I had to mentally chide myself to simmer down and not let something so meager get me all worked up. “I know it,” I replied with very little emotion backing my statement. After releasing a deep sigh, I said “Let’s do this.” I supposed that I couldn’t make any bigger of a fool of myself than the screamer on stage was doing already.
The lady that was singing “My Heart Will Go On” by Celine Dion was finally finished and I was extremely thankful that my eardrums were still partially intact. Sheesh, with howling like that, everyone should’ve been counting their lucky stars they didn’t rupture.
With a little too much enthusiasm, Marcie grabbed my hand and all but dragged me up the stairs, turning to give her husband a wink and an air kiss before the music began. Seeing their affectionate gestures towards each other made me miss even more what I didn’t have. Lord only knew if I would ever have the opportunity to have someone love me and be on the receiving end of the kisses that I blew their way.
The music began, indicating our cue to start Kiss by Prince. I wouldn’t call myself an excellent singer by any means, but compared to the comical squeaking that was flying out of Marcie’s mouth, I was Diana Ross. She was far more tipsy than me and I wanted to envy her for her ‘not give a shit’ attitude, so I was going to take a page out of the book that was Marcie and not care either. We each started making little dance movements around the stage instead of being complete zombies standing in place. I even got into the part where Prince makes the kiss noises, making a few of my own while I shimmied my shoulders. I couldn’t match Prince’s impressive set of pipes that went in a multitude of ranges, so during the parts of the song where he would have done his highest falsetto I forced my voice as hard as I could to reach somewhat up to his levels. At least no one was covering their ears, so I thought we couldn’t have been doing half bad. In that moment I almost felt sexy; guys had their eyes glued to me and it just boosted my confidence even more.
The song ended entirely too quickly and I eagerly voiced my opinion about rounding up another song. Marcie just shrugged her shoulders, which had me quickly running down to pick my choice. I had to do another fun song and who wasn’t more fun than Lady GaGa? So I chose her song Do What You Want and ran back into place before it began. Although I didn’t have the distinct and loud fashion sense that Miss GaGa instilled, I still enjoyed her fun spin and eclectic taste of her music.
When the song was about halfway over I noticed a movement out of the corner of my eye. I searched the room and ran across a table that literally took my breath away. My words faltered as I completely forgot the lyrics to the song.
How long had Dean and Baylor been there? By the amused expressions on their faces I had to guess the entire time.
It didn’t take me long to get back in tune with the song, but my movement around the stage had pretty much ceased. I stood stock-still and my expressions remained stoic. I was willing the song to end but it was going against me, trying to prove me wrong by continuing on. I needed it to end so I could scramble back to my seat and out of the scrutiny of my former best friends and my first love. Once the song did end I all but dropped my microphone and rushed back to my table where Marcie’s husband was waiting with stars in his eyes for Marcie to sit down. My carefree mood and actions had quickly dissipated with one look at those faces from the past. I was ready to duck out and head for home, especially when the jukebox powered on with a slow song and Marcie’s husband Jack asked her to dance, leaving me sitting at the table alone.
Hell, I was used to being by myself, but I had never truly felt more alone than I did at that moment. I placed an elbow on the table and perched my chin in the palm of my hand, thinking that maybe I could call Julia and see what she was up to. It had to be more thrilling than what I was doing. I was trying my hardest not to look at the other side of the room and into Baylor’s eyes; I didn’t need an emotional breakdown. I didn’t know why I had thought that coming back home would’ve been such a good idea. He didn’t even make a move to smile or wave at me in the airport, so he clearly didn’t want to talk to me and by golly I wasn’t going to seek him out.
Just as I decided that I was going to call Jules and leave, a set of hands grasped my shoulders and I felt hot breath on the shell of my ear. My breath hitched because it could’ve been only one of two people and I was praying to God that it was Dean.
“A beautiful lady such as yourself shouldn’t be left all alone. You’re lucky it was me who came by to snatch you up instead of some stranger,” Dean’s deep voice reverberated in my ear causing me to smile widely. He always had the ability to make me smile. I craned my neck around so I could look at his face and he didn’t waste another minute before extending his hand and asking for a dance.
His large hands encircled my waist as we reached the center of the building where everyone else was dancing, and my hands instinctively wrapped around his neck. With the space that was between us I felt like we were at a junior high dance but it was nice to be able to see his face.
It didn’t take him long before he started firing off questions; I just hoped that he didn’t repeat the same one that he had at the airport. I would answer any other question but that.
“So Miss Eden, what is it you do now?” he asked much like a game show host with a fake accent.
“I actually cohost a morning radio show in Nashville.”
His eyes grew wide, “So you have a website where virtually anyone could get ahold of you?” I was utterly confused by his question, but it was all but forgotten as he skipped ahead without even waiting for an answer. “I am so happy that you actually fulfilled your dream and earned your own radio show. And if I may be so bold, your voice alone is fucking hot. I can tell that your listeners love it as well.” Being bold was always Dean’s thing, so it was no surprise to me that he would’ve continued on with that trait. But him saying that he liked the sound of my voice left me not knowing how to respond.
So I did whatever I could to redirect the questioning away from me. “Blaine, my cohost, and I get along really well. We have a fun morning show that earns a lot of laughs. I’m proud of our little show.” I didn’t want to toot my own horn, but our show had received some prestigious awards for the area and that was saying a lot since we weren’t a country station.
“What is it that you do now that you’re all grown up?” I decided to put him in the limelight for a bit and give myself a bit of a rest.
“Who said I was all grown up?” he said in a flirty tone which earned another smile from me. “No, in all honesty, I’m actually a divorce lawyer. So while you are loved in your profession, people either dreadfully hate me or are repulsed by me.” He shrugged his shoulders. I definitely hadn’t seen that coming, Dean a divorce lawyer?
I wanted to make a little joke, but I didn’t know if he would take it the same way as he would’ve all those years ago. I decided to go ahead and take a shot. “So how many of your own divorces have you done?” I asked it in a light-hearted tone so he wouldn’t think I came across as a bitch.
“Two,” he answered flatly with not even an ounce of emotion.
“That bad, huh?”
“You could definitely say that again,” he finally cracked a smile which lowered my blood pressure rate again after he spiked it when I thought I said the wrong thing.
“You remind me of my best friend, Julia. She’s been married AND divorced twice just like you.”
His smile disappeared. What did I say?
After the questioning look I gave him, his voice lowered to a whisper which had to be lower than low since his voice was so deep, “We used to be best friends, Eden…The three musketeers, don’t you remember that?”
That was not how I wanted the conversation to end. “I’ve never forgotten, Dean. I thought of you every single day, believe it or not.”