Page 115 of Sing For Me

Eva

Ican’t remember the last time I was in such a good mood. Kat and I stay up most of the night, curled up together on the couch watching shitty reality shows and talking. Will abandons us to go to bed around midnight and our conversation shifts to him. I tell her about the rest of our trip to Tennessee, about playing music around the campfire and all the fun we had.

“But Marissa said you came home early?” she asks.

So, in whispered tones, I tell her about the fight with his dad and uncles, and her eyes go wide. “And he hasn’t told you what it was all about?”

I shake my head. “He gets all quiet whenever it comes up.”

She studies my face. “Does that worry you?”

I shrug. “A little? I mean, we haven’t been together that long. Maybe it just takes him more time to get comfortable with that kind of sharing.”

But there’s a little seed of worry in my gut, the same seed that’s been there ever since that day in the Ransome’s recording studio.

I manage not to dwell on it the next day—a feat that’s much easier with Katherine around. We go shopping, hitting up all the unique places in the fashion district that Kat loves. Marissa schedules us a spa day, and we get mani-pedis and facials. We spend time on the beach, even though the ocean is way too cold to do more than stick our feet in. That night, we order take-out from about five different places, so we can get a taste of everything we like, and watch movies.

Most of all, we talk. There’s no one I can talk to more easily than my sister. And even though we do typically talk on the phone several times a week, there’s nothing like being face-to-face with her.

Will is there for most of it—except the shopping and spa parts, when he goes in to the shop to catch up on some work. He seems content enough to sit back and let us do our thing, and more than once I catch him watching me while I’m talking to Kat, a soft smile on his face that always makes my cheeks heat up.

My birthday is Sunday so we plan on dinner with everyone Saturday night. I figured we’d just make a group reservation somewhere, but apparently Will and Marissa have been doing some behind-my-back planning. They booked us a private room at my favorite restaurant in Santa Monica, and invited all of my friends and several of Will’s cousins.

My friend Sosie, who I met when she was working as a Broadway make-up artist, shows up at my house early to help us get ready. When I introduce her to Will, she looks a little disappointed. “I was hoping you’d be wearing the glasses,” she sighs, and Kat and I laugh at the bemused expression on his face.

We go all out getting ready, since the restaurant is fancy—and because sometimes it’s just fun to be totally girly. Sosie does our make-up and we all do each other’s hair, Katherine submitting to my demands that she wear hers down for once. She’s usually in such a rush with school and studying that she forever lives in a messy topknot. Tonight, though, her long auburn hair shines in loose waves down her back.

Since Kat loves all things retro, she found a fifties style black dress that looks perfect on her. I picked a blue dress, fitted at the waist with a swinging skirt, because Will told me once it’s his favorite color on me. Our getting ready efforts pay off for me when I see the intense look in his dark eyes when we finally join him in the living room.

“You’re going to make it very difficult to keep my hands to myself tonight,” he mutters in my ear as we head out to the waiting hired car Marissa arranged.

I can feel my cheeks pink up as he brings a hand to the small of my back to guide me to the car. Ahead of us, Kat laughs at something Sosie is saying to her and I feel a swell of contentment in my chest. Kat is here, laughing and happy and looking gorgeous. Will is next to me, his body heat enveloping me like a warm, familiar blanket. We’re on our way to see all of the most important people in my life.

How could I feel anything other than completely, overwhelmingly happy?

I get a little teary when we get to the restaurant and I see everyone. My friends Geoff and Caleb, Luke and his wife Vicky—all of the people who joined Marissa, Sosie, and I the day we got tattoos and I met Will. Then there’s Rose, River, Everly, Alex and Fox plus my manager Dennis. It’s everyone I care about most, and they’re all here for me.

I work really hard not to make my entire life be about the fire, but in moments like this, it’s hard not to think about it. Hard not to feel overwhelmed with gratitude. Because I survived that day. I survived all the difficult times that have come since. I’m still here. And I’m so damn happy that I am.

We sit at a long table to eat amazing food and talk and laugh and drink. I had given strict instructions that I didn’t want gifts and I’m thankful everyone followed them.

Everyone except for Will. At the end of the meal he presents me with a square package, wrapped in garish Star Trek themed wrapping paper that makes me laugh. Inside, I find a framed photo—no, not a photo. It’s adrawing.A colored pencil drawing of a man and woman standing against a railing, looking out at the setting sun over the ocean.

It’s us. Me and Will. Looking at the sunset, the way we had the first day he came to my house. I know without asking that he drew it, and for a long moment, I can’t speak. I swallow several times, blinking back the wetness in my eyes, and feel him press a kiss to the side of my head. I lean into him, luxuriating in the warmth and strength of his body.

“Thank you,” I whisper.

“You’re very welcome, honey.”

After dinner, the waiters clear the table and bring out dessert and we all move around the room to chat. As I mingle with the guests, I can’t help but notice the way River has zeroed in on Kat. He’s standing way too close to her, his hand brushing the small of her back. I don’t like it.

“You doing okay there, champ?” Will asks, an amused twinkle in his eye.

I nod over at them. “What’s going on there?”

His mouth presses together, the way it does when he’s trying not to laugh. “I think they’re just talking.”

“He’s standing too close to her. And why is he looking at her like that?”