Throw Him My Way

Chapter 3

Heidi was about ready to call it a night.

It had been a good night. She had sung it all out.

At least, she had sung almost all of it out. She might have one more song left, but that was it.

She looked up after talking to the band, got her guitar to do an acoustic version of her original song – the crowd always mellowed down by the end of the night enough to be receptive to original music – and sat down.

She looked down at the people, and smiled. Most of them were quite tipsy, and all of them seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The couple who had obviously had a fight before coming in had definitely made up. Looked like they’d be going home together.

The group of girls who’d come in to celebrate a twenty-first birthday would soon be holding the birthday girl’s hair back as she paid part of the price of celebrating turning legal the traditional way.

It was probably worth the price.

The guys eyeing the girls would get booted out immediately if they even tried hassling any of them. Women could feel reasonably safe at Barney’s.

She let her eyes drift over the crowd as she spoke. It was patter. She had it down. She knew how to gauge a crowd, see who’d like to be mentioned or pointed out, and who wanted to blend into the background.

Like the guy at the back, she thought, sitting exactly where almost no light would fall on him. He wouldn’t like any attention.

He was there, a little apart from the crowd, but still enjoying the energy of it all. He was a spectator, but he was also an observer.

She smiled, an easy relaxed smile, and he shifted just enough to let a sliver of light play over his face.

Heidi’s easy patter stuttered to a stop.

The sandy blonde hair, the blue eyes, though no longer reddened by smoke – there was no mistaking him.

She quickly picked up right where she left off and kept on talking.

It was him, wasn’t it? It was Christian Sanders. He was there to watch her. She knew that. Maybe he was there to be sure she took that fire safety course.

Well, she would, as soon as she could get a few moments to get that done.

On impulse, she excused herself, walked to the edge of the stage and caught a waiter’s attention. Instead of her usual water – one glass of red wine at the end of the session was all she had, as a rule – she made an unusual request.

“The guy sitting alone at the back. The one in the shadows – blonde hair, blue eyes. Send him a Scotch, will you? On me. Tell him the singer said thanks, and she means it, from the depth of her heart and soul.”

He looked surprised, for a moment, but nodded.

Heidi was a regular. She was good for it.

With a smile for a job well done, Heidi made her way back to her stool and sat down.

She glanced down at what she was wearing, suddenly a bit self-conscious.

The floor-length strappy dress flowed over her and was bright enough to remind you of spring, when everything bloomed and was beautiful.

She’d wanted that, she supposed, and had chosen it without even thinking about it when she dressed.

Her hair wasn’t straightened. It was curly and a bit wild, but deliberately so.

She couldn’t stop herself from hoping that Christian would think that it wasn’t just her music that was worth the trip to Barney’s.

“Sorry about that, folks. I spotted a parched throat and decided to do a good deed. Now, I have an original for you all now. If you don’t like it, please, don’t hesitate to let me know. The time-honored way of destroying a budding singer is good enough. You know, booing and hissing. I’m a hardy, seasoned, veteran, I can take it.”

She had her audience. They took her ribbing with a chuckle.

She swung into the song, and within a few seconds, she knew that she had them.

It was a good song. She’d known that. But it was better than she’d hoped it would be, because she saw people forget to take a drink, forget to take a bite… They only remembered the people they loved, and that’s what she had wanted when she’d written it.

It had come straight from her soul, and she was laying it bare for them.

It looked like they appreciated it.

She damn well hoped they did. She had poured everything out, put everything on the line for that.

And it was too much. She was too spent that day. She should’ve waited till she had more to give to try and pull that much out of her.

Heidi didn’t know how she managed to finish the song.

It wasn’t all because of the song. It was also because she couldn’t take her eyes away from Christian. She saw him get the drink, and read the surprise in his body language.

She saw him settle back down, and had to force herself to focus on the rest of the room.

She closed her eyes to finish the last verse, and finally opened them again to look at him. She could feel the searing blue of his eyes burning into her.

Everything seemed too hot.

Ironic, thought Heidi.

When the last note died down, there was silence. She saw him raise his glass to her in a toast in that precious moment and she released that breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding.

And then the applause started.

It was far more than the usual polite acknowledgment, with a smattering of enthusiastic encouragement, that she usually got. She did have a few fans who were regulars.

This was different.

This time, she felt like a musician – a real one.

She felt like an artist, and she felt appreciated.

By the time she got off the stage and sat on a bar stool for that glass of wine, she was beyond exhausted.

But she didn’t have to look around to know that Christian Sanders was no longer there. She’d felt the very air change when he left.