One Night Only (Season 1: Deni's Story)

Chapter Forty

"Are you ready for this special one-night-only performance, Thunder Bay?" the emcee asks the crowd as I make my way to the stage with Kara, Dylan, and Key. "Let's make some noise for Cayden Indigo and her band!"

I'm far less anxious than I was during my first walk to the stage earlier tonight, but my heart still races now that it's time to go on. The true test will be when the curtain rises and I'm faced with everyone in the crowd.

As I take my position behind the closed curtain at center stage, in front of my microphone stand, I visualize Hunter's words. Everything will be fine, and you've got this. I'm determined to prove him right, and to fulfill the wish my fan Mira expressed months ago for me to keep singing and not stop because of what happened.

I'm not opening the show a cappella tonight. My bandmates and I decided to make the set as different as we could from what we'd planned for The Domino. Only a few of the songs are the same, like the hits we know we need to play, but we won't perform "Sunset." Each of us has come a long way from where we were when the summer began, but we aren't ready to perform that yet and we may never be.

Tonight my band begins with an extended musical intro to a single from my most recent album, intended to hype the crowd up just before the curtain rises. All of us are revealed to the audience just as I start singing the opening verse. When I manage to come in on time and let myself feel the song, instead of being distracted by what's around me, and when I don't feel my chest tighten or my airways constrict, I gain confidence that this is something I can do.

We transition seamlessly into the second song, which is a high-tempo B-side from my first album that was a surprise fan favorite. It isn't until we hit the last verse that my nerves attempt to make a comeback. A nagging voice inside my mind reminds me it was the end of the second song when the bomb at The Domino went off.

My automatic reflex is to glance out at the audience, and my gaze lands on Hunter. I don't know if he senses my growing unease as I continue to sing or if he's aware of the timing of what happened at The Domino, but he looks straight at me and his mouth curves up into the most beautiful smile. Seeing it lifts me from the shadows of my mind and I push through, somehow not missing a beat.

The band usually pauses after our second song so I can greet the crowd, but tonight we keep the momentum going for song three, which is what we planned for. Making it past the second song cleared a mental hurdle for all of us, but there's another reason I'm addressing the audience after the third song tonight. The song I wrote for Hunter is fourth in our set, and I want to introduce it.

"Hello, Thunder Bay!" I exclaim a few minutes later. I pause to take a sip of water while my greeting is met by cheers, applause, and a few whistles. "I've missed this place more than I can put into words. You might have heard I was here this summer." There are more cheers at this, along with gentle laughter. Millions of people around the world know I was here this summer, thanks to what happened at the music festival and the videos posted everywhere online.

"It didn't take long for me to fall in love with being here," I continue. "I learned about the Sleeping Giant. I went for boat rides on one of your beautiful lakes and enjoyed bonfires with people who immediately welcomed my mom and me. And I caught tadpoles—kind of. I'm really bad at it."

My gaze flickers to the front row. Paisley looks like she's on cloud nine. Hunter is listening with rapt attention, a smile still playing on his lips. I close my eyes for a moment, conjuring up one of the brightest memories I have. When I open them again, I look out over the audience and continue to speak.

"There's one night I'll remember for the rest of my life. I was with someone I met almost as soon as I got here who came to mean a lot to me. We were outside, away from city lights, with a meteor shower above us among what seemed like millions of stars. Everything felt like magic. That night, and this summer, and the person I was with are what this next song is about. It's called 'Impossible Star' and it's brand new. I haven't performed it before, and all of you will be the first to hear it."