"You're set for Lovely Girl. You want to break quick or stay with this momentum?"
"Fuck, let's go for it," I told Dave.
He lowered the lights and leaned into the mic. "I fucking love this jam, dude. You get special lighting." Allison laughed, and I gave him the thumbs up.
Lovely Girl was a song about the women I loved, about losing my mom, about Wren growing up and having to let her go; it was even about Gloria, who'd been there with us through the worst. A song about gratitude and loss.
But a funny thing happened when I sang it this time, the lyrics suddenly took on new meaning, and I was singing about Allison and how I felt about her. I opened my eyes and looked at her, belted the ballad into the mic without ever breaking eye contact with her beautiful blue eyes.
This time, a song I'd written ten years ago and sung a million and one times moved me to tears, it wrung out my heart like a wet dishrag and when I sang the last line of the refrain, "Lovely girl, never let you go. Lovely girl, you're too good for this cruel world," I felt like I might collapse on the floor.
I swallowed, put my guitar down, and looked up at my girl. She had her hand on her heart, and her face was wet with trails from tears.
She leaned forward, cleared her throat, took a sip of water. "Hawk, we need to have another conversation, maybe over fish tacos, about who the greatest singer-songwriter of all time is." She wiped her tear tracks with the back of her hand. "But for Kestrel, go back to the outro. Start higher on the first lovely girl, try your falsetto, then bring it down from there. Go higher again on the next lovely girl, and bring it all the way back to your tenor by a cruel world."
Allison showed me with her hand, but she also sang the words into the microphone. It didn't faze me that she was fucking pro. It didn't even surprise me that she could sing, but it did give me a hard-on.
…
Catch and Release that night was a family reunion. Wren had strung more lanterns up behind the bar and around the back deck. Gloria had brought Bob over, and he was drinking his "Rolling Rock'' orange juice and wearing his sailor cap and best Catch and Release t-shirt. Dave showed up too, and I put him on the grill. I knew he had a significant crush on Wren and that we could get some grill-man time and clean up just for the excuse to hang around. Gloria was wearing a long flowered dress and had put her braids up and tied them into a turban wrap.
"Where's the girl, Hawk?" she asked me. Gloria, with her knowing smile and absolute disclosure on all the family secrets.
"Should be on her way," I told her as I rolled a keg across the grass.
"You singing for her tonight?" Gloria asked.
"Already did, Gloria." Dave piped up.
"How did that go?" Gloria asked, raising an eyebrow. Somehow her Caribbean accent came out more when she was trying to get the scoop.
"Like a rocket ship takes off. The dude blew us all straight out of the sky. Whole demo in three takes. Tears. Euphoria. We didn't even try the CBD tea. Oh, of which I brought three crates and stacked them by the bar. On the house, Hawk, and that's more where that came from."
"Thanks?" I said to Dave. When I stood up from rolling, Allison and her friend Katy walked into the backyard.
Seeing her again made my throat catch, the way she grinned at me accelerate my heart rate. She was wearing a flowing blouse with bell sleeves and Capri pants with heels. Her hair was in a braid that fell over her shoulder, and her full lips were painted a bright cherry red.
"Ally," was all I could think of to say.
"I can't believe you're Kestrel!" Katy squealed. "My cousins follow your TikTok videos of covers, like religiously. They always talk about your comeback and are going to be so freaking jealous I met you!"
"Told. You. So." Gloria said with a dose of smugness.
"I don't know about a comeback. That's up to the big boss," I said nervously. I handed both women a beer.
"Oh shit, Ally, you didn't tell him yet?" Katy blurted and covered her mouth.
Uh oh.
"I couldn't wait. I haven't seen talent like that in…well, ever, to be honest. I zoomed with Diana and the crew, and I played them the demo. Hope that's okay."
"But they don't need to see me play live, see if I can navigate the stage and woo the audience?" I asked nervously.
"I vouched for you. Besides, I saw you on stage, and you're the whole package, Hawk. I'm surprised no one else has snapped you up."