Arabella had no way of knowing whether he knew she was there. Whether he was looking straight at her or at any of the people crowding into the parking lot and the street beyond as he pulled the guitar over his shoulder and launched into a hard-beating song that had everyone around her jumping to their feet.
Jay’s grandmother pulled Arabella to her feet, too, and she pulled her close, an arm over her shoulder. “Jay’s first song,” she said into her ear, loud enough that she could hear. It was followed by three more equally fast and rowdy and wonderful tunes, and when the last notes trailed away and Jay lifted his guitar high above his head, Arabella was stomping her feet and clapping as loudly as everyone else.
Then Jay stepped close to the mic again and the crowd abruptly quieted. “It’s good to see y’all here.” His deep voice rumbled over them.
“It’s good to see you,” someone yelled from deep in the crowd. “Where’ve you been?”
“Been around.” Jay’s smile flashed and he chuckled, which set off another flurry of excitement. “Never had quite a turnout like this before,” he drawled.
“We’ll go anywhere you go, Jett,” a woman screamed.
His smile flashed again. “That’s real sweet of you, darlin’.” He started strumming again, picking the recognizable notes that had been playing so incessantly on the radio for the last year. “Last year, I thought this was going to be the last song I ever wrote,” he admitted and with the band and backup singers along with him, he sang it as he walked back and forth across the stage. When he finished and returned to center stage, a grand piano had been rolled into view. Its lid was lifted and the image of the strings and black-and-white keys filled the video screens.
“Wouldn’t ever know they only had a few days to pull this all together,” Louella commented in Arabella’s ear. But she was barely listening because she was raptly watching every movement Jay made as he handed off his guitar and sat down at the piano.
He set his fingers on the keys and the crowd went quiet again as he slowly ran them up and down in a simple scale. “We spend so much of our lives pretending. I’m a piano player,” he said quietly. His fingers danced again up and down the keyboard in a melancholy way. “There’s only a handful of people here tonight who even know that.”
“Play for me, Jett,” someone cried out.
His dimple flashed. “And I can’t help but think how much better off we would be if we could all just be who we really are. Folks want to know where I’ve been all this time.” He swept out an encompassing arm. “And I’ve been right here all along. Just me. Figuring out who I really am.” He banged out a couple chords that earned another burst of applause, and just as deftly returned to the haunting notes up and down the keyboard. “I play piano. I love my family. I ride horses. I write songs and I make more mistakes than I can count.” He pulled off his sunglasses and tossed them into the blackness outside the lights focused over him. “And I’ve realized how badly everyone wants to be loved exactly the way we are. Even me.” He cleared his throat softly. “So I wrote a little song about that. This song.”
Then he looked straight at Arabella.
His long, strong fingers picked out the notes with impossible delicacy as he sang right to her.
Even though they were surrounded by hundreds and hundreds of strangers, even though he was helping to save the hotel from financial ruin, she knew in that moment that this song, this moment, was the real reason for it all.
For her.
“I think you should know that your love healed me,” he sang, his voice turning gruffer. Huskier. “Your love revealed me. You’re my Bella. And I never want to let you go. My Bella, please don’t go.”
By the time the final notes of the hauntingly beautiful piano notes faded into the night, Arabella didn’t even care anymore that tears were sliding down her face. Nor did she need the little nudge that Jay’s grandmother gave her as she stood and walked to the corner of the stage where a slim man dressed all in black helped her up the steps.
At the top, she turned and was shocked at the way the lights blurred out everything beyond their glare. But at the center of it all was Jay.
Her Jay, standing next to the piano and watching her oh-so-closely with those green eyes. The same green eyes that she’d fallen headlong into on a January night.
A pin drop could have been heard as she slowly crossed the stage, not stopping until she stood toe to toe with him.
“I think you should know that I could never stop loving you.” She didn’t care that the mic picked up her words. She reached up and slowly pulled off his cowboy hat. “Not even if I tried.”
When his arms swept her tight against him, she heard only his whispered words. “I love you—”
But suddenly a spotlight swerved and Arabella felt a sudden whoosh of heat.
She didn’t even understand that it wasn’t normal until Jay swore and shoved her down. Her knees hit the stage and she cried out, blinded by light and Jay’s body covering hers, flattening her right down.
She heard shouts. The sound of cymbals crashing. A discordant guitar twang. The stage beneath them vibrated with running footsteps.
“What’s happening? What’s wrong?”
He raised his head and she could finally see the wall of orange flames licking at the edge of the stage.
She gasped.
Beyond the flames, beyond the spotlights, she could hear but not see the people who were yelling. Then Jay, on his knees, pulled Arabella farther away from the flames. They knocked into one of the standing mics and it toppled, adding yet
