Everything After(77)

She shook her head, feeling her waves brush her shoulders. “I grew up,” she said. “Thought it was time for my hair to acknowledge that.”

Tony laughed. “I guess we all did, huh?” he asked.

“Places in five,” a man with a headset said, opening the door.

“Thank you, five,” Emily responded.

Ezra’s parents slipped in the door, and they, along with Ari, Priya, and Ezra, all gave Emily a hug.

“Go knock ’em dead,” Ari whispered. Jack flipped on the big-screen TV in the green room so they could all watch her from there.

Emily smiled, took a deep breath, and walked out on stage, Ezra following her and then waiting in the wings so he could see her perform in person—and so she could see him, too. The audience was dark, but she could feel all thousand of them—quiet, tense, electric. The stage was dark, too, except for a spot focused on a grand piano, set up just for her. Emily felt the adrenaline race through her as she took her first steps out into the darkness. She was where she was meant to be.

She sat down on the piano bench and adjusted the mic. And she began to play. She shared her story through words, through music. And she felt transformed. She felt filled with light and energy and love. She’d written these songs to make sense of her life, to make sense of her feelings. And now she was sharing them with the world. Her heart was open, like Rob’s. Like Ezra’s.

When she finished her second-to-last song, the one she’d written for Ezra in Mexico, there was a rush of applause. Emily felt it wash over her, wash through her.

“Thank you for being such a great audience,” she said into the mic. “I know you’re all excited to see Austin Roberts tonight, but I’ve got one more song before you do. It’s called ‘Dark Night of the Soul,’ and it’s a song that I wrote about something my love and I went through together.” The song was powerful as a duet, but here, now, it had to be a solo.

Emily started playing, imagining that the music in this song wasn’t for the crowd but for the cells that might be dividing inside her. For Ezra, who was singing along in the wings.

As Emily played, as she sang, as the audience focused their attention on the stage, she remembered how it felt when Ezra’s voice had twined with hers. She remembered how they’d forgiven each other’s mistakes and let their love grow stronger.

When she got to the final line of the song, she sang the lyrics they used together when the song was a duet—she sang “our” instead of “mine.” And when she looked into the wings, Ezra touched his hand to his heart. He’d noticed. After the song ended, Emily echoed the last line of the melody on the piano and then held the damper pedal so that the notes resonated for a moment after she stopped playing.

The audience burst into applause, but instead of looking at them, she looked back at Ezra. A piece of his hair had flopped in front of his glasses, and he was grinning more than she’d seen him in a long time.

Then Rob was standing in the wings, too, his guitar at his side, giving her a V for victory. And she felt it—that victory, the audience’s applause and cheers filling her. She’d opened her heart to them, and they’d reflected that love right back at her.

She stood up, thanked the crowd and, smiling and waving, walked off stage. In the wings, she squeezed Rob’s hand before landing in her husband’s arms.

“You are incredible,” Ezra whispered to her, under the sound of the applause.

And they kissed until the applause faded into nothing.





69



They stayed to watch Rob perform, and then they all celebrated together with pizza and mixed drinks. Emily had been worried about what would happen between Ezra and Rob when the two of them actually met, but after they shook each other’s hands, they mostly talked to other people. Though she could see both of their eyes darting around the room every few minutes to look for her, to make sure she was okay.

Rob’s manager had flown in for the show—Ira, a tall guy with a shaved head, dressed in black jeans and a button-down. While everyone else was getting food, Rob and Ira chatted in a corner of the room. Emily looked over, wondering what it was that they were talking so intensely about. Then Rob caught her eye and waved her over.

“I was really impressed tonight,” Ira told her.

“Thank you.” Emily wiped her mouth to make sure she didn’t have any tomato sauce on her lips. “It was nice of you to come see Rob’s show. I know managers don’t do that so often.”

“Well,” Ira said, “when my hot new artist tells me he’s found another hot new artist, and his tour manager agrees, that’s something I’ve got to check out for myself.”

Emily was speechless for a moment. “You came for me?” she said.

Ira handed her his card. “Let’s talk tomorrow,” he said. “Rob just assured me it’d be cool if I worked with both of you.”

Then he walked away to refill his drink.

“Sonny and Cher,” Rob said to her. “Johnny and June Carter Cash.” He clinked his empty glass with her club soda, then followed Ira to the makeshift bar.

Emily was stunned.

“What was that about?” Ezra asked as he came up next to her, sliding his hand around her waist.

“Something we need to talk about later,” she said as she gave him a kiss on the cheek.