Sally closed her eyes briefly, taking in a steady breath. Torch songs were written for the express purpose of wringing every emotion out of a heart. They played to the most vulnerable part of a listener's soul. The essential element of performing one was to quell your own emotions and tug everyone else's to the point of numbness. An audience would forgive anything if they fell under the spell of a good flaming torch. And as good torch songs go, the one he had picked, for better or worse memories, had been their song.
So Sally became Schuyler Millar' and placed her hands on the keyboard, striking the introductory chords, then boldly connecting with the audience.
"You'll never know just how much I miss youuu...
You'll never know just how much, I care....
And if I tried, I still couldn't hide, my love for you.
You ought to know, for haven't I told you soooo...
A million or more ... times..."
Her breath almost betrayed her, but she straightened her shoulders and continued.
"You went away ... and my ... heart ... went with you...
I say your name in my every prayerrrr.
If there were some other way to prove that I love you,
I swear I don't know how..."
The tremor in her throat caught up with her and her voice faltered. Her lips moved slightly, once, then again as she looked away from the sheet music and tried to focus on something ... anything, that would allow her the strength of voice to finish the song.
She raged at herself. She was a professional. This was just a song, just another half stanza of notes and words well within her range. Why couldn't she finish that damn piece just floating in the air in stark anticipation? This was too damn schmaltzy. An embarrassment of a ripe, over-written romantic drama queen moment.
Her fingers stopped.
Bud reached over the piano top and took her hand that had gone still on the piano. He tugged at it and got to his feet, pulling her up to him and stepping back onto the small hardwood dance floor surrounding the Baby Grand. In one fluid motion he pulled her into his body and swayed to the non-existent final stanza of the song leaning down to her ear and whispering gruffly. "You'll never know if you don't know now"
He looked up towards an invisible heaven and placed a soft kiss on the top of her ear.
She slipped her arm up around his neck and buried her face in his shoulder. She could feel the strength of his muscles through his shirt and traced the line of his collarbone with her lips. Her free palm slid up under his suit jacket and slowly pushed the coat back over the broad curve of his shoulder. He brusquely shook the jacket off and let it drop to the floor at their feet.
)
