The MC started with light music as we gathered. There couldn’t have been more than thirty or forty people here. I sat on a bench set up along the back and grabbed a beer from the cooler, watching the sun set. Beth and Jill were also leaving in the morning, but I was staying until Sunday. Part of me wished I was leaving tomorrow too. I was done here. I needed more time than I could afford to get past the emptiness.
A handful of single women and some couples started to sway on the dance floor to familiar music and I watched them, knowing everyone here had their own reasons for being here and would all leave with a little more peace.
None of us will ever be truly and completely healed.
“So how do you know our mysterious bartender?” Jill asked.
I stared at her.
“I’m a lawyer, discovery is a big part of my job.”
When I wasn’t quite convinced, she went on. “You can also cut the tension with a knife when you two are together. Not from his side though…he’s all peaches and roses. You’re the one with the issue.”
I released a breath. “He’s the twin.”
“Ha,” she clapped her hands. “That’s too good. Give the guy a break, Harp, life’s too short.”
I knew that better than anyone.
“He’s not the one, Jill.”
There was a loud mic shriek from the stage, and everyone turned.
My eyes went wide when I looked over. August was standing center stage, wearing a white linen shirt that hung loosely over his khaki pants. His hair was beachy and his confidence strong.
“Oh look at that, it works, hi everyone.” August smiled at the crowd as he shifted the mic off the stand.
“Oh my God, what is he doing?” I mumbled.
“Hope you all don’t mind my stepping up here for a bit.”
There were several cheers, no doubt of his regular customers over the past week.
“Awesome, thanks for that. So I know we’ve got a little bit of an older crowd here, hold your tomatoes and eggs for the morning, I’ve got a point, I promise.”
The crowd laughed. I wasn’t surprised; they were all good-humored.
“I wanted to sing a song. If you all knew me from two weeks ago, I wouldn’t be caught dead up here offering to sing or do anything but work for that matter, but I’ve got a song…it’s borrowed, but I think it suits.”
“You all ever watch The Little Mermaid?”
There were a few cheers just from the women, but I stood frozen.
Jill snuck up beside me, slipping my beer out of my hands. “I’mma take that.”
“Well a few years ago, I was walking the halls of my high school…yes I’m that young. Anyway, I see this beautiful girl. She’s new, never seen her before and God, I really wanted to talk to her. Help her with that damn locker she couldn’t for the life of her open.”
My features involuntarily softened.
“But I was no ladies man. No, that…that was all my brother—but we won’t get into that. Anyway, I tried and tried until…well someone else tried better so I never got a chance to talk to her. But I realized I was going about it all wrong.”
There was some inaudible feedback from the audience that sounded like curiosity.
“I should have just kissed the girl.”
Cheers roared and my lips twitched as I watched him maneuver the mic as the band started playing a modern-day tune of the familiar song.
To my utter bewilderment and quite possibly contentment, August sang the entire song. Word for freaking word. Stealing glances with gravity at me with each lyric. While I stayed incredibly still—despite the fact that he was singing what I considered the most romantic song in the world.
