Death Sung Softly (8 page)

They all broke into smiles. “That's awesome, man,” Chris said. “Let us hear it.”

Sam took a guitar and played the melody as he sang, and by the time he was halfway through the first verse, the band was playing along, feeling their way through the chords and following his lead. They went through the song a couple of times, and then Chris and Stan made a few suggestions that Sam liked, and the final version sounded fantastic! They rehearsed the song several times, and by eight, they had it perfect.

Chris slapped Sam on the back. “Dude,” he said, “the girl is gonna love it!”

Sam got home at just before nine, and saw that the house was pretty dark. Indie met him at the door, kissed him a welcome and then led him into the dining room, where a candlelight dinner was waiting for the two of them.

“Kenzie's asleep,” she said, “I let her have her dinner early, so we could have some time to ourselves."

She took the cover off the pot that was sitting in the middle of the table, and began making a plate that she set in front of him. Roast beef with potatoes, onions, carrots—Sam was amazed, and smiled.

“So, what did I do to deserve all this?” he asked.

She smiled at him. “This is just for being you,” she said, and made another plate for herself. She sat down at the place beside him and looked into his eyes. “Sam, you scared me to death when you offered to let us stay here, but then you proved yourself a man of your word over and over. There were a couple of times when I was feeling so lonely and weak that if you'd made a move on me, I probably would have welcomed it, but you never did.”

Sam grinned. “Good thing I didn't know that,” he said, “or my self-discipline might have slipped!”

She slapped his arm playfully. “No, it wouldn't have. I know you, now, and you'd have told me how tempting it was, but that it wasn't a good idea and sent me up the stairs to bed.”

Sam shrugged. “Yeah, I probably would have. I've never been the kind to take advantage of vulnerability, not on purpose.”

“And that's why you deserve to be treated like the man you are. I've always wondered what it would be like to be with a man who was really a gentleman, but tough enough to take on the world and win, and now I know, thanks to you. Thank you, Sam.”

Sam blushed. “You're welcome, Indie, but don't misunderstand my willingness to do the right thing as lack of desire to do something else. If you think it's been easy not to make a pass, think again. I watch you walk up the stairs, and it's like lighting a fire under a rocket! I do see how beautiful you are, and I see how sexy you are, and I like both. Neither one of us should let our guard down, Babe, not yet. Not til you’re sure of what you want.”

Indie nodded. “I understand,” she said, “and I agree. I don't want a relationship based on sex, and I don't think you do either. I want a relationship that's based on two people who actually want to share their lives with each other, and I think we may be headed in the right direction—but we're not there yet. Am I right?”

“I think so. I know I feel something more than just liking you, Indie, and it's happened so fast that it scares me a bit. I want this to grow, but I want it to grow without any pressure from me. Just don't expect me to stop enjoying the view, okay?”

Indie blushed bright red. “Okay, fair enough.” She picked up a glass that held cola and raised it in salute. “To whatever the future may hold, and a hope that it finds us together.”

“I'll drink to that,” Sam said, and clinked his glass to hers. They talked through their dinner, then, and just got to know one another a little better. Indie told Sam about her childhood, being raised by a single mother who always wanted to be a hippie, and Sam shared about his own life, growing up after his father died of a heart attack when he was only fourteen. They talked about their college years, and the dreams they each had held on to, and the ones they'd let go of.

It was a nice evening, and when they finished dinner, they sat in the living room together and watched a movie on the TV. It was a romantic comedy of some sort, but Sam couldn't remember what it was about the next morning; he'd been too busy looking into Indie's gorgeous brown eyes.

Sam woke up on Saturday morning with a song running through his head, and he had to make himself not sing it as he took a shower; it was the one he'd written over the past few days and finished with the band the night before, the one he wrote specifically for Indie. He didn't want her to have any clue that it was coming, so he forced himself to sing something else while he showered.

When he came out into the kitchen, Kenzie was at the table eating cereal. “Sam! Sam!” she shouted at him. “Mommy's letting me take Samson down to Tracy and Lacey's house, and we're gonna do a sleep-over!”

“Yes,” Sam said, “I heard about that! You make sure Samson is a good boy down there, okay? Don't let him get into trouble, now.”

She smiled up at him. “I won't,” she said. “He's a pretty good cat, but sometimes you just gotta keep an eye on him, you know?”

“I know!” Sam said. “He can be a real stinker, sometimes, can't he?”

Indie cracked up laughing, and Sam joined her a moment later. Sam got up and got a bowl of cereal for himself—he loved the kind with the marshmallows in it, and that's what Kenzie was eating—and sat down to eat, while Kenzie finished hers and ran upstairs to start getting dressed and ready for her big adventure.

It was going to be quite a day, Sam thought, with just him and Indie spending it together. They had the final rehearsal in the afternoon, and then the gig that evening, and Sam was nervous as he could be.

Indie seemed a bit frantic, herself. When Kenzie came down a few minutes later, all ready to go and with a bag packed full of PJ's, spare clothes and toys for both her and Samson, Indie was fully ready to take her daughter down the street and have a break from Mommyhood.

Sam thought they could relax, then, but he was wrong. “I've got to get a bath, and do my hair and makeup, Sam,” Indie said. “Since we're gonna be out all day, I gotta get all that done now!”

The band had agreed to meet at Stan's garage at noon, so that they could run through everything a couple more times before they were due to go on stage, and Sam and Indie pulled up in the Vette just a few minutes later. Indie was wearing a dress she'd snuck out and bought the day before, while she and Kenzie were at home alone, and Sam had almost fallen over when he saw it. It was black with gold and silver trim in spots, and went all the way to the floor. It looked good on her, and she knew it; Sam's reaction told her it was definitely the right choice!

Sam was wearing jeans with a gray button-down shirt, and Indie thought he looked hot! Candy and Janice agreed, and Stan ran back into his house to change his own shirt to one that was a little darker gray than Sam's. Chris was wearing a white shirt, and the three of them made a nice contrast.

The girls were wearing jeans and tanks, and both of them were wearing more makeup than they needed. Candy had added in a wig that was a light pink, which Sam thought made her look pretty fake, but he figured it was all part of the band's persona, so he didn't say a word.

They visited for a moment, and encouraged each other, everyone saying it was going to be a great night. Chris told them that the manager of Herman's had called him to ask if they were going to be there, now that the word was out that Barry was dead, and he'd assured the guy that their new singer was every bit as good. Sam didn't think he was, but no one wanted to hear his opinion, so he dropped it.

They started their rehearsal, then, and Indie got to be a one-girl audience, She did her best to make them feel like they were onstage, cheering and shouting and clapping after each and every song, no matter how many times they did it. Sam was having as much fun watching her as he was standing at the microphone.

The afternoon wore on, and the closer it got to time to go, the more excited they all got. At five, Sam suggested they all go and grab a bite to eat, so they climbed into their vehicles and went to a restaurant Chris knew, where he promised they could get the best Italian Beef sandwiches they'd ever eat. Sam said later that he was right, and promised Indie they'd eat there again soon, with Kenzie!

It was showtime.

They parked at Herman's, and Sam and Indie got out of the car. She looked at the building and said, “I've never been here. Is it a nice place?”

Sam shrugged. “I was here a few times, years back. I hear it's getting a little run down, but it's still one of the hot spots for live music in town.”

They followed the rest of the band inside, and Sam was introduced to the manager, a guy named Tony. Tony looked him over and grinned.

“Well, you ain't as pretty as Barry, but Chris says you got a sound that's gonna make the crowd happy. That's all I care about. They're getting pretty restless out there, dancing to the jukebox; you guys ready to go on? I know it's a few minutes early, but...”

Chris smiled. “We're ready!” he said. “Give us twenty minutes to get set up, and we'll hit 'em with everything we've got! You're gonna love Sam, I promise! What a sound, man, what a sound!”

Tony grinned. “Just show me, don't tell me! Okay, the stage is yours. Get out there and make 'em dance! The dance floor don't lie; if you’re any good, the people will dance, and if you’re not, they'll just sit there. Since they drink more when they're dancing, I want to see 'em dance!”

Chris, Stan and the girls began setting up their instruments. Sam asked Chris what he could do to help, and was told to just stay out of the way. “We've been doing this a while, man, no problem. We got it!”

Sam felt a tap on his shoulder and turned to find Dan Jacobs standing there with a dozen of his old friends from the force. He introduced Dan to Indie, and then to everyone else. The whole crowd decided she was far too good for Sam, and he had to threaten to go and get his gun to make them back off, but it was all in fun and they all knew it. The group of cops all found a big table and commandeered it, while Indie found a smaller one closer to the stage and claimed it.

When the stage was ready, Chris told Tony, and a few moments later the lights went down and the jukebox cut off suddenly. Tony's voice came over the sound system.

“Okay, folks, we've all heard the sad news about Barry Wallace, may God rest his soul, but his band is still here, and with a new lead singer! They tell me this guy is every bit as good, but we're gonna let you be the judges, right? Everybody put your hands together for
Step Back Once!”

Sam took his place at the microphone, and a second later he heard Chris say, “a-one, a-two, a-one, two, three, four...”

The first song was one of their most popular, and Sam let the music come over him the way it used to back in his earlier singing days. His voice seemed to come from somewhere deep inside himself, and he felt the bass drum rumbling through his chest as he began to sing.

At first he was nervous, because the audience simply sat there and watched, and he knew they were making up their minds about whether he was a worthy replacement for Barry, but by the time he was well into the first verse, there were people out on the floor. Within minutes, it was full, and many of them were cheering and applauding already. He heard shouts of, “Hell, yeah!” and “You got it, Man!”

The next few songs got similar reactions, and Sam admitted to himself that he was having a blast. His friends from the force were hooting and hollering like wild men and women, and he was laughing in between songs.

When they took their first break after an hour on the stage, he was hot and thirsty, and made his way to the table where Indie was waiting for him, a few feet off to the right of the stage, just out of the dance floor. He fell into a chair, and she leaned over to kiss him hard, which got a lot of shouts and cheers of its own from the audience.

Sam wasn't much of a drinker, he'd told Indie, so she had a glass of Coke waiting for him, and he downed it in seconds. A barmaid brought another one quickly, as people kept coming over to slap his back and shake his hand tell him he was awesome or incredible or one of a dozen other words that he was sure weren't true, but felt good to hear anyway. He looked at Indie and grinned.

“I actually agreed to this, didn't I?” he asked, and she laughed and nodded.

“You did, Baby,” she said. “Regretting it?”

He rocked his hand from side to side. “Not really regretting it, but boy, am I gonna be tired and sore tomorrow! It's bad enough in rehearsal, but doing this in a live show is a serious workout! I didn't know I could move like that, and my hip is not a bit happy with me for trying!”

“Poor Baby,” Indie said. “Maybe if you're good, I'll give you a back rub later. Would that help?”

Sam looked her in the eye, and let a mischievous glint appear in his own. “I don't know about my hip, but the rest of me would love it!”

Indie just looked at him and smiled. “We'll see,” she said.

The break was only for ten minutes, and then it was time to get back on the stage. Sam sang his heart out for another fifty minutes, and the audience danced and cheered and clapped and let him know that, while he wasn't Barry, he was acceptable. The thought crossed his mind that being in the band might not be so bad, after all, and he could still work his PI practice on the side.

When the next break came, it was none too soon for Sam. His hip was screaming, and he reminded himself that he knew it would happen. He sat down with Indie and guzzled a couple more Cokes while he rested up for the final set. Ten more songs, he told himself, just ten more songs.

He'd planned his song for Indie to start off this third set, and he was getting a little nervous as he got back up to take the microphone again. Chris and the girls gave him thumbs up, and Stan did a drum riff as he walked up to it once more. Sam stood there for a moment, and then he leaned forward.

“This next song,” he said, “is one that I wrote just a couple of days ago, and these guys have been good enough to learn it and let me sing it tonight. That's pretty important to me, see, because I wrote this song for a very special girl, and she's sitting here tonight.” He pointed at Indie, and the spotlight hit her. “Indiana Perkins, this song is called
The Woman Inside
, and I wrote it for you.”

The whole place erupted into cheers and applause, as Chris began the riff that would launch the song, and several of them were congratulating her on having a special song all her own. Indie was staring at him, wide-eyed, completely taken unawares by his announcement, and when he began to sing, she felt the tears start to flow despite everything she could do to hold them in. The table full of cops was screaming their support, and Sam put his whole heart into singing the song.
(Click to Listen)

I love the time that we spend together,

Feel so lonely when we're far apart,

Babe, I'm not tryin' to make you mine forever,

Just wanna find a way inside your heart,

Now there's some truth in all the things that they say,

One look at you is all it ever takes,

They take what they want,

              And leave your heart to break!

And I see those guys,

              They follow you around

For the chance to break your heart,

              And let you down,

Oh, Baby, they just can't see,

The woman standing in front of me,

All they look at is the part

              That you can't hide,

But I'm not after what my eyes behold,

I want the part of you that's lonely and cold,

And if I fall in love, it's gonna be

              With the woman inside!

Wasn't that long ago my heart was breakin'

And nothin' on this earth could take my pain away,

Who'd believe you'd come along and save me,

A little smile that brightens up my day,

I can't see the future,

              I take it a day at a time,

Just knowin' that you're here,

              Keeps me feelin' fine,

No, Baby, they just can't see,

The woman standing in front of me,

All they look at is the part

              That you can't hide,

But I'm not after what my eyes behold,

I want the part of you that's lonely and cold,

And if I fall in love, it's gonna be

              With the woman inside!

Oh, Baby, they just can't see,

The woman standing in front of me,

All they look at is the part

              That you can't hide,

But I'm not after what my eyes behold,

I want the part of you that's lonely and cold,

And if I fall in love, it's gonna be

              With the woman inside!

Indie sat there and stared as the crowd around her went completely wild, screaming and applauding and dancing around as if the music were still going. Sam smiled down at her, and held out a hand, and the spotlight hit her once more.