Exchanging a look with Luiz and Nicky, we wound down the song so I could speak to the audience again.

“You’ve been amazing, Nashville.” I kept playing softly, accompanied by the others, and I cleared my throat. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to speak tomorrow. I could already feel a hoarseness creeping up. “A dream come true, really. Thank you.”

We were met by cheers that gave me chills, and I could only smile to myself. Definitely a dream come true.

Sylvia took over the keyboard one last time, and I walked over to the mic with my harmonica.

We played with a finality to every note and poured the last of our energy into our goodbye to the South.

Almost broken

Here I am

Take me

Down the river

Lead me home

Water. Gimme water.

Unsure of where my cases were right this second, I placed my guitars on a few boxes and scanned the immediate area for water. Water came first.

Thank fuck.

There was a case of bottles waiting for us, and I tore the plastic and handed them out as everyone came off the stage.

“That was such a rush!” Sylvia exclaimed. “We need to play live more.”

I grinned, out of breath, and uncapped my own bottle.

“We go live almost every Sunday,” Maria reminded in a singsong voice.

“Because that’s the same, mami,” Nicky laughed. “Yo, if church offered kick-ass rock concerts, I’d go to Mass more often.”

I chuckled. “You mean instead of only when Nonna guilts us into it?”

He pointed to me in exactly.

Our group divided to create an aisle for the crew that was already busy clearing the stage of our instruments, and this time, nobody cared where things went. As long as the equipment was stored securely, it didn’t matter. Everything was going straight on to the bus, and then we’d find a classroom at the Initiative to organize it all. That was Tuesday’s problem.

“Great job tonight,” I said, lifting my tee to wipe sweat off my face. “I hope we can do this again.”

“I’m so in,” Sylvia agreed.

“You sounded amazing, bro.” Luiz held out his fist, and I bumped it with my own.

“I didn’t set the bar very high at the rehearsal,” I joked.

Nicky and Chris laughed.

I spotted a backstage worker and felt I’d waited long enough to see August and Camden, so I walked over to her and asked if it was okay to bring spouses and family back here.

“As long as no one gets in the way,” was her response.

Good enough.

I texted August, and I told Nicky to send Gideon a message too.

A couple minutes later, we opened up the fence enough for the men to sneak through. Gideon went straight to Nicky, and Camden threw his arms around my midsection.

“You were so freaking good! And sweaty. Jeebus, you’re soaked through.”