Beat (Life on Stage 2)

But look at how those sweats hang just at the curve of her hip. Sweats can be hot.

I’m totally fucked. Choosing sweats over a woman with her uvula pierced. I need to get my head out of my ass and stop hanging around Lucky like a puppy.

“Good morning,” she whispers and smiles down at me. I’m sitting in the breakfast lounge, having already made her coffee. My eyes languidly feast on her hip before moving up to her perky nipples.

Maybe she likes puppies.

I hold up her mug of coffee. “Morning. How do you feel about dogs?”

I’m thrilled as shit to learn she begged her father for a dog for years, but never got one. Maybe it’s time.

Three hours later, we finish our morning coffee. “You up for a road trip for my coaching session today?” I ask as we head toward the elevator bank.

“Road trip?”

“Yep. Becca has a rental car. I’ll drive.”

“Where are we going?”

“It’s a surprise.”

She smiles. “I’m going to take the ride with Avery to the airport at one. How about after that?”

“Works for me. Text me when you’re ready.”

“You ready, squirt?”

“What’s her name again?”

“Lucky.”

“That’s right. It’s a funny name.”

“It’s a beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”

Lucky’s smile when she sees me strolling to the lobby, hand-in-hand with my favorite girl, lights up her entire face. It might just be the best greeting ever bestowed upon a man.

“Well, this beautiful young lady must be Laney,” she says.

“Uncle Sinn thinks you’re beautiful, too!” Laney shouts. And there goes the talk we had five minutes before we walked out the door about not repeating things.

Lucky arches one eyebrow at me. “Oh he does, does he?”

Laney nods her head fast. “He likes your name, too. He said—”

I cut her off. “Okay, motor mouth, let’s go or we’ll be late.”

Shockingly, Laney doesn’t spill where we’re going on the way to the theater, although there are plenty of hints. She’s wearing an Elsa crown and halfway there asks, “Uncle Sinn. Sing my favorite song!”

“I sang it once last night and twice in the hotel room before we left.”

“Sing it, Uncle Sinn!”

I look at Lucky and laugh. “My sister is raising a tyrant.”

“I can see who’s in charge,” she teases me.

“Oh yeah.” I glance at Lucky and back at the road. “Laney, you know Lucky sings too. She’s actually better than me. I think she probably sounds more like Elsa than I do.

“Really?” Her voice screeches with excitement.

“You bet.” Lucky has no idea what she’s in for yet. It’s hard to keep a straight face.

“Lucky. Will you pwease sing Frozen for me?”

“I would love to, Laney. But I don’t know the words.”

“You don’t know the words?” Through the rearview mirror, I catch Laney’s little nose crinkling in confusion. She’s baffled that someone doesn’t know every word to the entire Frozen soundtrack.

“Actually, Laney, I think she’ll know them soon.” I turn and pull into the parking lot at the theater.

“We’re going to the movies?” Lucky asks.

“Sort of.”

She squints at my cryptic answer, but goes with it anyway. I unbuckle Laney from her car seat and pull the baseball cap I tossed in the back down over my head, adding a pair of aviators for good measure.

“Rockstar disguise?” Lucky teases.

“I prefer ‘rock god’.”

She rolls her eyes.

Inside, I skip the long line and head to the woman collecting tickets at the door. She directs me to Carolyn, the woman I arranged today with on the phone.

“What are you up to?” Lucky asks suspiciously as we head into the theater.

“Just multitasking.”

“Multitasking?”

“Yep.”

The eyes of the woman with the clipboard indicate she recognizes me immediately. Guess my disguise sort of sucks.

“Mr. Beckham. I’m so excited you made it.”

“It’s Flynn. And we’re excited to be here. Right, squirt?” I look down at the girl squeezing my hand tight, and she nods her head vigorously with a smile from ear to ear.

Carolyn laughs. I pull the tickets from my pocket and hand them to her. “Thanks for adding us.”

“I’m a huge fan of Easy Ryder. My older daughter is thirteen. She didn’t know who Easy Ryder was, but when I mentioned your name, she started to hyperventilate. Getting these tickets made me the coolest mom in the world.” She hands me a numbered sign with pins at the top. “At least for today. Tomorrow is another story.”

A girl about five or six runs up to Carolyn and tugs at her arm. “Mommy, that’s the crown I want.” She points to the tiara that has been almost permanently affixed to Laney’s head for the last year.

“How about ‘excuse me,’ Deidre,” she scolds.

“Excuse me. Mommy, that’s the crown I want.”

I chuckle. Guess all little girls are the same.

“Okay, Deidre. Why don’t you go back and sit? The movie is going to start soon.”

Laney looks at me, then back at the other girl. She doesn’t have to say what she’s thinking; I see the question in her face. I nod, telling her it’s okay.

“You wanna borrow it for the movie?” Laney asks her.

“Really?”

“Sure.” She shrugs. “I wear it all the time.”

“Okay! You wanna come sit with me? We’re in the front row and my sister is in the contest.”

Laney turns to me, her eyes asking permission. “Sure. Just no leaving the theater.” I look around. Most of the rows are filled, but there are a few vacant seats in the back. “We’ll just be in the…”

“The gallery is empty if you’d like to sit up there so no one bothers you,” Carolyn points up toward the small balcony. I’m twenty-five going on fifteen. Shit, yeah, I’ll take the balcony in the dark with the hot girl.

“That would be great.” I look at Lucky and wiggle my eyebrows.

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” she says as we settle into the front row of the otherwise empty balcony. “What are the numbers for?”

“The contest.” I shrug.

“Care to elaborate?”

“The local theater club for kids is putting on a Frozen musical. After the movie, the finalists for the lead role are singing.”

“And you’re trying out?”

“I got lucky, the organizer’s daughter wanted to come to tonight’s Easy Ryder concert, but it was sold out. Traded tickets for this movie and auditions for the Easy Ryder show tonight. Figured Laney would love it. She’s obsessed with the soundtrack. Thought she’d get a kick out of me singing, too.”

“That is so sweet.”

“I’m glad you think so. Because you’re singing later, too.”

Her eyes flare. “What?”

The lights dim for the movie to start. She’s still staring at me, expecting an answer. I lift my pointer finger to my lips, shhing her, and whisper, “The movie is starting, no talking.”