’s business again.”

Tyler grinned and patted her hand. “It all worked out in the end for you.”

“Yeah, it did, but it caused a lot of pain for a lot of people along the way. And here I go again, meddling. I can’t seem to help myself.”

“You aren’t meddling. You’re trying to help Jenna.”

“I want her to have what she really wants.”

“So do I.” He just didn’t know how to make that happen for her.

Maybe Liz was right. Maybe Jenna did need a little shove in the right direction.

He’d had an idea that he thought might help, but after their last blowup he’d discarded it, decided to back away from the whole thing and leave her alone about singing.

Now that Liz had told him Jenna had taken her and Tara to the club to hear her sing, things were different. She was opening up about her singing to other people.

So maybe it was time to take that next step, open the door for Jenna and see if she was willing to walk through it.

TWENTY-FOUR

IT TOOK A COUPLE WEEKS FOR TY TO PUT HIS PLAN IN place. First, he’d had his hellish road trip, but at least they’d played well and picked up four road wins. The team was in position to make the playoffs and he needed to start concentrating on the game, not on a woman who made him crazy.

But the woman who made him crazy was never far from his mind, so no matter how hard he tried to shove her into a “forget about her for now” place in his head, she was always there, lurking.

He’d made a few phone calls to some people he knew who might be able to help him out. Liz had been instrumental there, since she had way more contacts than he did. By the time he returned home, he’d been able to get the ball rolling. It had taken a few days and trips around town to look around, but he’d liked what he saw. Now all he had to do was present the plan to Jenna, which he intended to do tomorrow.