Page 14 of Knox
Knox’s voice rose inside her and she closed her eyes. Yes, out there the world came at her fast and hard, without rules, random and terrifying.
Not here.
She heard the tapping—Elijah at the drum, counting in their song. She took a breath, then eased into her voice, singing a cappella with Dixie and Glo...
Can you make me touch the sky
Can you give me a reason why
Don’t leave me, don’t make me cry…
Cowboy don’t lie—Take me away and make me fly.
The harmonies died, and she grinned in the silence, a split second before the audience filled it with a thrumming cheer.
Then Elijah rolled in the beat, Glo added her banjo, and behind them, the bassist and keyboardist, two up-and-coming musicians Carter had hired in Nashville for this gig, joined in.
The lights came up, and for a second, Kelsey blinked against the brightness. But she grabbed the mic, raised her arms and took the lead.
It feels like yesterday when you gave me the moon
When you told me that you’d never let me go.
Ain’t no way to understand why I let you
Tell me how you love me so…
Dixie stepped up with her fiddle, took the mic, and Kelsey hummed, her eyes closed, hearing the half-truth from last night.
I’m just here with a couple girlfriends for the weekend.Maybe she should have told him more. But there had been a magic in the evening, an anonymity, and she’d just wanted to be a girl with a cowboy.
She opened her eyes and grinned at the audience.
So sweet bull-doggin’ man, take me home tonight
Sing me a song, pull the stars from the sky
Make me believe your words, that everything will be all right.
Cowboy don’t lie—Take me away and make me fly.
The crowd erupted, and she glanced at Glo, then Dixie, then to the crowd and sent them a kiss. The applause filled her up, thick and rich in the hollow spaces.
She greeted the audience, introduced Glo and Dixie—the band would come later—and they launched into one of their hits, a song about trouble, Dear Johns, and broken hearts, and the crowd sang along.
She grabbed a tambourine and her mic and went to the front of the stage, grinned down at a couple of youngsters who just might be too young for their songs, but who waved to her. She winked at them and continued her walk across stage as behind her, Dixie did some fiddle magic.
She was just turning back to the center stage when she spotted him. Just inside the rim of visible lights, maybe three rows back and standing behind a little girl who sat on her father’s shoulders, clapping. Tall, cowboy hat, dark hair with a touch of red, those magnetic eyes pinned to her.
Knox.
He was here, and he stared at her as if stymied, or enthralled—yeah, she’d go with that. Surprised, for sure, and more than a little undone.
For a second, she nearly stopped singing, nearly hiccupped the lyrics, nearly tripped in front of the entire world.
But this was her world, her stage.
Her safe place.