Tempt My Heart(12)

I try to keep myself busy with school and work and distract myself with planning our wedding. I am counting down the days until his year deployment is over, and he can come back home to me.

After a long weekend, I’m thrilled to do absolutely nothing but chill on the couch with Roxie tonight. Since Cane deployed, we’ve jumped back into our weekly Monday night ritual: popping popcorn and curling up on the couch together to watch The O.C. and swoon over Seth and Ryan.

“Hey, biotch, can you grab me a coke?” Roxie asks poking me with her toes while her eyes stay locked on the show.

Rolling my eyes, I let out a loud sigh and tossed a handful of popcorn at her. “You’re lucky I’m thirsty, or you’d be shit outta luck.” I tease as I sprint into the kitchen, laughing as she tries to retaliate and toss a handful of popcorn back at me.

I pad across the kitchen and grab us each a can of Coke from the fridge, just as I plop back down on the couch I hear my cell phone vibrating on the coffee table. Setting my soda down, I dive for my phone, hoping its Cane calling. It’s so hard with the time difference to catch each other at a reasonable time. Either he’s calling me at four in the morning or almost midnight but I’ll risk running on two hours of sleep if it means I get to talk to Cane and know he’s okay.

Roxie sits up and pops her soda open while shooting me a questionable glance and mouths, “Cane?”

I glance at my caller ID, normally it’s a long foreign number, but instead I notice it’s a Miami number, one I don’t recognize. Shaking my head no, I quickly answer, “Hello?” with uncertainty in my voice.

I hear a deep masculine voice come through the other line, “Hey! Brittan?” The guy says with question in his voice. His voice sounds familiar, but I just can’t place who it is.

“This is she…” my voice comes out sweetly as I flash a smile to Roxie while shaking my head.

Roxie pokes me with her toes again and whispers, “Who is it?”

Shaking my head and raising my shoulders, I whisper back while pressing my hand over my cell, “No fricking clue.”

The man on the other line snaps my attention back to him and instantly I realize why his voice sounds so damn familiar. “Awesome! I called the bar and got your number from one of the bartenders working tonight. She refused to give me your cell number at first, but I can be very persuasive.” I can’t help but laugh at the cockiness in his voice. “This is Holden, from Beyond Redemption. We have a gig this weekend at the Ocean Side Dive, and our singer Tara just broke the news she’s going to have to quit the band due to some personal reason. We heard you can sing pretty fucking well and thought maybe you’d be interested in singing with us this weekend. It would be sort of an audition if you’re down for it?”

Holy shit!

Bouncing up and down on the couch, I smack Roxie’s leg as I try to vocalize something…anything right now!

Sitting up, Roxie grabs my arm and shakes me as she shouts, “What!?.” With a big smile dances across her lips, she doesn’t even know what the hell is going on, but my excitement is contagious.

Holding my finger up to her, I finally let out the breath I’ve been holding and answer Holden, “Yes, I’d love to! I am a huge fan and so honored you called me, of all people! I need to give Delia a big hug when I see her at work!”

I can’t help but laugh along with Holden as his deep chuckle travels through the phone, “Glad to hear it; I’ll text the rest of the band and let them know you’re down. We’ll get ahold of you this week to set up a time to practice a few songs before the show Saturday.”

“Sounds good!” Hanging up the phone, I toss it onto the coffee table and tackle Roxie.

“Umfff!” She huffs out as I knock her back, “Geesh girlfriend, what the hell was that all about!” Roxie asks, as she tries to wiggle out from beneath me.

Rolling onto my side with a smile stretching ear to ear, I tell her about the phone call and the show this Saturday. We spend the next hour freaking out and calling Matt and Dalton telling them the news. They are so excited for me, and will spread the word around campus to get a great turn out for my first performance.

It’s crazy; I go from sitting in class daydreaming about singing on stage while learning the History of Music to actually auditioning with one of my favorite local bands! I can’t wait to tell Cane, he is going to freak the hell out. He is just as big of a fan as I am for Beyond Redemption.





December 31st 2005


I’m sitting backstage, warming up my voice in the green room at Club Mirage in Miami, and waiting for Beyond Redemption’s turn to go on stage. We’re performing here for New Years, and I’m so fricking nervous. We’ve only played in small bars over the last two weeks, and I have no idea if I am ready for this size of a crowd. The band booked this performance months ago when Tara was still with them, and the money was too good for them to cancel.