“It’s not like that,” Andy said. “It’s just . . . well, come on. It’s a lot to take in, that’s all.”

“Wait’ll some invisible little booger pushes you down the stairs,” Siobhan put in.

“I think that was bogan,” Con said, smiling. He turned to Geordie. “We can do what you’re asking. I mean, this is about as crazy a business as I’ve ever heard, but I know you’re a straight-shooter, and there’s no way Lizzie would make stuff up just to get some attention.” His gaze moved to her. “Whatever happened to you, I know that you believe it, and I’m going to leave it at that for now.”

Lizzie seemed surprised, but she gave him a quick smile.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Ditto for me,” Andy added.

Siobhan held up her watch. “You guys are going on in an hour.”

We looked around and saw that while we’d been so deep in our conversation, the bar had started to fill up. Half the tables were full and, now that we were pulled out of the little world we’d fallen into, the buzz of chatting, the clink of glasses, and the general hubbub of the crowd was so loud that I didn’t know how we’d missed it.

“Do you want to freshen up?” Geordie asked me.

I nodded. “If you could get my chair, I’ll meet you in the foyer so we can go upstairs together.”

“No problem.” He stood up, and looked around the table at others. “Just let me get ready and then maybe we can go over what you want me to do.”

“I’ll write up a set sheet with all the tunes listed,” Lizzie said.

I smiled as Geordie shook his head.

“Don’t worry about that,” he said. “Just tell me the names of the tunes and how often you want to go through them before you start each set, and I’ll be okay.”

He wasn’t bragging and probably didn’t even realize how that sounded. To him, he was just telling it like it was, because he really was that good and didn’t need more than that. But Lizzie and Andy appeared a little worried.

“It’ll be cool,” Con told them.

Siobhan grinned. “Maybe I don’t get to play today, but I am going to have so much fun watching this show.” She turned to me. “You want to sit with me behind the merch table?”

“You’ve got a date,” I told her.

I used my canes to get up and happily, nobody tried to help me. I mean, I like it when people help me if I ask them to, but I hate when it’s assumed that I’m useless. If I’d come in using the wheelchair, that’s exactly how it might have been.

“Give me twenty minutes,” Geordie said to the band members.