Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“You got this, dude,” I say, holding out my fist to Luke.
He bumps it with a weak smile and returns to adjusting his headphones.
I back out of the vocal booth and close the door.
It feels wrong leaving him alone in there, yet right at the same time. I can’t explain it, but maybe it’s fitting he takes this huge step on his own.
The poetry of what’s happening settles in my chest as I return to the control room. An actual poet like Callie must be feeling it too.
I know she is when I come up beside her. She’s squirming with barely filtered excitement as I pull her back to my front. She tips an excited smile up at me, and I plant a kiss on her cheek before letting her go.
She turns back to the window, and I shove my trembling hands into my pockets.
Once Luke and Jon are happy with the levels, Jon cues up the track.
The energy settling over the room is electric.
“Can we do a full take?” Luke asks from the distant vocal booth. “We can punch in later, but I’d like to go all the way through from intro to outro first.”
I hear the tension in his voice, the part he’s not saying. It’s been too long since he did this. He wants to do a full take to make sure he even can.
A twinge moves through my chest and I want to jump through the walls to stand by his side. As if sensing my concern, Callie squeezes my forearm.
I force in a steadying breath.
The click counts in. My faint piano intro pings through the room, joined by a short percussion sample. Sweeny’s lead guitar cuts in next and… bam.
Grins spread around the room when the guitars, bass, and drums explode into the room in a ghostly tribute to former glory. I sense the excitement. The appreciation.
All that’s missing to claim it back is an iconic voice.
No one moves as we approach the verse. I doubt anyone even breathes.
This is it. The moment that will make or break everything.
I close my eyes.
Callie’s fingertips dig into my arm again.
Come on, Luke. You can do this. Please do this!
A human breath coasts over the music, a gift from the booth.
Then…
“Mirror mirror, what do you see…”
Air releases from my lungs .
“When you are looking back at me…”
Tears rush my eyes.
I blink them away.
“Mirror mirror, what are you thinking… I see those staring eyes.”
Callie swats at her cheeks in my periphery. I can’t breathe, and when I reach for her hand, all bets are off. She squeezes back, shredding all that’s left of my walls.
“Mirror mirror, what are you saying, it’s always something I believe.
Mirror mirror, you’re a liar, so why do you own me?”
My heart hammers against my ribs. My skin buzzes with anticipation as the drum fill supports Luke’s raspy hold of the note and…
“Hello! Hello! Greetings from the inside.”
Callie chokes on a sob when Luke’s voice explodes around us.
“Hello! Hello! Framed in all your lies.”
Blazing through us and over us, his strong, haunting vocal fills every crevice with the story he never thought he’d be able to tell. The air is saturated with it.
The agony. The beauty.
A month ago, he was ready to say goodbye. He’d given up, imprisoned in his mirror’s deadly, distorted reflection. He’d lost the battle after it stole everything from him .
A month ago, he was ready for his story to end, but one woman said no.
In a moment of exquisite compassion, a stranger stood in the way. Fought, bled, and won to claim him back and share his pain. To turn a tragic goodbye into…
“Hello! Hello! How you love to see me cry. Always so…”
Do I believe in miracles?
“That’s it, isn’t it?” Callie whispers. “That’s what was in your head.”
She twists back a look of awe, and my throat closes around my response.
I see it in her eyes, her smile. She gets it. She finally hears her words the way they’re meant to be heard. The way only the three of us coming together with our own unique stories could stitch them into messy perfection and make them shine.
“That was it,” I say softly.
I shake my head, still in disbelief at what just happened. What’s still to come.
And most of all, the woman in my arms.
So yeah, I believe in miracles.
I’m holding one. Hearing one. Living one.
“You did this, Callie,” I whisper, pulling her close. “Don’t ever tell me you’re no one.”