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“What’s she—” he began, but the lights dimmed slightly, the music coming from the speakers going quiet.

Fuck.

I turned to see Reese walking across the stage. I could see the tension across her whole body, but just like we’d talked about, she stuck her chin out and walked right up to the mic.

She glanced over at our table, blinking as she saw it empty.

Fuck again.

“Hello,” she said into the microphone. It gave a little feedback, but when she backed up, stopped. She laughed, nervously.

“Holy shit, is that—” Eli said.

“My sister,” I flung at him in a whisper.

A spotlight flooded the stage and Reese squinted. But I let out a breath. She definitely wouldn’t be able to see Eli now.

“Oh god, I hope that holds,” Eli said.

I jerked my eyes toward him. “The electrical,” he whispered. “It’s a mess in here. The whole reno—”

“I don’t care,” I said. “You broke her heart.”

Even in the dim light I could see him blanch.

“I’m going to sing a few songs for you,” Reese said from the stage. She pulled the mic from the stand.

There was some scattered applause around the room. The clinking of dishes and conversations continued, though people had dropped their voices lower.

I could feel Will’s eyes on me.

You broke her heart.

“Michelle,” Will whispered.

I refused to look at him. I looked up at Reese instead, my whole body a live wire.

She opened her mouth and let out the first line of Adele’sSomeone Like You.It was just Reese, no background music or vocals, and it was breathtaking, the melancholy strains silencing the whole room.

Someone lowered the lighting further.

At that moment, in the room’s stunned silence, with my sister’s gorgeous voice singing about heartbreak, about love not lasting, and with tears streaming down my face, I dared to glance at Will.

He was looking at me. Only me. He stood up from the stool, stepping toward me. Eli craned his neck to see until Will was out of his way.

In the darkness, all I could hear was the song, the words—talking about how it wasn’t over—as Will came to me.

When I took a breath it was him, that familiar scent. On my skin I felt heat radiating from him.

Will stood before me, the whole world in his eyes, and in the dark, he reached for my hands.

I was powerless to stop him. Heat and heartbreak, love and pain, all of it rose like a crescendo in my chest as he dipped his face down, his lips at my ear.

“I’m in love with you,” he whispered.

The words echoed, falling through me like fluttering feathers. A sob stuck in my throat as he pulled back, his eyes on mine. He didn’t care if I didn’t say it back. He’d do whatever I wanted him to, I knew. He’d leave or he’d stay, he was a man in love. My heart ached, stung, and swelled as Reese hit the chorus.

And then the lights went out.