Part 37 (1/2)
”No, I mean, her voice is killer. Like she should get an agent and cut a record.”
”Is that what she wants?”
”She said she wants to open a club and sing there, plus bring in other musicians, kind of similar to the club we went to.”
”Okay. So what's the problem?”
Liz waited while the waiter laid their salads in front of them, then she leaned forward. ”You have heard her sing, right? She has way too much talent to waste.”
He picked up his fork and dug into his salad. ”And you've been down the interference road before, haven't you?”
She frowned at him and pouted her lips. ”Ooh, touche, Ty. I get your point. But she's my friend, practically my sister. I just want what's best for her.”
”Probably better if she decides for herself what's best for her.”
”You're right. I was just blown away by her singing, and my first thought was that someone needed to make her famous.”
”I don't think that's what she wants. What she really wants is a place of her own-a bar where music is played. She's not looking to become famous. She just wants to sing.”
”You do realize that may not be what she gets. Say she does open a second bar-a music club. And she's in there singing. She's that good, and word of mouth travels. Some music exec happens to be in there some night and hears her, and her desire for obscurity is over.”
He chewed, swallowed, and nodded. ”That may be. If and when that time comes, she'll decide if that kind of life is what she wants. In the meantime, it's been hard enough to get her to go for the dream she has.”
”Why?”
”I don't know, Liz. I've tried to figure it out, to talk to her about it. She won't budge. My best guess is she's either afraid to fail, or afraid to succeed.”
”Pretty broad concepts.”
”Yeah. Either way, I've tried to encourage her, but I'm stepping back.”
”Don't do that. She needs you. She trusts you and your opinion. You're the first one she sang for. That means something. If you let it go now she might never do anything with this gift she has.”
He took a long swallow of water and set the gla.s.s down. ”I don't know about that. She's making progress. Look, she took you and Tara to the club and sang for you. That's a big step in the right direction.”
”Exactly. And if you back down now, she may forget the whole thing. She needs encouragement-a big push.”
”I'm not much for pus.h.i.+ng people who don't want to be pushed. She's made it clear she wants me to back off.”
Liz sighed. ”Fine. I'll let you make your own decisions there. I love that girl and want what's best for her, but I know better than to mess in someone's business again.”
Tyler grinned and patted her hand. ”It all worked out in the end for you.”
”Yeah, it did, but it caused a lot of pain for a lot of people along the way. And here I go again, meddling. I can't seem to help myself.”
”You aren't meddling. You're trying to help Jenna.”
”I want her to have what she really wants.”
”So do I.” He just didn't know how to make that happen for her.
Maybe Liz was right. Maybe Jenna did need a little shove in the right direction.
He'd had an idea that he thought might help, but after their last blowup he'd discarded it, decided to back away from the whole thing and leave her alone about singing.
Now that Liz had told him Jenna had taken her and Tara to the club to hear her sing, things were different. She was opening up about her singing to other people.
So maybe it was time to take that next step, open the door for Jenna and see if she was willing to walk through it.
TWENTY-FOUR.
IT TOOK A COUPLE WEEKS FOR TY TO PUT HIS PLAN IN place. First, he'd had his h.e.l.lish road trip, but at least they'd played well and picked up four road wins. The team was in position to make the playoffs and he needed to start concentrating on the game, not on a woman who made him crazy.
But the woman who made him crazy was never far from his mind, so no matter how hard he tried to shove her into a ”forget about her for now” place in his head, she was always there, lurking.
He'd made a few phone calls to some people he knew who might be able to help him out. Liz had been instrumental there, since she had way more contacts than he did. By the time he returned home, he'd been able to get the ball rolling. It had taken a few days and trips around town to look around, but he'd liked what he saw. Now all he had to do was present the plan to Jenna, which he intended to do tomorrow.
First he had to put all his focus on the game tonight.
They were facing Nashville, a formidable opponent and one of the other teams in their division fighting for the t.i.tle. Tyler needed to be on top of his game, because this was a must win. There were only three games left in the regular season schedule and they were neck and neck with Nashville. It was going to come down to these last few games. The Ice needed to win two more games, and Nashville needed to lose two of them for the Ice to win the division, and that's only if they beat Nashville tonight.
They'd had grueling practice all day today, the coach putting them through their paces. He wasn't going to accept any mistakes tonight. None of them would accept stupid mistakes. They were too far into the season and the end goal was in sight. They had to win.
By game time, he cleared his head and took the ice, his teammates as pumped as he was. He looked to the left where the seats were when he came out onto the rubber pads leading to the box, wis.h.i.+ng Jenna were here tonight. But it was a work night for her and her a.s.sistant manager was sick, so despite him asking her to come to the game, she couldn't get away.
Probably better this way. He could concentrate on the game and not Jenna sitting in the front row watching him.
This was too important a game to let anything distract him.
He skated out onto the ice, his heart pounding. He'd never played on a winning team before, had never made the playoffs. It was so close he could taste victory.
”TY HAS NO IDEA ABOUT THIS BIRTHDAY PARTY, DOES he?” Tara asked as she put the finis.h.i.+ng touches on the tables.
”No clue. He's so nervous about the game tonight I'm not sure he even remembers it's his birthday today.”
Mick laughed as he helped Tara spread out a tablecloth. ”Nothing matters when the game's on the line. He's lucky if he can remember his own name right now.”
Jenna surveyed the private room that Tara had so generously offered to decorate. They couldn't close the bar tonight-with the Ice so close to making the playoffs, her regulars would be disappointed not to be able to watch the game with all their friends, and it would be bad for business. But she did shut off the private room so they could set up for the party she intended to have for Ty's birthday.
He promised her he'd come to the bar right after the game. And just in case they lost and Ty felt s.h.i.+tty about it, intending to drown his sorrows alone, she'd given a heads up to Eddie and Victor that today was Ty's birthday and she was throwing him a surprise party. The guys told her they'd make sure Ty came to the party, even agreed to delay his arrival to allow his teammates to get there before he did.
Everything was ready. Tara had done an incredible job setting up the room with balloons in the Ice's blue and white team colors with matching table decorations to reflect the hockey theme she'd chosen. There were miniature pucks and hockey stick drink stirrers, plenty to drink, and a lot of food because she knew the players would be hungry. Tara had worked with a cake decorator and had a hockey stick cake made. It was awesome.
Her parents and brothers would be coming in, along with all Ty's friends. She even had an ice sculpture of a hockey player staying cool in the freezer. She hoped to G.o.d the team won tonight or it would be one h.e.l.l of a somber birthday celebration.
She hurried out to tend to her customers while Tara tended to the decorations. Since baseball season had started, Gavin was home again and in town, but he didn't have a game today so he showed up with Liz and Jenna's parents. Jenna barely had time to wave at them when they came in because the bar was packed with fans who were glued to the screens, watching the game and ordering beer like they hadn't had anything to drink in a week.