He shook his head. “I’m playing for myself,” he said. “People will come and like it, or they won’t. I just want the time to play.”
Slipping the guitar pick over his finger, he quickly thrummed the chords, then immediately launched into a country song and then slipped into a feel-good song, then sad, and back over to happy. She lost track as he took them through this emotional river. By the time he drifted off the last note from his guitar, an hour had passed. As soon as silence filled the room, she looked around to see that it was completely full of people. Once they realized he was done, they clapped like crazy. He looked up, surprised to see so many people here and gave a lazy smile.
She hopped to her feet and said, “That was absolutely superb,” and clapped even harder. He shrugged. Dani was here too.
“I did say that you could go for another half hour,” she said, “but, if you’re tired, don’t overdo it,” she warned Lance.
He shook out his arms and said, “Actually, if you guys have a little bit of tolerance,” he said, “I’d love to try out that piano.”
Dani looked at Jessica in surprise and then nodded. “Don’t you need some time to practice first though?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “Let’s see.” And, with that, he sat down beside Jessica, smiled at her, and his fingers spread out over the keys. Closing his eyes, he immediately jumped into Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. There were gasps of shock as the music thundered through the room.
Although it may have hurt him, he gave absolutely no sign of it. He ripped into song after song after song, but Jessica could see the strain starting to set in.
After twenty-five minutes, she reached out a gentle hand and touched his shoulder. He tilted his head against her hand ever-so-lightly, and moved into a very slow serenade. By the time he got through the song, she could see that he was done. He dropped his hands to his lap and turned to face everyone. “Looks like my time is up. Thank you all so much for listening. That will be all for tonight.”
With that, the crowd erupted into a thunderous applause. She looked around and realized at least seventy-five people were here, although there could have been twice that many; she had no way of knowing because they were so jammed in the room. Somewhere off to the side was Shane. She walked through half the crowd that was slowly dissipating, noticing that the other half rushed to crush around Lance. She joined Shane and said, “That was freaking unbelievable.”
Shane nodded, visibly impressed. “He told me that he was a musician, but I didn’t realize how much of a musician. He’s the real deal,” he said. “As I sat back here and watched him, it was clear to me just how much we really have to do.”
“My God, the piano, he really killed it!”
“He did, and that’s a whole other can of worms to work on,” he said. “I don’t know if you noticed, but he didn’t use his other foot for the pedals.”
“I didn’t notice at all,” she said. “Please don’t tell me that, instead of enjoying that wonderful music, you spent the whole time working, designing changes to his program?” She turned to look back at Lance, but he was completely surrounded by people. “He is beyond talented,” she said, still in awe.
“Concert level,” Shane said, crossing his arms over his chest. “I wonder why he didn’t go into that full-time.”
She shook her head. “That’s a question we need to get to the bottom of,” she said. “And, if this is what he wants to do for his future,” she said, “maybe it’s time to pursue his gift. Do you think it’s possible to get him to the point where he’s capable of doing this for more than an hour and a half?”
“Most concerts are about ninety minutes,” he said.
“Concerts, yes,” she said gently, “but not necessarily practice.”
“Good point,” he said. “An hour and a half a day probably isn’t enough, is it?”
“I’d bet he’d play all day if he could, but I have no idea really. As far as practice goes though, I don’t think he wants to tour and do concerts at that level,” she said.
“But a bar in town, that’s a whole different story,” Shane said, clearly still focused, his mind spinning with the details of the challenge before them.
She smiled. “So, let’s see if we can get him to that point,” she said.
“I talked to him about a couple live-music bars in town, but I don’t think he’s done anything about it.”
“I’ve gone to one a couple times,” she said. “I wonder if I could talk to them myself.”
She pondered that, while Shane leaned closer and said, “If you do, don’t let him know you’re doing it. It’s one thing to think that other people are helping. It’s another thing to have them doing things because they think you can’t.”
“That’s not why I would do it,” she protested. “I just happen to get into town a little easier than he can.”
“I know,” he said, “but pride is a touchy thing.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Particularly with the male species.”
He burst out laughing.
When she looked over at Lance, he was watching the two of them, frowning. She gave him a bright smile and then walked over. “Are you ready to go for dinner?” she asked.
“Yeah, I am kind of tired now and hungry. Starving, actually.” Several of the others crowded around them, and one of them said, “Let’s go. We can all have dinner together.”
She loved that camaraderie, that sense of inclusion. He really needed that. It was acceptance at his peer level, and that was so important. She stepped back as they headed toward the cafeteria.
Shane motioned and said, “Are you letting him go alone?”
“I don’t know,” she said, shoving her hands into
