55
Back at the villa, Emily and Rob stood on the balcony, each with a cocktail. It was the calmest Emily had felt in days—in months, actually.
“I can’t believe this is real,” she said to him.
He looked at her. “Me neither,” he answered. Then he glanced back at the clock in the living room. “We’ve gotta get ready,” he said. “I’m gonna jump in the shower.”
Emily waited for the butterflies in her stomach. But they weren’t there. She was excited, but she wasn’t nervous. “Me too,” she said, and then clarified. “My own shower.”
Rob laughed. “I figured.”
* * *
—
Once Emily was dressed, she went back into her bathroom and applied the kind of stage makeup she used to wear. Thick eyeliner, three coats of mascara, foundation under powder under blush. The application came back to her just like the piano had. She dried her hair and looked at herself in the mirror. Instead of the thick braided crown she used to wear, she made four small braids, two at each temple, that she pulled back, leaving the rest of her hair loose and wavy.
“Want to meet me at the venue?” Rob called from the living room. “I should head over now.”
Emily walked out of the bathroom and shut off the light. “I’m ready,” she said, as she arrived in the living room.
“Are you ever,” Rob said, looking her up and down. “You look great.”
She smiled. “You too,” she told him. He had on jeans and a soft white V-neck T-shirt with his own pair of boots. Even the way he inhabited his clothes exuded confidence.
“Let’s go check out your keyboard. I gave Diana the backline specs, and I’m sure she found something perfect.”
“Let’s do it,” she said, wondering what Rob had specified.
The butterflies still weren’t there. Just excitement that pulsed with every beat of her heart.
56
That night, Emily watched most of Rob’s show from the wings with Diana. She was amazed by how many fans there were, how many of them knew all the words to his songs, even the ones that weren’t played on the radio as often as “Crystal Castle.” She had a chance, for the first time, to really listen to his lyrics—the songs were filled with beauty, with desire, with hope, with regret. He was there in all of the songs. There was nothing he was hiding; Rob was singing himself, sharing himself with everyone who came to his concerts, everyone who listened to his words. Maybe that was why she was so drawn to him right now—the doors of his heart were thrown wide open. She wanted hers to be.
Soon Rob was announcing her, telling everyone who she was. “All y’all know that ‘Crystal Castle’ was inspired by a woman I knew a long time ago, a woman I always thought of as the one who got away. Well, she’s here with us tonight!”
The crowd started to cheer.
“Let me introduce you to Emily Solomon!”
Emily walked out on stage noting that Rob went back to her maiden name, turned her into the person she’d been before. She wondered if it was on purpose or was just how he thought of her, a slip like the one she’d made at the open mic.
“Ready to play, Emily?” he asked.
“Always,” she answered, as she stepped behind the keyboard Rob’s team had set up for her. She had a mic threaded through her hair, taped in place, and it was live now.
They played the same rendition of “Crystal Castle” that they had at Tony’s bar but without the drums. There was something even more soulful about it this way, the two instruments entering into a conversation, her vocals underscoring his. And the audience was responding to it. The room felt electric, just like it had so many years ago when they’d played at Webster Hall. Emily felt like the past and present were combining, like what was wrong had been set right. Like she had rediscovered the magic she had lost.
When the song finished, the audience erupted in applause and shouts and whistles. Emily felt the crowd’s emotion surge through her body. It left her breathless, sure that this was what she had to find some way to do—over and over again for the rest of her life.
“Thank all y’all for coming tonight!” Rob said, his guitar raised in one hand.
“One more song!” the audience chanted. “One more song!”
Rob looked at Emily and raised his eyebrow.
She knew what he was asking and nodded.
He strummed a few chords on the guitar and the audience quieted down. “We got a real old one for you,” he said. “Emily and I used to play this in college.”