Lights appeared on the stage, and there were silhouettes of four band members. The crowd went even wilder. The band started to play, and the lights came on slowly. The melody was familiar, something I’d heard on the radio while driving at night. Not the song I’d heard with Lotti but something else. I couldn’t help but sway with the crowd. It went on for a few minutes, and then a few more, and just as the crowd began to get weary, there was another cymbal crash, and I heard a voice.

“Chicago, are y’all ready?”

Deep, buttery, and warm.

Lotti.

The entire room exploded, but apparently, it wasn’t enough.

“I don’t think you are, so let me ask again. Chicago, are you ready?”

The screams were so loud that I actually had to put my hands over my ears for a moment to block out the noise. My breath caught in my chest as we all waited, the anticipation of simply seeing another human being much higher than it should be.

And then, Ryan Hooks wiggled out onto the stage.

It was the best way to describe the gyrating motion as he slithered out in front of the crowd of screaming, mostly teenage fans. Vanessa and Jen actually clutched each other, and I wondered what could make it okay for a thirty-six-year-old woman and her thirteen-year-old daughter to be losing their minds over the same man.

He danced to the center of the stage, lifted his hands high over his head, and clapped them twice.

“One, two, three, four!”

The song that started was another one I’d heard before. I didn’t know the name, but I’d heard it enough times to know most of the words, and as he started, I joined the chorus of people singing along with him.

When it finished, Ryan stared out at the crowd for a few moments, soaking in the screams. Adjusting his earpiece, he yelled out, “What’s up, Chicago?”

The crowd exploded again.

“I want to let you know—and believe me, I don’t say this everywhere I go—I am so excited to be here in Chicago. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world, and not just because the audience is always so good-looking!”

The crowd erupted again, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes.

“Nice one,” Vanessa said to me, and I laughed.

Hooks talked for a few minutes, almost every other line stopping to allow for more screams. Finally, he clapped his hands again and launched into another song, and then another. For a while, I was transported. I forgot about the phone, Keith, and everything else besides the music and the crowd and the excitement of sharing the experience with a concert hall full of strangers.

I was having fun.

I felt a tap on my arm, and then Vanessa leaned closed to me. “Be right back,” she said.

I nodded. “Bathroom?”