Chapter Twelve #2
“I keep envisioning a group of faceless men and women watching our audition video,” Charlie continued, “and it’s driving me a little wild not being able to read them, you know?”
Julian shook his head. “Not quite.”
“Like I can’t adjust in the moment the way I could at an in-person audition or change the program of a show based on the audience’s reaction. We have to let the video speak for itself and hope the council recognizes how amazing the residents are.”
Julian loved hearing her talk about the residents that way. “Whatever happens,” he said, “you and I both know this choir deserves to be up there. And that’s what really matters.”
“Not winning?” she asked.
“I mean, the money could change so much,” Julian said.
“But please don’t discount how much joy you’ve brought to the residents these past couple of weeks.
” He didn’t want to have to let her go, not just for his sake, but for Glendale’s.
How can I get you to stay? “I’ve got a couple of emails to check, and then I’ll be down for rehearsal. ”
“If you’re busy with Christmas tree stuff, I can handle it,” she said.
“I’m not too busy,” he said. Not for the choir. Or for you. “You know I take my codirector duties very seriously, standing on the sidelines and clapping.”
“You do more than that,” Charlie said. “You keep everyone’s spirits up when I’m demanding perfection.”
“Do I keep your spirits up?” Julian asked, reaching out to stroke her cheek. He did it quickly, before anyone could see, liking the subtle color that spread beneath his touch.
“I think you know the answer to that.”
“Do I?”
“That’s one thing that hasn’t changed in all these years,” she said. She looked at him in a way that made his chest ache dangerously.
Charlie had stolen his heart before, and he couldn’t hand it over again that easily.
Don’t do this to yourself. But the longer he looked at her, the more he wanted.
He wanted her to forgive herself for the guilt she carried over Tom.
He wanted her to be confident that Doris would thrive at Glendale.
He wanted her to fall in love with music again.
Mostly, he wanted to be the one to make her happy.
And that was a lot, because he knew that Charlie had to want those things, too. She had to believe she could be happy and that she deserved to live her life in Tom’s absence. More than that, she had to want him the way he wanted her.
Julian’s chest suddenly felt too small for all the emotion it contained.
“You okay?” she asked as they headed for the door.
“Of course,” he said. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
She nodded and they turned, walking in opposite directions.
“Check it again!” Harriet said as Julian walked into the music room.
The entire choir was hunched around the piano, crowding in behind Charlie who frowned down at her laptop screen.
“I just looked,” she insisted. “I promise nothing has changed in the last thirty seconds.”
“You don’t know that.”
Charlie huffed, sounding exasperated. Doris put a hand on her shoulder. “It wouldn’t hurt to check again,” her grandmother said diplomatically.
“Do that thing,” Maggie said. “What’s it called, Frank?”
“Refresh.”
“Yeah,” Harriet said. “Refresh this business.”
Charlie clicked her tongue. “The site’s barely loading as it is.”
“You might need to clear your browser history,” Frank suggested. “The cache has probably reached its memory limit.”
“See,” Harriet said. “The cache thingy is full.”
Charlie handed off her laptop to Frank.
He set it on his lap, and the choir shifted, crowding around Frank’s wheelchair instead. Frank unfolded a pair of glasses from his pocket and perched them on the end of his nose.
“This doesn’t look like a rehearsal,” Julian said. “What am I missing?”
Charlie dropped one hand to her hip, the other gesturing in Frank’s direction. “I was trying to check the competition website to see if there’d been any updates. But my laptop is not cooperating.”
Doris popped her head up. “Maggie has it on good authority that today’s the day we find out who’ll be invited to perform at the competition.”
“Whose authority?” Julian asked.
Maggie wiggled her brows in his direction. “I might know someone.”
“That Graham Burbank guy you mentioned before?”
Maggie flicked her hand like Graham was old news. “Richard McDaniel actually. He sits on the board at the community center.”
“Just how many people do you know?” Julian asked.
Maggie shrugged. “Enough.”
“Status no change,” Frank confirmed suddenly. “I’ve cleared the cache. The website hasn’t been updated.”
The residents groaned in unison.
“That’s what I said,” Charlie muttered.
“Right.” Julian reached into his pocket for a piece of paper. “While the rest of you were busy not rehearsing, I was sent a very important email.” Heads whipped in his direction, and Julian suddenly felt like an antelope that had stumbled into a lion pride. “From the Elm Springs Arts Council.”
Charlie’s eyes widened comically. “Oh my God!” she cried. “Why didn’t you say something?”
“Way to bury the lede,” Doris said, looking like she wanted to swat him on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper.
Julian unfolded the printed email very slowly, but Harriet launched across the room and snatched it from his hand.
“Read it!” Maggie said, dancing at Harriet’s side, clinging to her arm. “Go on, read it!”
Silence fell over the room. Julian could have heard a snowflake hit the ground.
“We are pleased to inform you,” Harriet began.
Doris threw her hands up. “They’re pleased!”
Maggie squealed, and Harriet hushed her.
“… That the Glendale Shakers are invited to perform at the Twentieth Annual Christmas Choir Competition!” Harriet’s voice rose with every word.
“Please see the below instructions for the day of the performance… Blah, blah, blah… Congratulations on your acceptance… We’re freaking in, baby! ”
The room erupted at once, voices overlapping, the celebration carrying on to an ear-piercing level. Julian shoved his way through the crowd.
Doris grabbed Charlie and squeezed.
“We made it?” Charlie said, sounding a little stunned.
“Did you really have any doubts?” Doris asked as she kissed her cheek.
“No. I mean…” Charlie laughed, then spotted him, and to Julian’s surprise, dove right into his arms in front of everyone. “You were right about the audition video. It worked!” She pulled back, beaming at him with a smile bright enough to see from the very back of the balcony.
“But we did this,” Julian clarified.
Charlie stepped away, and he reluctantly let her go as Frank reached for his hand, giving it a firm shake. Jim clapped him on the shoulder, and Maggie squeezed his arm excitedly.
Suddenly there was a sea of people between him and Charlie.
“Okay, okay,” Charlie called, bringing some order to the room.
She scanned the printed email. “The competition starts at 2:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve day. So that gives us almost eight days to polish up our performance. What we pulled off at the community center was great. I see no reason why we couldn’t top that with some focus and hard work. ”
“Top it?” Maggie said. “Maybe we could actually win this thing!”
“That’s what I’m talking about,” Julian agreed.
“Why not?” Doris said. “We have the right codirectors behind us.” She wrapped an arm around Julian, latching onto Charlie with the other, and pulled them close.
“And the talent,” Maggie said, fluffing her hair.
“Don’t forget the moves,” Jim added, doing a little box step.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Charlie said. “Let’s focus on the music and having a good time—”
“If we want to win, we have to figure out who our competition is,” Harriet interrupted.
The residents murmured in agreement.
Charlie caught Julian’s eye. He shrugged. If the residents wanted to win, who was he to dissuade them?
“The list is up,” Frank announced, staring down at Charlie’s laptop. He wheeled into the middle of the group.
“These are the other choirs?” Doris asked, looking over his shoulder. “The Elm Springs Middles? I bet that’s the middle school that’s entered with a name like that.”
“Oh well, that’s us finished,” Maggie said. “Game over. Who’s more deserving of the win than a bunch of children?”
“When they’ve had two hip replacements, we’ll talk about deserving,” Harriet cut in.
“I think there’s actually something else we need to worry about before we dissect the competition,” Charlie said. “What song are we singing?”
“Something Christmasy,” Doris said. “Obviously. I see no reason not to stay on theme.”
“We could do one of those cool mash-ups,” Jim suggested.
Charlie tapped her lips, nodding. “Take the best parts of songs we’ve already been working on.”
“Song choice could shake up everything,” Harriet said. “We want a crowd-pleaser. Something we can dance to. A tune that’ll get the crowd on their feet.”
“So maybe this is a little too on the nose, but I’m gonna throw it out there,” Julian said. “How about ‘Grandma Got Runover by a Reindeer’?”
There was another one of those silent pauses. Julian glanced around, waiting for a reaction.
A booming laugh broke the silence. It was Frank, hunched over in his wheelchair, laughing so hard he was almost wheezing.
But above the laughter was a shocked outcry of voices. Julian had to duck a cane that was jabbed in his direction. He backed away from the crowd, envisioning a horde of Glendale’s finest chasing him through the halls.
“Now you’ve done it,” Charlie said, grinning.
“But just think of the audience reception!” Julian explained, getting the piano between him and the choir. “I’m thinking outside the box here.”
“Don’t think we won’t vote you out of this choir,” Harriet warned. “I’m still not over the gingerbread house results.”
“Okay, I’m reading the room.” Julian held his hands up in surrender. “There will be no grandmothers getting sacrificed to the reindeer at Glendale.”