Epilogue Keeley
Epilogue
Keeley
Four Months Later
On a sunny Sunday in April, the entire music industry, dressed in their finest, crams themselves into the Carrington Theater for the RECORD awards.
I keep my hand on the small of Jane’s back as we navigate the crowd mingling in the entry to find our seats.
She’s practically glowing in a gorgeous vintage piece we found at the boutique we took Nora to, a gold halter-top gown that shows off a tantalizing amount of freckled skin on her shoulders and back.
After months together, even the most innocent touch to Jane’s body gives me butterflies.
It’s fitting that this is where we celebrated Jane’s success at the Into the Dragon Realm premiere almost two years ago. Jane looks over at me and smiles.
“You ready?” she asks.
I laugh. “I’m not the one who’s nominated!”
She shrugs. “I’m not nervous. I’m under no illusion that I’m going to win.”
“Don’t self-reject,” Caleb says, elbowing her from her other side. Originally, Glitter Bats weren’t expecting an invitation, since we’ve never been nominated for a RECORD as a group. I was only supposed to be here as Jane’s date, not an invited guest.
But after Tonya sold “Hollow” to a new television adaptation of the hottest YA fantasy novel, More to Say crawled back up the charts. And with it, a bit more of the spotlight shined on Riker. He took to the attention like a flower to sunlight.
Not that we saw a dime of the royalties from that boost, but our plans are in motion to fix that. We’ve kept things quiet, for now, and we signed with a record label who is willing to help us make a new album and eventually rerecord our first three—legally and maintaining all of our rights.
We’re waiting to make any announcements, though, because we’ve been in the news again. This time, because Landon Banks is under investigation by the FBI for fraud. He’s poised to lose everything, just as we’re on the edge of taking everything back.
Revenge is sweet.
“I’m not self-rejecting. I’m setting realistic expectations,” Jane says primly. I worry, still, that she doesn’t know how amazing she is.
Guess I’ll just keep reminding her until she does.
Valerie weaves her way back to us from a cluster of her Epic Theme Song coworkers and frowns. “Where the hell is Riker?” She tosses her hair, now longer but back to its signature pink, and starts scanning the crowd.
“He got stuck at the press,” I drawl suggestively.
“Oh, Mary Kate is here? I should have said hi before bolting past everyone!” Valerie says. Even though the press has cooled down since she and Caleb got married, she still gives them a wide berth these days.
Caleb leans over to us, lowering his voice. “You ever think those two will actually date, or do you think it’s just going to be flirting for the next twenty years?”
I laugh. As the tallest in the group other than Maddox himself, I’m probably the only one who can spot Riker’s topknot across the crowd. Mary Kate is close to the end of the press line, and he’s got the pretty reporter laughing and smiling.
“Do we really want to be those couples who pressure their single friends to find someone?” Jane asks gently.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Riker insists it’s just flirting, but, like, just look at them when they’re together and tell me you don’t think there’s something there.”
I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Riker light up like that without a guitar in his hands. Soft, unguarded, full of joy. And after everything Mary Kate did for Jane, I can’t imagine a person I would trust more with Riker’s happiness.
But they’re both adults, and time will have to tell. I have no interest in meddling in Riker’s affairs, even if he never extended the same courtesy to me…not that I’m mad about the result. I wink over my shoulder at Jane.
“We should find our seats without him. People are starting to trickle in,” Valerie says.
“Eh, he’s coming this way,” I say. After a few minutes, Riker finally joins us, still grinning.
“How’s MK?” Caleb asks.
“She’s great!” Riker says; then his brows rise, and he clears his throat. “I mean, I talked to a lot of different journalists.”
“Sure you did, buddy,” Valerie says, patting his jacketed arm placatingly.
Riker spins to Jane, eyes theatrically wide. “So! Janey! Are you going to drop the news in your acceptance speech?”
Jane smooths her hands over her gown. “I’m not going to win, and even if I did, I won’t break the rules.”
“But it would be so epic if you announced it like that!”
Caleb glances around nervously. “Keep it down, dude.”
I get why he’s anxious. Caleb has never been comfortable with media attention, and as soon as we tell the world we’re taking back our masters and releasing a new album, it’s going to cause quite a stir.
The bigger secret is that we’re already hard at work.
With the help of our new label, we found a studio for rent that’s an easy drive from Jane’s house…
where I’m planning to move in after the lease on my condo ends next month.
We’ve already gotten a cat, a massive orange tabby from the local shelter who we named Navel.
I still can’t believe I’m lucky enough to have found the love of my life with one of my best friends.
Being partners on top of friends and collaborators was a surprisingly easy transition.
And there’s been a lot of collaborating—we’ve made it through a good chunk of Wanderlust already, and it’s been so rewarding to discover all the ways our sound has matured since we recorded the album as teens.
It’s an exciting time. We got interrupted by Valerie’s filming schedule for season four of Epic Theme Song, but we’re hoping to get back to work as soon as possible.
After the school year ends, Caleb is taking a sabbatical from his teaching job so we can continue recording and head out on the biggest tour we’ve ever planned.
I know the sabbatical was a difficult decision, and any kind of announcement before the school year is up might derail his plans.
“Let’s just get inside before we tell the whole world,” I say.
Soon enough, we find our table and the night begins with drinks all around. There are the earliest awards and musical performances and even a couple of tributes, but finally, the category for Best Album: Visual Media is announced.
Jane said she wasn’t nervous, but she grips my hand tightly on top of the table. At her other side, Riker places a hand on her shoulder.
The announcer for this category reads off the names, and then the drumroll begins.
“And the winner is…Jane Mercer, for Into the Dragon Realm season two!”
I turn to Jane, who is gaping with tears streaming down her face. “No. That’s not…what?”
Caleb whoops, Valerie jumps up and starts clapping, and Riker whistles.
I scramble out of my chair and Jane pulls me in for a quick kiss. As we part, she blinks rapidly, frozen.
Riker pats her on the shoulder. “Get down there, Janey!”
“Right. Oh my god.”
Jane scrambles to weave around the tables and make it to the stage, pausing in gratitude as people congratulate her along the way.
When she gets up to the microphone, I can tell it’s sinking in.
The smile on her face is as bright as a supernova; only the vastness of space would be large enough to contain her joy.
God, I love this woman.
Jane thanks the announcer and takes the crystal statuette as she tugs her phone out of the top of her dress. The room laughs.
“Umm, hi, everyone. I really wasn’t expecting to win tonight, so you’ll have to bear with me while I try to make sense of the speech I wrote in my Notes app this morning.”
Everyone laughs again.
“Well, I first want to thank our showrunners and producers, Kate Taylor and Jordan Tyler, for trusting me to make the music of Into the Dragon Realm. This is such a special project, and I’m so lucky to get to be a part of it.
Thank you to Angel Cruz, my engineer, for teaching me everything I know about soundboards and having excellent taste in coffee.
Kyle Harris, Finn Lewis, Josie Ramirez, True Reynolds, the rest of the cast, and naturally, Rose Carrington, thank you for singing my songs!
” And then she groans self-deprecatingly.
“Oh! And thank you to Jordan and Kyle for pushing me to finally hire another music producer for season three so I could find some work-life balance again.” Laughter echoes throughout the room. “And to the rest of my team…”
As she continues on to thank all of the musicians and possibly the entire cast and crew, I glance around at the rest of the table. Valerie and Caleb are hand in hand, beaming at the stage. Riker is crying as much as I am.
“And to Glitter Bats, oh my gosh, I wouldn’t be here if we hadn’t been so determined to become a rock band when we were just kids.
You are my best friends and my family and the most talented people I know.
Valerie Quinn, Caleb Sloane, Riker Maddox, and of course, my love, Keeley Cunningham.
” She sniffs, her eyes locking on mine. “Keeley, I adore you, and I’m so grateful that you’re in my life. ”
I can’t believe the woman I love just declared herself on live TV. We’ve been more open about our relationship—hell, we walked the red carpet together—but it still feels unbelievably incredible that this is happening.
As I watch Jane hurry backstage as the music plays, I’m overcome with pride for my talented girlfriend. Maybe it took a while for us to be honest and find our way to each other, but that road was worth it.
I wouldn’t change a thing, because it brought me to her.
Not only do we get to share our lives together, but we get to share music, this thing that is so incredibly important to the both of us. We get to fight for creative freedom together. We get to make art with our chosen family.
And we have a lot of work ahead of us, but it’s going to be worth every moment.
With all the plans on the horizon for the Glitter Bats, I know I’ll get to do what I love at her side, and that makes me the luckiest person in the world. We have albums to record, a world tour to plan, and hopefully, so much more music to write.
Beyond that, I can’t wait to figure out what forever looks like.
Together.