Chapter 49
49
A few months later
The lights are low.
The drinks are plentiful.
The crowd is my favorite.
Because it includes her. Sloane’s here in the front row like she is at many of my shows.
Tonight though? All the songs are for her.
I’m sure it’s patently obvious to the whole crowd that I’m singing to one person.
Especially when my gaze locks with hers on the first line of a Bing Crosby tune.
“ Let me call you sweetheart. ”
Every table is packed, and it’s standing room only—word of mouth has been good to us here at Gin Joint—but my set is for Sloane. This song is for Sloane.
“ I'm in love with you. ”
She mouths the words back to me, and that emboldens me.
“ Let me hear you whisper that you love me too. ”
So much , she mouths.
When I finish that serenade, I glide right into the song that made her melt the first night she was here, telling her she looks wonderful tonight. Hell, she looks wonderful every night.
I’m pretty sure I’m ready for my final number. I finish with her favorite, “I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You.”
When the music ends, I don’t stop. I downshift from singing to talking. “That song is ironic, in a way,” I say, my eyes on hers.
She watches me expectantly as I make my way to her, and she whispers back, “It is ironic.”
“At first, I didn’t think we stood a chance.”
“Me either,” she says softly.
“But I wanted one.”
“So did I.”
“And tonight, I want more. I want the opposite of that song.”
She gasps quietly then presses her lips together.
I weave past a table, stopping beside the beautiful blonde I love madly. “I want all the chances with you. Now, tomorrow, and forever.”
“Oh God,” she whispers. “Me too.”
I drop down to one knee and take her hand in mine. “I want to love you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me, Sloane?”
A tear streaks down one cheek, and she grabs my mic, sets it on the table, and kisses the hell out of me.
I’ll take that as a yes.
But even so, when she breaks the kiss, she picks up the mic and confirms to the whole crowd, “Yes. You can have all the second chances you want with me. Tonight, tomorrow, and always.”
I slide a ring on her finger as the audience cheers.
I bring her to her feet, dip her, and kiss her once more.