Ridge leans into my ear and says, “You look beautiful.”
His comment gets him a kiss. We’re so adorable.
Warren opens the back door and holds it for everyone as we all shuffle inside. I feel my phone vibrate, so I look back at Ridge and he indicates he just texted me something.
Ridge: I gave Jake the ring.
Me: You did? Did it freak him out? Or did he seem appreciative?
Ridge: He thanked me like five times and kept staring at it on the drive over. I doubt he waits long.
That makes me smile. I know marriage wasn’t an item on Maggie’s bucket list, but I think she’s at a point in her life where she wants to add more to the list. And Jake isn’t going anywhere. I can see that just by the way they look at each other.
The room is packed when we get out to the floor. Luckily, one of the crew members saved an area up front for us. Perks of writing music for the band.
Jake and Maggie stand next to us. He’s standing behind her with his arms wrapped around her. When Brennan and the band walk on stage, Maggie separates herself from him and starts clapping and jumping. I have no idea how long it’s been since she’s seen them play, but she’s genuinely stoked to hear them. It makes me think about everyone’s dynamic and how she’s been a part of these people’s lives since right after they started the band. I’m sure Brennan and everyone on stage mean more to her than I ever realized.
It makes me appreciate what we had to go through to get here even more. Had we all not figured out a way to coexist, she would have had to give up huge pieces of her life. I never would have felt right about that.
I look over at Warren and Bridgette, and even she’s smiling and clapping as Brennan introduces the band to the audience. Warren has his hands cupped around his mouth as he yells for the band. Then he drops his arm and wraps it around Bridgette’s waist. She looks up at him and he smiles down at her, then gives her a quick kiss. It’s so odd to see them in moments like this, but when I do get glimpses of it, it’s beautiful. They love each other, even if they do it differently from everyone else.
That’s the beauty of love, isn’t it? It comes in so many different forms, shapes, sizes, textures. And it’s ever changing. Like the love Ridge held for Maggie. It’s still there… It’s just a different form. And that’s what I love the most about him. He never stopped loving her. He never stopped caring for her. And now that she’s one of my closest friends, I can’t help but love that for her, because she deserves it. She deserved his love then as his girlfriend, and she deserves his love now as one of his best friends.
Ridge moves closer behind me and wraps his arms around me, lifting one hand to my chest. He rests his palm at the base of my throat and presses his head to the side of mine. He wants to hear the concert through me, so I start singing along to the music. And I don’t realize it until halfway through the song, but I’m crying.
I don’t even know why.
I just love him so much. And I love being here with him. And I love his friends.
I just…love.
She knows every word to every song. I’m not sure when she learned all the songs that were written before I met her, but it makes me wonder if she learned them for me. For these moments when we’re watching the band on stage, so she can sing them to me.
When the song ends and she starts clapping, I notice tears are falling down her cheeks. I wipe one of them away and then lean in and kiss her briefly before walking away. She tries to grasp at my shirt, but I disappear into the crowd before making my way on stage. Brennan told me to come up after the first song to perform the one I wrote for her, but I didn’t tell Sydney I wrote a new song for her.
When I get up on the stage, I can feel the excitement of the room, even though I can’t hear it. The looks on their faces, the people in the front few rows jumping up and down, the heat from the lights, the smile on Sydney’s face when I finally find her in the crowd. I lean in to the microphone and sign while I tell her out loud why I wrote the song.
“Sydney.” She’s grinning so wide right now, it makes me smile. “I wrote a happy song for you this time. Because…well…you make me happy. No matter what happens or where we go…we’re in it together. And that makes me so fucking happy.”
She laughs and wipes at a tear, then signs, You make me happy, too.
I take the guitar Brennan hands me and wait for his cue. Then I close my eyes and start playing the chords, repeating the lyrics quietly in my head while Brennan uses his voice to sing them out loud.