The High Notes: A Novel(52)

They didn’t say anything to anyone, and figured they didn’t owe anyone any explanations.

Both concerts in Houston were an amazing success, and their nights together afterward were even better. They had found what they both needed in Houston. It was as though they had her parents’ blessing. He had met Harry and Pearl, and now she had Clay to watch over her. He was everything she had never had. He guarded her like a treasure and when his plane took off for Washington, D.C., there was no doubt in their minds. They belonged together. She had come home to Texas, and her dreams had finally come true.





Chapter 14





The concert in Washington went well and was exciting, but it wasn’t quite as special as Vegas, L.A., and Houston had been. Iris felt as though she had wings onstage now that she and Clay had admitted that they loved each other. She couldn’t believe how foolish they had been, each one thinking that the other would never want them. They’d been in love almost since the first day. They fit together perfectly.

She called Pattie and admitted it to her. And Boy asked her point-blank after Houston. Everything about their energy had changed, and they were totally focused on each other. He was happy for her.

Washington was fun, but they were all excited about the concert in New York. They were booked into Madison Square Garden right in the city. It was going to be a fantastic venue for them. And after the concert, Clay wanted Iris to move in with him. She said she would, after he told his daughters. She didn’t want to cause a rift between them. He insisted he wouldn’t let that happen. They had to accept that he had a right to a life too, whether they approved or not. And there was nothing for them to disapprove of, in his opinion. Iris was sure that Margie at least would disagree.

Iris was going to introduce two new songs at Madison Square Garden, one of them written about him. It was the most beautiful love song she’d ever written, and it made him cry the first time she sang it to him. It talked about how they had come from Kentucky and Texas to find each other, and they would travel the rest of their road together, and there would be no more hard times. She was going to close the show at the Garden with it, and couldn’t wait for the audience to hear it. She called it “No More Hard Times,” and hoped it would be true.

She picked up some of her things at the Plaza when they got back to New York, and took them to his apartment. And they left for Madison Square Garden together. She saw Boy and the others when they got there. Boy kept teasing her that she smiled all the time now. She had good reason to.

Like the other concerts on the tour, they were sold out. The most exciting thing for Iris was that Pattie had found a babysitter to stay with Jimmy and her mother, and she was coming to the concert that night.

Her plane was landing just in time for her to catch a cab and be there before it started, and she had promised to come backstage right before Iris went on. They hadn’t seen each other since Iris had left the tour nearly a year before, and Iris couldn’t wait to see her.

Pattie arrived breathless five minutes before Iris went on. She gave her an enormous hug and Iris asked one of the stagehands to take her to Clay in the front row. He had a seat waiting for her.

Boy had just finished his opening act, and Iris waited for the applause to die down. The stage was dark, and then Iris appeared as the spotlight followed her across the stage.

She chatted with the audience for a few minutes, as she liked to do. She told them it was a special night, and her best friend, a talented singer called Pattie Dixon, had come all the way from Biloxi, Mississippi, to be at the concert. “There’s nothing like a good friend,” she said with a warm smile, and opened with a song that paid tribute to it. Pattie squirmed in her seat and smiled at Clay. She was surprised by how handsome he was, and didn’t look his age. Then she got lost in the show. Iris was fantastic and ripped the audience’s heart out again and again, and Iris soared into the high notes the way she always had, with ease.

She was well into her fourth song, and hitting her stride, when she heard an unfamiliar sound, like an explosion, followed by a series of them. The sound cut right across her song and she had no idea what it was as she tried to keep on singing, and suddenly people were screaming. A man with automatic weapons slung across his body ran up onto the stage. He shot at someone in the wings. Powerful hands pulled Iris off the stage, and she flew onto the floor below and saw Clay’s face, as the gunman started shooting wildly into the crowd. People were falling. Someone turned the lights up. Iris heard more screaming, and everywhere on the audience around her, she saw blood. People tried to take refuge under the seats, and run out of the arena, and the gunman kept shooting. Iris saw Pattie fall off her seat in the front row and slip onto the floor. Iris tried to get to her, but the bullets were flying too wildly, and Clay was pulling her away. They both stopped behind an alcove, and looked at each other.

“Oh my God, Clay, what happened?” Iris was breathless and pale.

“I don’t know. The guy just came out of nowhere and started gunning people down.” They could hear screaming all around them, and they were crouched on the ground. “Do you have your cellphone?” he asked, and she handed it to him. His had disappeared while he was running. He dialed 911 to tell them what had happened.

“We know,” the dispatcher told him immediately. “Are you in a safe place?” he asked hurriedly.

“No, but we have cover right now.”