All I Want… by Isabel Sharpe

Author:Isabel Sharpe [Sharpe, Isabel]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Category
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2005-04-08T23:00:00+00:00

8

“YOU OKAY?”

Lucy started at the touch of her accompanist’s hand on her shoulder. She’d been sitting at one of the tables in the lounge, staring at a glass of water as if it held the answers she desperately needed. Steve probably thought she’d lost her mind. She wasn’t so sure she hadn’t.She and Steve had been performing together on and off since college; he knew her performance routine and moods too well to fool him that this night was like any other. All during her first set she’d been distracted, a little off, trying not to scan the crowd too closely, wondering if Josh were here tonight, though she imagined he’d stick out among the decidedly older crowd that frequented Eddie’s Lounge. And as much as she told herself it didn’t matter, that he didn’t matter, she couldn’t help a shameful burn of excitement and hope.

Whether it was hope he’d show or hope he wouldn’t, she still hadn’t decided. Probably both.

“Thanks, Steve, I’m fine.”

He started massaging her shoulders, then reached and waggled her jaw back and forth. “You’re tense as a board.”

She laughed and pushed his hand away. “I’m fine.”

“Link in the audience tonight?”

“No.” The bitterness in her voice surprised her.

Steve pulled out the chair next to her and sat, a burly, balding, comforting presence. “Anything I can do?”

She shook her head and forced a smile. Steve had the healthiest relationship of anyone she knew. He’d met Scott his freshman year at Tufts and that had been it for both of them. So much for the stereotype of the promiscuous gay male.

“Okay, time for round two.” Dick, the manager at Eddie’s for probably the past two hundred years, swept past them onto the tiny bar stage, picked up the mike and introduced their second set.

Lucy straightened her shoulders, flared her nostrils, consciously following the path of air down through her chest into her lungs, making sure her throat was wide, clear and relaxed.

The audience applauded in its usual enthusiastic fashion. She put on a bright smile, climbed the short set of steps up to the stage and stood beside the piano. This time she was not going to look for him, not going to think about him. She’d relax and get through the second set like she meant it.

“Hey, everyone. We’re back. Going to start our next set with a number to make sure you’re all in the holiday spirit. Arranged by my fabulous accompanist, Steve Taylor—‘Blue Christmas.’”

She started slow, mournful, bleak, then launched into the great jazzy version that always made her happy, and felt herself starting to relax. If Josh were coming, he would be here by now. She didn’t need to get herself all whipped up over nothing. It was a relief, really, that he wasn’t.

Except that halfway through the second verse a dark, slender, graceful man walked in and took a seat at the bar in the back of the room, gazing around at the cheesy red and green and gold Yuletide decor with a smirk on his face she didn’t blame him for.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.