8. Scotts Epilogue
Six Weeks Later
“You didn’t have to do this, you know,” Kelsey says after I complete a quick sound check from the makeshift stage in the back corner of Brewbirds Coffeeshop.
The place is rammed to near-capacity tonight, full mainly of residents and big turnout of college kids from Kelsey’s alma mater. Most of the tourists don’t tend to come to local events like this, but there are probably a few in the mix.
Tonight, they’re getting a special, intimate experience—a showcase of talent from the best and brightest of Wintervale and the surrounding towns, plus a special guest, yours truly.
Five minutes until showtime, and Kelsey’s still over here wringing her hands.
“I wouldn’t have asked, but I didn’t want to let Mel down. She had this whole idea for a sort of Talented : Wintervale edition, and once she gets an idea li—”
“Honey, breathe.” I slide my hands down her arms and lace my fingers through hers. “Everything is fine. I’m happy to do this. There is absolutely no reason I wouldn’t do this. It serves the local community, which I’m part of. It helps establish Brewbirds as a place with unique, ever-evolving events. That, in turn, helps you, and that makes me happy.”
She peers up at me, gray eyes glittering with love, gratitude, and admiration.
“Okay. If you’re sure?”
“I’m sure,” I say, giving her a kiss and a quick tap on the ass to send her on her way. She scoots off the stage with a yelp.
In the six weeks since we’ve admitted to our feelings, things between us have found an easy rhythm and flow. But sometimes, like today, she gets a little worried that some invisible switch might flip and I might feel differently about her.
It’s not possible and it won’t happen. I remind her of it every day, but some days, like today, she needs a little extra reassurance.
I’m happy to give it to her because I now know how much that experience with her so-called friends had hurt her. And if I’d only known about it back then…
Well, I don’t know what I would’ve done. But maybe I would’ve worked a little harder to be there for her and be what she needed from me then.
Still, I count myself as one lucky bastard because she chose to trust me and open up to me, knowing I could’ve found some way to tease her about her vulnerabilities. ‘Course now she knows I wouldn’t do that to her, but I still think she was damn brave to take the risk.
And now, here I am, about to take a risk for her.
The lights go down and someone in the back angles a spotlight on me. The sea of familiar faces around me blur into darkened shapes, but the whole mood shifts and an electric kind of energy works its way into me.
“Good evening, Wintervale, how are we all doing?”
Cheers, whoops, and the sound of banging cutlery echo thunderously in the coffeeshop and I laugh into the mic. “Thank you, thank you. That’s really good of you to welcome me home.”
More cheers erupt from the crowd.
“Tonight, we’ve got a pretty special show for you tonight. Normally, tonight would be open mic night here at Brewbirds Coffeshop. You can thank Miss Melissa Santos over there for it.” I pause as the spotlight finds Melissa with sitting with her fiancé Ryan, and she waves. “And you can also thank Miss Kelsey Greer for hosting this event here at her fine establishment.”
Kelsey waves off the spotlight, but can’t escape it as it lands on her. From the front row, Travis whoops louder than all the rest.
“Now, we’re still having open mic night, okay? That’s what all this young talent is here to do, but before we get to that, I think y’all know that I do a bit of singing and a bit of songwriting. And tonight, I thought if I was going to ask people to be brave enough to come up here and perform in front of you all, I thought I needed to ask myself to do the same thing. So, I’m singing a new song for you tonight. Never been heard before, never been performed before. This is an exclusive world premiere.”
“Is it another heartbreaker?” a voice weathered with age shouts from the crowd. “Is it going to make me cry?”
“I don’t know about that, Mrs. Sanderson, but it’s not a heartbreak song. This one’s a love song. One inspired by a very special lady I’ve sung about many times. Most of the world knows her as the woman from my breakout first hit, ‘Hometown Honey’, but most of you know her as Kelsey. Let’s get her on up here so she can hear this one, loud and clear.”
The spotlight swings to her again. She’s blushing something fierce as she nervously works her necklace along the chain and comes to perch across from me on the stage.
“Hi, sweetheart.”
“Hi,” she answers back, her voice a little choked. “What are you doing?”
“Singing you a song I wrote. This is called ‘Our Love’.”
And then a hush falls over the crowd as I play it, singing right to her as I recount our every step along our long road to here. From my first impressions after Travis introduced us, to my misguided attempts to catch her eye, to the time we spent apart just becoming the people we needed to be so we could find ourselves back at the start, in our side-by-side homes. Along the way, through the chorus, I tell her, “I’ve loved you all my days / And I’ll love you all my life”.
Tears shine in her eyes and she spends most of the three minutes with her hands clasped to her chest or to her mouth.
As I near the end, I slide off my stool, and sing the chorus with a throat tight with emotion. And when I get down on one knee before her, my voice cracks a little when the line changes into, “And I’d love you as my wife”.
I finish with a slow strum of my strings, and look up at Kelsey through my own watery eyes.
“If you’ll have me, that is.” Then, I pull a gold ring out of my pocket and hold it up for her as the crowd holds their collective breath.
Kelsey cups my cheek, and her lips curl up as she says, “Yes, I want to love you all my life, too, Scott.”
And then the crowd dissolves as I take her in my arms and kiss her like there’s no tomorrow. When we break apart, she brings her lips to my ear and says, “You can say it now.”
Then I grin ear to ear and say, “I love you, wifey.”