Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 85608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 428(@200wpm)___ 342(@250wpm)___ 285(@300wpm)
She was shaking.
“Whitley,” I got out hoarsely.
She shook her head. “It was awful. I know. Not my best performance. I was so pitchy at the start. But I thought the end was okay.”
I looked at her as if she had sprung a second head.
She reared back at the look. “What? I know everyone clapped. Was it that bad?”
“Believe me when I say, that was the best performance I have ever seen in my entire life.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Sure.”
I took her hand, threading our fingers together. She looked at me in surprise, but I didn’t release her. “I know that I joke about almost everything, but you were phenomenal. I have no idea who told you that you weren’t good enough or why you would hide your gift because what you have is a gift, Whit. It was incredible.”
She flushed then, bright pink, and ducked her chin to her chest. A tear ran down her cheek, and she brushed it away hastily. “Thank you.”
We could get to the bottom of this. Because, holy shit, that woman should sing. Even if it was only for me, she should sing as often as possible. No one should ever have told her otherwise. No one.
13
WHITLEY
Susannah was currently crying as she thanked me at the reception. Margaret and Cora had already come over. Malcolm, Trent, Nate, and Lawrence had followed. Aunts and uncles I didn’t know were whispering about the performance. Everyone was talking about it, offering their praises, and generally making me incredibly embarrassed.
I’d thought it was mediocre at best.
I’d certainly sung it better in high school than at present.
But that didn’t seem to matter to anyone.
Let alone Gavin. Who had been looking at me with no less than abject admiration from the moment I sat next to him. That same expression still graced his face as his mother stared at the engagement ring and wiped her eyes.
“My mother would be so happy right now. The perfect woman is wearing this ring,” Gavin’s mom said.
Susannah nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”
A knot of worry formed in my stomach. This was all supposed to be a cover story for the week. Gavin had needed help, and I’d thought, Why not? And now, I was realizing why not. Because, now, they thought we were getting married, and they’d be genuinely upset when we called it off next week.
My gaze must have shown something like that because Gavin intervened. “Give her some room to breathe, Mom.”
“It was just a song.”
“It was more to us,” Susannah said.
Gavin took my hand. “Let’s get you a drink.”
“Yes, please.” I smiled wanly as we retreated. “I really didn’t think it was anything crazy.”
“They’re sentimental, and you’re wrong.”
I laughed softly as we got in line for drinks. “I’m glad everyone enjoyed it. It was worth the hours I spent working on it with the band. My voice felt like popcorn when I started.”
“So, why don’t you sing anymore?”
I shrugged. “Went to UCLA. Didn’t get famous. Same old story.”
“They don’t know what they’re missing.”
“Nah, it worked out in the end. I became a doctor instead.”
“Which you’re also brilliant at.”
Gavin ordered our drinks and then passed me a whiskey sour.
“That I can agree with.” I took a big swig of my drink. “But, yeah … I have so many bad memories attached to singing from when I was growing up. My parents didn’t approve. They thought I sang just fine, but I was smart, so it was a waste of time.”
“How can it be a waste of time when you have such talent?”
“Well, they wanted me to get married to a rich man. That’s how. Medical school was my in to marry a doctor, not become one. So few people become famous singers. They didn’t approve.”
“That’s horribly outdated, even for Texas,” Gavin said with an arched eyebrow.
“Tell me about it. That’s my parents.”
“I never hear you talk about them.”
I snorted. “For good reason. There’s nothing to say that would be worth repeating.” He looked like he wanted to ask more, so I quickly changed the subject. “But why don’t you talk about your family? They’re amazing. You made it seem like it would all be overwhelming and terrible.”
“Oh, no, they’re great. It’s just that there’s so many of them, and we all have giant personalities. Bringing us together usually results in some sort of enormous fight.”
“There’s been no fighting.”
Gavin shrugged with a grin. “I am going to let you take all the credit for that.”
“Me? Why?”
“You know, they don’t want to upset my fiancée.”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re ridiculous. That is not the reason. They’re happy for Locke and Maggie.”
“Could be.”
When we finished our drinks, Gavin took my hand again and led me out onto the dance floor. A slow song was playing, and I molded into his embrace. We’d never danced like this before. Most of our dancing had involved sweaty nightclubs, where I was grinding my ass against him.