When the torture finally stopped, Kate and Nana took a bow to a dead silent audience. Everyone seemed to be trying to decide whether the whole thing was a joke or a serious performance. Slowly, everyone got over their shock, and after some polite golf clapping, went back to their conversations. Kate and Nana came back slightly breathless but wearing huge grins.
“Hey, Nana. We left ’em speechless,” Kate said to her grandma.
“Uh, Kate. I’ve got to tell you something,” Adam started. Lucy stood behind Kate, making a throat-slicing motion with her finger and mouthing “no,” but he kept on. “I’m only telling you this because I care about you.”
Kate stared up at him with wide, innocent blue eyes, her face flushed from the effort she’d put into singing, and he chickened out.
“Never mind. You were great.”
“Chicken,” Lizzie said. “What he really wants to tell you, is what we’ve been trying to tell you for years. You. Are. Tone-deaf.”
“What? No, I’m not. Someone else would have told me by now if that was true.” She looked to her family, who all suddenly found something interesting off in the distance or on the ground to look at. “Mom? Dad?”
“We tried to tell you years ago, dear, but you wouldn’t believe us,” her mother said with a chagrined smile. “You thought we were teasing you. And you sing with such enthusiasm, we couldn’t quash your joy.”
Kate got a horrified look on her face. “Lucy, is this true?”
Lucy turned to Emma. “So, how about that Jane Eyre? Can you believe Rochester was already married?”
“Lucy,” Kate shrieked.
“This cannot possibly be the first time you’ve heard this,” Lizzie said.
“You just let me embarrass myself in front of all these people? Did Nana’s voice drown me out, at least?”
They all looked at each other before breaking down in laughter. “Kate, Nana’s tone-deaf too,” her father said.
Nana nodded matter-of-factly, picking a piece of lint off her T-shirt and causally flicking it to the ground.
“You knew?” Kate rounded on Nana. “And you sing anyway?”
Nana put one hand on her hip and used the other to wag a finger at Kate. “Katie, if you like to sing, sing. Who cares what people think?”
Kate moaned. “I’m moving to Tibet.”
***
“How bad was it?” Kate asked Adam when they were alone later. He didn’t have to ask what she was talking about.
“Scale of one to ten?”
“Never mind. I don’t want to know.”
“Hey, your grandma’s right. Screw what everyone else thinks. You wanna sing, do it.”
“Just not when you’re in earshot?” She arched an eyebrow.
“I mean…,” he said.
She slapped him on the arm. “That’s what I thought. I’m so embarrassed.”
“If it’s any consolation, it seemed like a lot of the audience thought you guys were joking. Although, that would mean your rendition of the national anthem was pretty blasphemous.”
“I’ll stop singing. Let’s never talk about this again. Deal?”
He offered his pinky finger, and she linked hers with his. “Deal.”
After the disastrous duet, Kate had spent the rest of the evening avoiding everyone and drinking. She’d also hit the dessert bar pretty hard, and her stomach was in a bit of a snit over it.