The air of defeat settled over them like lead.
“It’s over,” Nate declared.
Brody looked down at Tyler, all thoughts of lust and flirtation forgotten. Distress was etched across her features.
“The fat lady hasn’t sung yet,” he said. “The show will go on.” But despite his conviction, as he stared at the rubble, he knew they were gonna need a miracle.
~*~
“I feel like there should be pizza for a summit meeting,” said Tucker.
“It’s too early for pizza,” said Piper.
“It’s never too early for pizza.”
“Either way, it’s hard to have a summit meeting when not everybody is here yet,” Piper pointed out.
“Brody hasn’t quite shaken loose of work yet, and Norah should be getting out of her meeting with the mayor shortly,” said Tyler. She paced restlessly in front of the register. The store was blessedly empty at the moment but for her friends, who crowded around the table in the consult area. She’d have been hard pressed to offer up the requisite customer service.
“How are things going with Brody?” asked Piper.
Tyler wasn’t fooled by the über casual tone of her voice. “They’re…going.” She’d promised Brody she’d think about what was between them. In truth, she’d thought of little else. Things had been so good the last week—familiar, comfortable in their common purpose. It would be easy, so very easy, to let herself fall back into love, back into a relationship with him. But a part of her was still waiting for him to leave, counting down the days to the end of the year when the hotel job was finished. It was the elephant in the room they continued to stubbornly avoid, all as part of their efforts to pretend they had time to ease back into things—just like Tyler had requested.
Unfortunately, that elephant was getting harder and harder for her to ignore.
Piper was prevented from prying further by the arrival of Brody himself. “Sorry I’m late,” he said. “I had to juggle some stuff to get free, and then Gerald called wanting an update. Any news?”
“None yet. The engineers turned in their reports. Norah’s in with the mayor.” Tyler paced another lap.
“You’re gonna wear a hole in that floor,” said Brody, stepping into her path and rubbing his hands up and down the length of her arms.
“I can’t settle,” she said.
“It’ll be okay. C’mon. Sit down.”
Tyler didn’t want to sit and certainly didn’t think it would be okay. But she let him draw her to the table. Before her butt even hit the seat of a chair, the shop bell jangled as Norah strode in. Tyler shot to her feet. “Well?” she demanded.
“It’s bad,” said Norah. “Like, closed unless repairs can be made kind of bad. I’m afraid we’re done, y’all.”
The news was met with a chorus of groans and expletives as everyone began to talk over each other.
Tyler’s shoulders slumped under the weight of disappointment. She hadn’t realized how much the Madrigal meant to her until faced with the prospect of losing it. And now…now it was over. It felt like an ending of far more than the show. It was the end of an era. A closed chapter in Wishful’s history and her own. She’d never again get the chance to perform on that stage.
Brody slipped an arm around her. Grief twisted through her, a knife in her chest. With the Madrigal gone, she’d never get the chance to perform with him again. Never fall in love through someone else’s story. Leaning into his embrace, Tyler knew the heartache was as much about Brody as the theater. The demise of the place that had given them hope of starting over felt like an ominous sign for their future.
“Do you have the report from the structural engineer?” Brody asked.
Norah dug a folder out of her purse and offered it to him. With a quick squeeze, he let Tyler go and reached for it.
“I don’t know what we could possibly do,” said Tucker. “It’s five weeks ’til the show. I hate to be a downer, but that’s not much time for anything.”
“We could try to find another venue,” Piper suggested.
“Where?” asked Tyler. “None of the churches have space enough for a set of that size. Maybe the high school gym, but it’s not a stage. I don’t know how any of the set changes would work, and there’s no structure for the backdrops or lighting.”
“What about the community center?” offered Norah.
“Same deal as the school gym,” said Tyler.