“I’m glad you did.” I slipped my arm around her shoulder, holding her against me, while releasing the iron lock of my muscles and filling my lungs with her smell. “What’s the rest of your day like?”
Her shoulders drooped. “It’s packed. That’s why I wanted to come this morning. There’s no other time to see you today.”
Her disappointment mirrored and amplified my own.
“Can I tag along?”
Her eyebrows shot up. “You’d want to? It’s fittings, dress rehearsal for the tour, a few meet-and-greets. I won’t have a lot of quiet moments.”
My addiction to her meant any moments weren’t ones I was willing to pass up. “I’d love to see what makes the Bay machine tick. Even a look across the room will be good enough for me. No babysitting required.”
She peered over her shoulder. “Is that okay?”
Holden closed the cover on his tablet. “Of course. We’ll get Keyton set up and comfortable. There’s a chance we can do a solo lunch. We also need to go over the songs off the new album for the radio meet-and-greet tomorrow.”
I ran my hand along her leg. “Don’t worry about me. You don’t need to entertain me.”
We drove into the Wells Fargo Arena drop-off area. The SUV pulled up to a set of doors.
“The arena?”
“Where else to prepare for a stadium and arena tour?” Bay smiled.
All the doors in back and in front of us opened.
Holden opened Bay’s door and she slid out. “It’s going to be a long day. If you want to leave at any point, don’t think I’ll feel bad.”
I followed behind her and took her hand. Not in a million years would I think of leaving, and I didn’t want her thinking I would, adding me to the shit-Bay-has-to-worry-about-today list. “When I say I’m here, I’m here. Although I do wish I hadn’t dropped my hot chocolate and crushed my cinnamon roll.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry. There’s more.”
That eased some of my anger at myself for ruining her surprises for me without even tasting them.
Emily handed her an identical bag to the one she’d had inside the baggage claim.
“I might have overestimated the hot chocolate and cinnamon roll recipes, so there’s about three dozen rolls for your freezer and a whole winter’s worth of hot chocolate mix.” Her shoulder inched up in a slight cringe, like she was embarrassed to have spent so much time and effort on baking to make me happy.
Those feelings I tried to pretend we weren’t ready for were pounding on the door to my heart, wanting to be let out. I wanted to bathe her in the flood of emotions barreling out of me, but I was afraid of overwhelming her. Instead, I settled for “I can’t wait.”
Inside, the hallways were a flurry of activity and people. It felt like game day all over again.
Every room down the hall was filled with people. Music echoed down the halls and rumbled the walls.
With my bag of treats, I followed Bay. Holden made announcements into the rooms we passed by, and the train of people grew. None of these were screaming Bay’s name or grabbing for her. I wasn’t on edge anymore. These were her people.
She hugged and smiled at everyone: dancers, wardrobe, sound technicians, and stage hands moving giant black-and-silver boxes.
Out on the arena floor, rows of tables were set up.
Bay stood at the front and the waves of people kept coming, filling in the space. At least two hundred people, maybe more. I stood off to the side, trying not to be in the way, but wanting to be close. The bag with her treats inside was still in my hand. It would be a breakfast of champions once things settled down and I found a spot to hang back and watch her work.
She grabbed a chair and stood on one of the tables so everyone in the back could see her. Holden stepped in behind her and I did the same, not waiting her to fall to the concrete floor.
“Hi everyone!” She waved and the crowd waved back. “I hope you all had a great break, but we’re ready to do this one more time.”
“Hopefully not just one!” A voice from the back shouted, and more people laughed and cheered.
“Let’s make it through the next eight months in one piece. Then we’ll talk. Everyone here is the best in the business, and I trust all of you to bring the songs in my head to life for an audience and give them one of the best experiences of their lives, and thank you for trusting me enough to come on this new journey and leg of the tour away from your friends and families. It means the world to me.” Her eyes glistened.
The sea of expectant faces all stared at her. They were hopeful, excited and happy. So much hinged on her. Their livelihoods and their futures were in the hands of this one woman.
This wasn’t a stadium like mine, where the games went on whether I was there or not.
“Now let’s have an amazing rehearsal today and make this the best tour we’ve ever done.”
Everyone cheered, clapping and chanting.
I held out my hand.
She smiled and took it, hopping down off the table, and joined in, jumping up and down in a chant that got louder and louder before breaking into screams and applause.
A game night ritual. I could feel it in my bones.
The people scattered back to whatever they’d been doing before Bay’s pep talk.
After that, it was hard to keep up with where we were going.
Bay had wardrobe fittings in colorful, sequined, feathered, leather, sometimes lighted costumes. Alterations and changes were made on the fly.
Emily set me up in a spot in the wings of the stage. I finished my hot chocolate and cinnamon roll. Had Bay eaten before she picked me up? Other than a bite of my cinnamon roll after chugging half a bottle of water she hadn’t eaten anything since I’d seen her.
Her face switched between smiles and laughter and intense focus whenever someone walked her through each facet of the stage. She practiced trips through the trap doors in the floor they’d be taking on tour and walked through choreography with the dancers. Lighting cues and sound cues were rehearsed until they were perfect.
And for one heart-squeezing moment, she took flight on a rig, flying out over the imaginary audience.
She kept her smile on, but by two her energy was flagging. She’d been at it for over six hours. We were in a smaller room, and Bay and twenty dancers were going over another dance routine.
Holden walked past me. I shot up from my folding chair and grabbed him. “Has she eaten?”
She hadn’t been out of my sight for more than a few minutes, but I needed to make sure.
“Not yet.” He dropped his tablet to his side with a tense look of annoyance, not at me, but for the same reason I’d asked him the question.
“Why not?”
“She wants to finish with the dancers, so they can go home instead of waiting for her to eat and finish things up. Trust me, I’ve tried to convince her three times already.” From the way his nostrils flared with exasperation, I believed him. But she also signed his checks—how hard would he push against what she wanted, even if it was what she needed?
Her steps had been flagging, and breathers between running the routines stretched from a few seconds to almost a minute. Five minutes before I’d promised myself I’d step in, they finished. Everyone exchanged hugs and the dancers waved and rushed from the room.