Tenney Shares the Stage

by Kellen Hertz

  Mom and Dad looked even more confused.

  Luckily, Jim didn’t seem to notice. “Great!” he said. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to help wrangle our audience,” he said, and slipped out.

  I took a deep breath and faced my parents. Dad was already frowning. “What’s going on?” he asked. “You said you were playing a solo acoustic set.”

  “I never actually said it was solo,” I corrected gently. “I am playing an acoustic set, but as it turns out, Logan’s also playing one at the same time. With me.”

  I flashed my biggest, brightest smile at my parents, willing them to understand. Their faces remained stony. Before anyone could say anything, Aubrey dragged Logan over to us, chattering about how happy she was that we were playing together again.

  “Logan said he’ll play with me for the last song, too!” she beamed. “Isn’t that a great idea?”

  “I think so,” I said, glancing at my parents.

  They didn’t say anything.

  Just then, Portia stuck her head in. “Tenney, there you are!” she said to me. Zane and Ellie were behind her.

  It seemed like everyone saw one another at exactly the same moment. Logan’s jaw dropped, and Portia let out a surprised laugh, and Zane’s face got all squinty, like he thought he was seeing things.

  “What the heck? What’s going on?” Zane asked.

  I tried to answer, but everyone started talking at once, trying to figure out who knew what. It got even worse when Logan’s mom and brother arrived. I tried to break in, but no one paid any attention, the storm of voices getting louder and louder. Finally, I stood up on a chair and waved my arms wildly, until people saw me and quieted down.

  “Thank you,” I said, taking a deep breath. Everyone’s eyes were on me, waiting for an explanation.

  “I want to apologize to all of you for not sharing the full details about what’s going on,” I said, “but I didn’t know how to make this concert happen without doing that.”

  I turned to Zane and my parents. “I know you don’t think Logan and I should be playing together right now, but over the last few weeks, I’ve realized that he’s as much a part of my music as I am.” I took a deep breath. “Also, even though I didn’t ask for permission, Mom did say I was allowed to jam with Logan sometime,” I pointed out. “Just think of this as ‘sometime,’” I added lightly.

  My parents didn’t look amused, so I turned to Logan’s mom. “Mrs. Everett, I know you think Logan’s too overwhelmed to play music, but I think it’s everything except music that’s stressing him out. Music is what makes him happy.”

  I looked at Portia. “You were right when you said Logan and I had to trust each other. That was really hard for me. But now, I can’t imagine not sharing my music with Logan. I trust him, and he makes my songs better.”

  Finally, I turned to Logan, who was watching me with wary eyes. “I’m really, really, really sorry that I didn’t tell you I invited everyone to this,” I told him. “The truth is, I wanted to play this concert with you, but I knew you wouldn’t have done it if you thought I was trying to get you to reconsider our partnership.”

  “You’re right, I wouldn’t have,” Logan said.

  “But will you now?” I asked.

  Logan remained silent, his eyes guarded.

  I sat down in the chair, suddenly exhausted. This wasn’t going well at all. Everybody seemed so angry—mostly at me.

  Just when I was about to give up hope, Mason spoke. “I’d just like to remind everyone that although Tenney and I have been mildly deceptive, this concert is for an extremely good cause.” He looked at my parents. “For that reason, I seriously hope we won’t get grounded,” he finished.

  Dad rolled his eyes, but cracked a smile.

  “We did say Tenney could jam with Logan sometime,” Mom reminded him.

  Dad broke into a frustrated laugh, but smiled, too. “Yeah, yeah, I remember,” he said. “Unfortunately.”

  We heard a flurry of giggles behind us as Nurse Jim started leading in a line of kids.

  “Looks like it’s too late to cancel the concert,” Portia said. “Besides, we wouldn’t want all of Mason and Tenney’s secret planning to go to waste.”

  “True,” Zane admitted.

  “No, we wouldn’t,” Logan’s mom said, wiping a tear from her eye.

  Kids were streaming into the room now. Some were teenagers, a few were as young as five. All of them wore blue-and-white hospital gowns along with their own colorful pajama bottoms and slippers.

  Amid the crowd, I glanced at Logan. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and it made me nervous.

  “So what do you want to do?” I asked him.

  “I think … we should warm up,” he said slowly.

  And as a half smile broke across his face, I had to hug him.

  The next few minutes were a flurry of activity. Jaya and Holliday arrived wearing homemade Tenney & Logan T-shirts and helped keep the kids entertained while Aubrey, Logan, and I warmed up. Mason and Dad set up our sound equipment, and Mom and Mrs. Everett talked to Zane, Ellie, and Portia.

  I spotted a nurse helping Alice navigate her oxygen tank around the sea of chairs to a seat that Logan had saved her in the front row. Seeing Logan and me, she brightened. I smiled and gave her a little wave.

  Finally, the microphones were set up and we were ready to start. Aubrey drew in her breath with a sharp, scared noise.

  “Don’t worry,” I said, giving her a squeeze. “You’ll do great.”

  “Definitely,” Logan agreed. “They’re just kids—like us—remember?”

  Aubrey nodded, but as she sat down in the front row with her accordion, her face looked pale.

  Logan and I stepped up behind our microphones, and the crowd of kids started cheering.

  “You ready?” I murmured to Logan.

  He nodded, fingers twitching along his guitar frets. “I’m nervous,” he whispered.

  “You shouldn’t be,” I replied. “We’re in this together.”

  “Right,” Logan said, and in that moment I knew he believed it.

  I had never been more ready for a show than I was now. I flipped on my microphone, took a deep breath, and kicked off our show.

  “Hi there,” I said to the audience. “I’m Tenney Grant, and this is Logan Everett.”

  “And we are Tenney and Logan,” Logan said.

  I threw a surprised glance at him. He grinned.

  “Or Logan and Tenney,” I added. The audience laughed, but Logan nodded at me. It doesn’t matter which name comes first, his look seemed to say.

  “We’re here to play some music for you,” Logan told the audience.

  I nodded. “Music makes us feel better and stronger when we listen to it,” I said, “and it helps us heal when we’re sad or frightened. For us, the best way to heal from anything is doing what we love,” I continued, nodding at Portia. “And what we love is music. We hope that in some small way, our music makes you feel better, too.”

  I focused on my guitar, my fingers gliding along the frets into position.

  I glanced at Logan, counted off with four slaps on my guitar, and we jumped into our first song, “Reach the Sky.” It’s catchy and upbeat, and Alice’s favorite, which made it the perfect way to start our set. As my hands danced across my guitar strings, I could feel energy stirring in the room. Some kids clapped along to Logan’s bouncy rhythm guitar as I played the jangling melody. Alice sang along for the entire song, and when we finished, she stood up clapping wildly, her cheeks rosy.

  “Thanks,” I said into the microphone and beamed at her. “That one was for Alice. If it weren’t for her, Logan and I wouldn’t be here today.”

  Alice grinned, turning bright pink.

  Without missing a beat, my fingers picked out the intro to “Where You Are” as Logan joined in. Although we’d planned our set list during our video chats, we’d only rehearsed the one time at Dad’s shop. Normally that would make me nervous, but somehow I didn’t care
how perfectly we performed. I just cared that we were up there together.

  As it turned out, it was one of our best performances ever. As Logan and I played, we’d check in with each other, exchanging a look at the end of a line or between songs. When I’d first started performing with Logan, he’d point out my mistakes and I’d get angry. Now, though, we helped each other whenever one of us messed up. When I hit an off note, he gave me a nod that said keep going. When he started to rush, I played my chords at the right tempo a little louder, and he adjusted. We still made mistakes, but overall our show went smoothly because we were looking out for each other. We trusted that we were both trying to make the music the best it could be.

  Finally, it came time to play “The Nerve.”

  “This is a song about when you work with someone and they start to annoy you,” Logan said into his microphone.

  I laughed. “It’s also about how sometimes you can be friends with someone but also get frustrated because they’re so stubborn, like Logan.”

  “Or because they’re a perfectionist, like Tenney,” Logan said with a grin.

  The audience laughed.

  “This song’s also about how important it is to build trust,” I said, locking my eyes onto Logan’s. “Because that’s what makes true friends.”

  “Like us,” Logan said, and I could hear the trust in his voice.

  The first half of the song flew by in a beautiful, fizzy dream. It felt like I was floating as we played our duet for the first time in front of Zane, Portia, and the rest of the room. When we reached the third verse, we began alternating lines.

  “You’re always changing track like a scattered hurricane,” I sang.

  Logan took the next line. “You don’t know how to let things go or how to take the blame.”

  “You focus on the bad when you should celebrate the good.”

  “Your sunny attitude boils the blood in my veins.”

  “And it seems like I’m the only one that’s trying here,” we harmonized.

  As the music streamed through us, I thought of all the things that had happened to get us to this moment. It hadn’t been easy, but it had been worth it.

  Finally, it was time for the ending chorus, my favorite part of the song:

  ’Cause we strike a nerve,

  The one that makes the hairs stand on your skin

  When we are heard

  Together we have so much more to give

  ’Cause it’s for music

  So I guess we do this

  You’re a pair of infuriating

  Crazy maddening, always nagging

  Shoulders to stand on

  Let’s meet this head-on

  I’ll let you get on my last nerve

  Logan and I snapped to a crisp end and grinned at each other. The crowd erupted in applause.

  “Thank you,” I said.

  When the audience settled, I glanced at Aubrey. It was time for her to play with us, but she didn’t look excited. Her face was a whitish-green, and she was gripping her accordion like it was a life preserver.

  “For this last song, we’d like to bring up someone we think is really talented,” Logan said. “Aubrey Grant, who plays a mean accordion.”

  Aubrey walked over stiffly and stood next to me. As I moved my mic over so we could share it, I noticed her fingertips were trembling on her accordion’s buttons. I reached out and touched her hand.

  “Don’t worry,” I whispered. “We’ve got you.”

  “Yeah,” Logan said from her other side.

  “Okay,” Aubrey said, breathing in. Her face relaxed, and her hands settled.

  “This is a new song called ‘Someone Who Believes,’” I told the audience. “It’s about those scary moments when you feel like you’re alone …” I said, looking at Logan.

  “… And you just need a reminder that there are people out there who have faith in you,” Logan added, smiling at me and giving Aubrey a little nudge.

  I counted off, and we started the song. As we played through the first verse and chorus, Aubrey fumbled her keys a few times, but Logan and I were always there to catch her. We slowed when she got off-tempo, and sped up when she rushed from nerves. By the end of the first chorus, our guitars had blended with her accordion’s melody into a wave of sound holding us all up.

  I looked at my parents, Zane, and Portia, who were standing against the wall at the back of the room. As we started into the second verse, I sang directly to them:

  I know that getting there’s not easy

  We’ll never know unless we try

  If we just give up all that we love

  We’ll let the moment pass us by

  When we reached the bridge, we quieted our instruments. For a moment, it seemed as if the earth had stopped spinning. Then Logan and I sang in harmony to a silent room.

  “This is, this is our dream,” we belted. “We will, we will believe.” We repeated the lines once more, our voices getting stronger with every note.

  As Aubrey joined in on the final chorus, the room was electric.

  This is my favorite part of playing music, I thought. The way everyone comes together to make it great.

  The last notes sounded, and the room filled with applause. Aubrey’s eyes sparkled brighter than her glittery dress as she took her bow between me and Logan. Then she hugged me, our instruments clunking together softly as she whispered, “Thank you.” I squeezed her tighter.

  When I stepped back, I was surrounded by familiar faces—Mason and my parents, Jaya and Holliday, Mrs. Everett and Jude, Portia, and Ellie—all talking and laughing with love in their eyes. Happiness overwhelmed me. For a moment, I thought I might cry, but instead I took a deep breath and thanked everyone.

  I looked over and saw that Alice was talking to Logan. As I joined them, she gave a little joyful hop, and we hugged.

  “Thank you so much for playing,” Alice said.

  “Thank you,” I said. “Without you, none of this could have happened.”

  Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and I turned around. It was Zane.

  “Do you two have a minute?” he said to Logan and me. “Someone wants to talk to you.”

  We followed him out the doors, up some stairs, and around a corner to an alcove, where a young woman sat gazing out a window. As she looked up, I realized it was Belle Starr.

  “Belle!” I said. “You came!”

  “Your set was fantastic!” Belle said to us, jumping to her feet.

  “Wait … you were here the whole time?” I asked, confused.

  “Of course! You invited me, remember?” she said with a mischievous smile. “I slipped in and stood in the back after you started your first song.”

  “I didn’t think you’d actually show up,” I blurted.

  Belle laughed. “What can I say? I’m a fan,” she replied. “What are y’all doing after this?”

  It turned out we were going for barbecue. Zane took us all to his favorite spot, called Smiley’s, with sawdust on the floor and ceilings as high as a barn roof. As I walked inside the restaurant, I felt as light as a bubble, like I could float up into the rafters any second. Even after I loaded up my plate with pork ribs, corn on the cob, and biscuits, I still felt like I could fly. Now that the concert was over, my worries were gone, too.

  Our group sat at a long table and filled the place with noise. Logan and I chatted with Mason, Jaya, and Holliday, and Aubrey sat next to her idol, Belle Starr, taking a million selfies. Then a blue-grass band started playing a rough-and-tumble tune, and we all went wild dancing. I whirled so fast around the makeshift dance floor that I finally got dizzy, and I had to sit down.

  My parents and Logan’s mom were deep in conversation with Zane, Ellie, Portia, and Belle. After the waitress picked up our dishes, I thought we were all going home, but Belle stood up with Zane at the head of the table.

  “I want to say a little something to Tenney and Logan,” she began, her gaze shifting over to us. “Y’all really inspired me today
, not only with your music but with the way you handled your audience,” she continued. “You didn’t have to play that concert, but I could tell you wanted those kids to get a chance to hear live music. As I watched them, I could tell they didn’t just love the music, they needed it. And that gave me an idea.”

  Belle leaned forward, her bright blue eyes sparkling like sapphires. “I’ve been thinking about doing a big concert here in Nashville later this summer, after my world tour is over,” she continued. “I could donate most of the proceeds to this hospital. What do you think?”

  “I think that’s a great idea!” Logan declared with fire in his eyes.

  “You could play an acoustic show for the kids at the hospital, too,” I suggested, and Logan nodded.

  “Okay,” Belle replied. “So we could visit hospitals during the day and do the big concert that night. What do you think?”

  She looked at us expectantly, and so did Zane.

  “What do you mean?” I asked, suddenly confused.

  “I mean, what do you two think about being my opening act?” Belle asked.

  I’m fairly sure I forgot to breathe for at least thirty seconds. Belle performed at huge arenas in front of tens of thousands of fans. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

  “Your opening act? At a big concert here in Nashville?” I croaked.

  “Yep!” said Belle with a radiant smile.

  I forced myself to inhale. My heart felt like a pinwheel, spinning in excitement as my thoughts scattered in a million directions. I looked at my smiling parents, who seemed to be okay with this plan. But when I turned to Logan beside me, he looked devastated. That brought me back to earth.

  “I don’t think we can,” I said. “We’re not supposed to be performing together.”

  “We’ve been talking about that, actually,” Zane said, glancing at my parents and Logan’s mom.

  “We all agree that we may have underestimated the bond you two have,” Dad said lightly.

  “Not to mention how powerful you two are onstage together,” Portia added.

  Logan and I looked at each other, hopeful and confused.

  “So what does that mean?” he asked.