“Right,” she said. “Again, dump it in his hands and see what he’d like to do.”
“Will do,” she said. She printed off a copy and tucked it into her pocket. It was a couple days before she had it at a time where she felt it was right to share it with Lance. She pulled it from her uniform pocket and handed it to him one morning when she headed down for coffee.
“What’s this?” he asked, sitting up in his bed and unfolding it. He looked at it in surprise. “Wow, this again.”
“Only if you want to,” she said. “I’m not pushing, but I did stop in that one time, and he remembered, and he sent this email.”
“But that also means going in for an audition,” he said, “and going in for a whole evening. I don’t think I can do that.”
“Well,” she said, “I guess there are a few options though.”
“Maybe,” he said. “I don’t know.” He nodded, tucked the email back into its folded form, and laid it on top of his table beside his coffee cup.
She could feel a sense of disappointment but had to remind herself that he would make whatever choice he felt was right for him. She glanced at her watch. “I’ve got to go,” she said. “The day has started.” And she headed back to her office.
Throughout the day, she wondered if he’d come to any decision but chose not to mention it. Several days later he still hadn’t mentioned it, and she tucked away her expectations and tried to just let him do him. When Saturday whirled around, the common area was even more jam-packed than usual.
She laughed as she stood beside him. “You know something? Dani’ll need to set this up in a bigger area.”
“I was thinking the cafeteria,” he said. “Maybe next time.”
“Maybe this time,” she said, as the place swelled with even more people. She looked over as Dani neared and asked, “Can we move this to the cafeteria?”
She looked surprised and then nodded. “Let me check to see how many people are in there.” She headed to the cafeteria and returned a few minutes later. Quieting the crowd, she said, “We’ll move this into the cafeteria, people. A lot more space is there.” With cheers, the double doors opened wide, and everybody streamed into the cafeteria, settling into various spots around the room.
Jessica walked alongside Lance as they headed to the cafeteria. “Where do you think you want to sit?”
“I’m not sure,” he said, as he entered the room, surveying the situation. “Maybe somewhere in the middle here against that back wall.” So that’s what they did. They set him up a chair, and he grabbed his guitar and said, “Good evening, everyone. Glad you could all make it.” And, with that, he headed into a several renditions of John Denver songs and then did a Barry White, which just caused her heart to swim with joy.
When he slid into several jazz songs, she hit Record on her phone because, dear God, his music was unbelievable. She didn’t want to lose that magic. When he was done at an hour and a half, she had tears in her eyes, and she could see several men in the room choking back their emotions as well. Somehow Lance had taken it to a whole new level tonight.
She didn’t know how or why, but every soul in that room was affected. What Lance could do with that little guitar was nothing short of amazing. And, when he finally came to an end, there was dead silence, and then the place erupted in cheers.
He smiled, looking a little emotional himself. “That went a little deep tonight,” he said. “I hope you guys are all okay with that. I tend to play by the moods that I’m in, and, tonight, well, it just seemed appropriate to play some of these songs.”
Jessica got up, walked over to the cafeteria water table, and poured herself a glass, waiting for the emotions to slide back down her throat. Dani joined her.
“My God,” Dani whispered. “He’s so good.”
“I know,” Jessica said. “I can’t believe it.”
“Well, we’ll see what comes of it tonight,” Dani said with a tiny smile. Jessica looked at her suspiciously. Dani gave a shrug and said, “One never knows where one can be.”
“I recorded some of that tonight,” Jessica said. “I just wanted to have that music myself. But I should ask him if it’s okay.”
“Right. We never thought of that, did we? But we should be recording him, if only to preserve it for his own uses,” Dani said, speaking more to herself now.
After dinner, Jessica and Lance sat outside together with a cup of tea.
“Lance, I recorded some of that tonight,” she said. “I never thought to ask you ahead of time. I just did it so I can have it and listen again, and I’d really like to keep it, but I’ll understand if you’d rather I didn’t.”
“Play it, would you?” he said, looking at her in surprise.
She found the recording and played it, letting several songs drift across the open deck as the two of them sat out here alone.
“I missed a note on that one,” he said.
“That’s the only thing you can say?” she said, laughing. “Did you realize there wasn’t a dry eye in the room?”
“Hey, I was feeling kind of teary-eyed myself,” he said. “That’s the problem with playing from the heart,” he said. “Once your heart’s engaged, it comes through, and it’s hard not to be affected by the music.”
“It was stunning,” she said. “So,” she said, when she stopped the recording, “can I keep it?”
He looked at her and said, “Do you really want to? I made a couple mistakes.”
She chuckled. “Apparently I wouldn’t know the difference,” she said. “The music moved me to the point of tears, and I would just love to have it.”
“Okay then,” he said,
