Tonight would not be any different.
Tugging at the bottom of her sparkly silver dress, Hailey waited for the elevator doors to open on the right floor of the Granger Studio and stepped onto the waxed hardwood floor. Tables were set up for dinner around the room, leaving space for people to talk and gather between them. Long, wide-open windows lined the walls overlooking lower Manhattan and the Hudson River, the water beginning to glow orange from the setting sun.
People in black pants and white button-down shirts milled around the room, lighting chafing dishes and setting tables.
Hailey weaved through the tables to the back of the room where a small dais was set up with a stool and a mic and set down her guitar.
“Hailey?”
Chills ran down her neck. Straightening, she turned to find Ryan standing behind her, one hand in his pocket, the other holding his phone. She hadn’t seen him since the week before when she went to his apartment to set up his tree, and wow, she’d forgotten how handsome he was. Or maybe that was just the sleek black tux cut perfectly to his waist and defining all of his best features.
“Hey,” she croaked, unable to spit out intelligible words. Had someone melted him and poured him into that suit? Because there was no other way it could fit him so well.
“You look amazing,” he said, slipping his phone into his pocket and crossing the floor to pause in front of her. His eyebrows rose and his eyes fell, his gaze sweeping over her gown in a swift motion. “Are you feeling ready?”
Hailey started to nod but shifted to shaking her head. “I don’t know. My songs are ready, but I’m so nervous.”
“You have nothing to worry about. This isn’t your first performance, and you’re going to do great. If you get anxious just look for me in the crowd. I’ll pull a funny face or something.”
She smiled at the image that provoked. “So you want to make me laugh in the middle of my songs?”
“Well, I wanted to make you smile now, and it worked, didn’t it?”
Hailey’s smile deepened.
Ryan matched her grin. “People should start arriving in the next five minutes or so. Do you want to start now so you’re playing when they get here?”
“Sure thing, boss.”
He wrinkled his nose. “Nope. Don’t like that.”
“What? Boss?”
“Yeah. It sounds weird coming from you.”
Hailey laughed. “Okay.”
She turned to pull out her guitar and put away the case, and Ryan slipped away. It was smart to start playing now. She needed to warm up her voice anyway. Hailey sat on the stool, resting one wedged heel against the lowest rung to give her guitar somewhere to sit, and did a quick tune to make sure everything was in order. Her heart raced, but so far nothing had gone wrong.
She hoped the rest of the evening would go as smoothly.
Guests began arriving halfway into her third song, and it was all Hailey could do to keep singing and not analyze Ryan’s reaction to the guests. It occurred to her that she had no idea who this Joe from Remmy Records even was or what he looked like. She’d been so focused on preparing her songs, that she was now wholly unprepared for who the scout was going to be.
Shoving that thought to the back of her head, she continued singing, playing her guitar, and watching the influx of guests arrive at the New Year’s Eve Fiftieth Anniversary party of Sound Magazine. Wow, Ryan must be incredibly proud of everything he and his father had accomplished in the last fifty years.
The room grew warmer as the crowd swelled, and Hailey did her best to lose herself in the music, to keep her focus on strumming strings and familiar chords. She slipped from one song into the next, pausing only when she needed to sip her water.
Her gaze was trained on the floor in front of her, focusing on the chord changes when shiny, black shoes stepped into her line of sight, pointed right at her. She lifted her gaze to find Ryan beaming at her, and her entire body reciprocated in kind without missing a beat of the song. He looked so proud, so thrilled, that she couldn’t help but feel like maybe she had been doing exactly as good as he’d expected her to.
When the song came to a close, she lowered her heel to the floor to give her leg a break, holding onto her guitar to keep it from slipping to the floor.
“Hey, Hailey, I’ve got someone I’d like you to meet.”
The crowd continued to chat and socialize as though they hadn’t noticed the music coming to an end, and Hailey smiled at Ryan. Was this it? Was he about to introduce her to the man who would make her music dreams come true?
“Hailey, this is Joanna Swenson from Remmy Records.” He pulled a blonde woman forward, resting his arm on her back.
Hailey froze. Steel-blue eyes stared at her, framed by a perfect blonde bob. This was Joe from Remmy Records? The short, gorgeous woman who’d stopped by Ryan’s apartment and had been flustered and annoyed to find another woman there? Probably Jo, she corrected mentally. Joanna. She kicked herself for not inviting Jo in and forcing the woman to understand that things between Ryan and herself were nonexistent.
But that wouldn’t be entirely true. Hailey did have feelings for Ryan. She just knew nothing would ever come of them.
“We’ve met,” Joanna said, unamused.
Ryan’s eyebrows pulled together. “You have?”
“Yes. At your apartment the other night.” She shot Ryan an accusatory glare before turning back and sticking a hand out to shake Hailey’s. Hailey shook her hand, trying to keep her expression neutral. “You have a very unique voice.”
“Thank you.” Hailey was shocked the woman didn’t storm away.
“Ryan says you’re interested in pursuing a career with Remmy?”
She swallowed. “It would be a dream come true.”
Jo nodded, narrowing her eyes. “I’ll be listening closely this evening. Show me everything you’ve got.”
So she was still giving Hailey a chance? Hailey nodded, trying to smile, but her emotions were as tight as the skyline shimmering through the darkened windows. “You got it.”
Taking Ryan’s hand, Jo turned and pulled him away. He watched Hailey over his shoulder, confusion marring his brow, but she swiftly looked down at her guitar, trying to decide the best thing to play to impress Jo.
She started strumming the intro for a song she’d written earlier that year and forced herself to watch the windows in the back of the room. Lights twinkled from buildings and the river ahead of them, and if she blurred her eyes just right, she could remove the image from her head of Jo pulling Ryan away by the hand. It was such a familiar gesture that it stuck in her throat like a glob of peanut butter.
She shook her head and started singing. She had only known Ryan for a few short weeks. It didn’t matter that it had seemed like longer, or that she imagined they were like souls with a greater understanding of one another. She was just attracted to the guy. That was all. It wasn’t something deeper like she’d led herself to believe.
And she’d prove that by forgetting all about him and singing her heart out.
“I thought you said this was a brand-new artist and you’d never heard of her before like a week ago?” Jo’s eyes sparked, and she had a bite to her words.
Ryan didn’t know why Jo was angry, but he knew he needed to put out the fire before Hailey’s chances were ruined. “It’s true.”
She shifted on her hip, staring out over the Hudson. “Then why was she at your apartment last week?”
“At my…” Ah. So Jo was the stranger who’d stopped by when Hailey was setting up Christmas in his home. “She works for Amber, my sister. She’s her nanny. I asked her to walk Sergeant for me since I was stuck at the office. It was nothing.”
But that wasn’t true, was it? What he felt for Hailey wasn’t nothing. But he couldn’t exactly say that to Jo now. Not when he recognized the bitter jealousy in her gaze. They’d been broken up for a year. He’d hoped she was over him.
“Does my personal life have anything to do with whether o
r not you’ll sign her?”
“That depends,” Jo said, stepping closer and taking his tie in her hand. She dropped her voice to a low, velvety tone. “How do you feel about her?”
Hailey’s voice rang over the speakers, so clear and beautiful, exactly like her heart. She was incredible, and she deserved this chance, regardless of how he felt about her.
Ryan stepped out of Jo’s hold. “The Jo I know is more professional than that.”
She looked stung. Closing her eyes, she shook her head and drew in a breath. “You’re right. I don’t know why I’m feeling so possessive. Maybe it’s just regret that we didn’t work out. You know how the holidays have always stressed me out.”
He took her hand. “I do. I’ll always care about you, Jo, but not in that way.”
She gave him a wry smile. “The girl has talent, I’ll give you that. But I don’t know what I’m going to do yet.”
“Just give her a fair shot. She hasn’t done anything wrong here, and I think she could be really great.”
Jo glanced over her shoulder to watch Hailey, and Ryan let himself do the same. She was a natural. Jo would be an idiot to let talent like hers walk away.
Sighing, she turned back to him. “We’ll see, I guess.” She spun on her heel and walked away.
Ryan leaned against the brick wall, sliding his hands into his pockets and watching Hailey perform as Carter sidled up beside him.
“She’s good,” Carter said.
“I know.”
“She single?” he asked.
Ryan whipped his head around but stopped himself from reacting when he noticed the amusement dancing in his friend’s eyes. “Am I that obvious?”
“Yeah. You can’t stop staring at her like she’s the most incredible thing to walk the earth.”
“What if she is?”
Carter shrugged. “Then don’t let her go, I guess?”
He shrugged. “I can’t move back to LA.”
Carter put up both his hands. “Yeah man, you’re in a tough spot. I’ve got no advice for you there.”
The next song came to a close and Sarah took the stage, thanking Hailey for playing and dismissing her—as they’d previously agreed—for her break. Ryan slipped around the edge of the crowd as people began taking their seats and snuck into the kitchen and through to the back hallway, finding Hailey leaning against the wall, her head resting against the brick and her eyes closed.
He crossed toward her, coming to stop right in front of her. “You are amazing.”
Her eyes shot open, widening as they rested on him. “Jo is a woman?”
Ryan faltered, stepping back a little. “Yes. Did I not tell you that?”
“No. You just called her Jo, so I made the crazy leap that she was a man.”
“It’s not that crazy of a leap…” He caught her withering stare and stopped. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize it would bother you.”
Hailey closed her eyes. “It didn’t bother me. I just…” She looked right at him, screwing up her nose in apology. “I don’t know. She stopped by your apartment when I was setting up the tree, and it was awkward. She clearly didn’t like seeing another woman there, and I didn’t try hard enough to explain that there’s nothing going on between us.”
“Maybe that’s a good thing.” He stepped closer, his fingers skimming her arm and taking hold of her free hand, her other one securely fastened to the neck of her guitar. “Maybe it would have been a lie.”
Hailey’s eyes widened, her hand tightening in his. Her lips parted and he glanced at them, unable to tear his gaze away. He started to lean forward, his body closing in on hers as his lips moved on their own accord.
“You just got out of a bad relationship,” she whispered, halting him in his tracks.
“What? No, I didn’t.” He was so close now he could feel her breath on his lips.
“Amber told me you left a toxic relationship behind in LA…that you were only looking for a rebound.”
He looked in her eyes, holding them in his so she would understand the truth of his words. “I broke up with Jo a year ago, and it’s been long over. There’s no rebound here. This is all real.”
Hailey sucked in a breath. “Really?” she whispered. “Jo was the girlfriend?”
He chuckled softly, the sound more of a rumble. “I promise you, it does not make a difference. She’s really professional.”
“She’s still a woman.”
“Hailey? You’re on,” a voice called from down the hall, causing them both to freeze.
Hailey pulled her hand from his and turned her head, clearing her throat softly. “Thanks.”
Ryan leaned forward, resting his forehead against the wall and feeling her heartbeat erratically in her chest, pressed against his. His body hummed with the energy pulsing between them, but the mood was dead from the interruption, and he pushed away from the wall, giving Hailey space to go.
She started down the hall and he watched her retreat. “Meet me here when you’re off?”
She looked over her shoulder. “Deal.”
Chapter Seventeen
Hailey nestled her guitar into its case and gripped the handle, sweeping her gaze over the empty room littered with remnants of the event. She’d done well, she thought, but now she was wiped out and looking forward to getting out of her tight dress and falling into her bed.
Jo hadn’t said anything to her before leaving, and Hailey wasn’t sure if that was something to worry about or not, so she tried to shove it from her mind. She’d watched Jo talk to Amber and Luis before she left the event well before midnight, and they’d all glanced at Hailey, but she’d been singing and couldn’t exactly jump off the stage and run over to them, demanding to know what they were saying about her.
Cool it, Hailey. She drew in a deep breath and walked through the bustling kitchen, letting herself into the back hallway. Her heart hammered in her chest when her gaze fell on Ryan waiting at the end of the hall, leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets like he had patiently waited for her all night.
Hailey’s pulse thrummed harder the closer she got to him. “What’s up?” Wow. Could you sound any less chill?
“Can I give you a ride home?” he asked. “I drove tonight.”
“Sure.”
He reached for her guitar case and opened the door at the end of the hall, letting a gust of winter wind steal into the space and send chills over her skin. She zipped up her coat, stepping past Ryan and down the long set of stairs that led to a back alley lined with cars.
Ryan unlocked the trunk of a black sedan and slid her guitar into the back before facing her. “Want to go for a walk?”
“In this weather?”
“It’ll be quick.” He seemed eager, and she didn’t have the heart to turn him down. Besides, she really couldn’t complain about spending more time with him. Maybe he’d talked to Jo and knew something. He took her hand and led her down the street and around the corner to a set of stairs, indicating that she precede him.
“Where are we going?”
“Have you never walked the High Line?” he asked, climbing the rickety metal stairs behind her.
She looked down at him over her shoulder. “I’ve never heard of it.”
“And you call yourself a New Yorker.”
She laughed. “Actually I don’t. I’ve only lived here four years.”
“Long enough to spend some time in the West Village, I think.”
Hailey shook her head, laughing as she reached the top of the stairs. It was a walking path raised high above the street. There were a few stragglers down the walkway, but it was mostly deserted. “What is this place?”
Ryan pointed to a set of railway tracks half-covered by the paved walkway. “It used to be an above-ground railway to get people around the city. But now it’s just a cool walkway up in the air.”
“It’s beautiful.” Hailey gazed over the water shining in the distance, New York Harbor reflecting the lights of the buildings butti
ng against it, and then to the lights of the buildings across the water. Ryan’s hand slid over hers and he tugged her along.
“It can get crowded during the day with tourists, but when it’s cold they tend to stay away.”
“Exactly how I like it,” Hailey said.
She shivered, and Ryan paused, turning toward her. “It’s freezing. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.”
“It’s fine. Walking will warm me.”
He nodded. “You did great tonight.”
“Thanks. Let’s hope Jo thinks so, too.”
“She didn’t say anything to you before she left?”
“No. Was she supposed to?”
He sounded confused. “I don’t know. Maybe she needs time to think. Did anyone approach you?”
“Surprisingly enough, no one rushed the stage demanding the chance to represent me.”
“That’s so weird.” Ryan chuckled. “Jo told me she liked you.”
“Please don’t get my hopes up.”
“Fine, I’ll say no more.” He sent her a crooked smile. “But that won’t stop me from nudging her later.”
Hailey bumped his shoulder with hers. “I won’t say no to a little nudging. As long as it doesn’t send her the other way.”
Ryan’s voice was dry. “I have a feeling that offering you a chance to move across the country is appealing to her right now.”
“Yeah.” But how did Hailey feel about that? Was she willing to give up her life here, this guy, and Kendra to chase a dream?
Yes. The answer was yes.
“Would you go?” he asked, meeting her eyes, pulling on her arm so she paused, too. “If Jo offers you a contract, will you move to LA?”
Hailey held his gaze. “Yes.”
He nodded, his eyes growing serious. “I thought as much.”
She lifted a shoulder. “It’s my dream. If I get a chance, I’m taking it. Even if it would be hard to leave.”
“Hard to leave Kenny?”
Melodies and Mistletoe (Christmas in the City Book 3) Page 12