Graceless - Page 74

Savannah looked at her, her expression somehow nervous.

“Can…we come and watch?” she asked tentatively. Cassidy looked at her, hesitating.

“It’s not that I don’t want you there,” she said awkwardly, “it’s just that I don’t want anyone to know I’m your sister. It’ll, like… read wrong.”

Savannah sat back. She didn’t look hurt. She looked, Cassidy realized, incredibly proud.

“How about,” she sat forward again, her expression becoming gleeful, “if I promise you literally no one will know we’re there?”

Which was how Cassidy had walked downstairs earlier that evening to find her sister had been replaced by a pretty brunette with brown eyes and Brynn – who was not world famous except as Savannah’s wife, but who was also definitely Nashville famous – was a vibrant redhead, the two of them wearing the kind of statement glasses that would have made Greta proud, like two hot librarians on a rare night out. Cassidy couldn’t stop laughing.

“Next up, welcome to the stage, Cassidy Carver!”

She took the deepest breath she’d ever taken, and, followed on stage by the drummer/back up singer she’d found two weeks ago, she took her place on the stage. The room was bigger than she’d remembered, with low lighting, but not so low she couldn’t see the back was filled with tables of people sipping drinks and eating fries, and the front was standing room only, a whole crowd with their eyes on her.

There were only a few seconds for her to adjust as she slid her guitar strap over her body and her drummer got into place, but her eyes skittered nervously over the crowd. She saw Coral, next to Noah, flashing her a thumbs up. To her absolute shock, she spotted a familiar shaved head and glasses and there was Greta, standing tall in the crowd, the other patrons giving the renowned producer a noticeably respectful amount of space to stand. Cassidy found herself deeply touched, and also wildly terrified.

The sound of the crowd settled to silence and the spotlight pinned her in place like a butterfly. For a second, Cassidy wanted to drop her guitar and flee. What had she been thinking? This was way too much.

Then her eyes found Lane’s, warm and bright, standing next to Aria and Mia, right near the front of the crowd. They looked so fucking proud to see their girlfriend up on stage and she hadn’t even sung them a note. They gave her a stupidly attractive eyebrow quirk and a smile and Cassidy felt it all the way through her body. She remembered how to breathe.

Just as she began to strum the first notes, Cassidy met Savannah’s gaze. Her sister’s eyes were sparkling and steady; she looked confident and calm, her expression full of faith. Cassidy’s nerves disappeared. She lifted her head, the drum beat kicked in, and she opened her mouth to sing.

The End