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HALEY KEPT BUSY DURING Friday night’s performance, and enlisted Helen’s help with the merchandise table. With two people, they were busy enough to make a bunch of sales, but still watch their guys doing what they did best. Blake played to the crowd while he sang, leaning down to brush hands with the front-row concertgoers, pausing for an occasional selfie with a fan, making eye contact with as many people as he could. His voice was spot on, and the instrumentals were flawless. Maybe she was biased, but she fell in love with Blake over and over again each time she watched him perform.
One of the festival organizers came over to the merch table and asked, “Do you have a minute?” She gestured to Helen, who nodded. Haley walked off with the organizer.
“They sound great.”
“Thanks,” Haley said with a beaming smile. Funny how she felt like a proud mom.
“I just wanted to show you two places where you can keep track of their rankings.” He led her into a small tent where an electronic tally board listed all the bands in the competition, and two columns of numbers. One was the popular fan vote, the second was the judging panel scores. Both numbers were mathematically blended together throughout the weekend and the bands were displayed in order, the current winner on top.
“Wow. This is nice,” Haley exclaimed. Ace in the Hole was in the second-place spot, but the judges’ column was blank.
“The judges post their scores within a half hour of every performance.”
“So, my guys are doing well.”
“They sure are. And, if you can’t get over here physically, I’ll text you a hyperlink to this same information on the internet.” He tapped on his phone and Haley’s phone buzzed with receipt.
“Awesome.”
“Good luck.” He patted her shoulder and left the tent. Haley looked around and sent a quick prayer skyward, Thank you, God. Thank you for this new excitement in my life. Thank you for hooking me up with Ace in the Hole. Watch over us during this competition.
She’d grown up in the church, but she was by no means an expert in spirituality. She remembered enough of her early religious training, that when things were going well, she needed to express her thankfulness to God.
Haley returned to the merch table. Helen was holding her own, but the crowd was enthused by the items, so she jumped in and helped. It really was a perfect night. The setting was gorgeous, the temperature was warm with a nice breeze, and the beautiful sounds of the band’s music filled the amphitheater. She couldn’t think of anywhere she’d rather be.
ON SATURDAY, ACE IN the Hole had two performances. Blake and Haley walked the white sand beach while discussing their performance strategy.
“I know cover songs of popular bands are best received. But we’ve been working hard on original music and we really want to float some of that out there. I have two new songs, and Jake and Robbie each have an original.”
Haley thought about it as the surf ran up over her bare feet. “I think it’s great that you guys are writing music. For any band to advance, they need to move away from playing other people’s music, to branding their own music.”
Blake gave a hearty shake of his head, excited that she agreed with him. It hurt her heart to continue, “But.” He turned toward her. “Now’s not the time to float some originals. Not for this festival. We’re in a competition and every minute you’re playing, people are voting for you. Fans and judges. What they want to hear is music they know.”
He let out a frustrated breath.
“I’m not saying, never. I’m just saying for today’s performances, when the voting is on the line, stick to the familiar. Stick to the favorite songs that everyone knows and loves, and you guys do so well. It might just win you the Battle of the Bands.”
Blake nodded. “I see your point. You’ve never led us wrong so far, and I’ll trust you with this too. But we really do want to start introducing our own music into our sets. Starting next week.”
“Agreed.” She sealed the deal with a kiss on his lips, then they continued walking with her fingers resting in his back pocket.
“Do you really think we have a chance of winning this thing?” Blake asked, and the way he looked over at her, with hopefulness in his eyes, melted her heart. She knew they had a strong chance of winning this thing, because she’d been obsessively monitoring the scoring tent every half hour or so all last evening. When Ace in the Hole’s performance last night was done, and the judge’s scores had rolled in, they were strongly in the first-place position.
But standing there, watching the numbers change in real time, Haley had made the decision not to tell the others about it. She wouldn’t tell the band members, and she wouldn’t tell the girlfriends either. It would just make them nervous and possibly throw them off their game. They’d perform better without all that hanging over their heads. She was the band’s manager. She would take that pressure on herself. They would find out the official results Sunday morning. Until then, she would be the only one to know how they were doing.
“Yeah, of course I think you have a strong chance of winning this thing.”
Her answer pleased him because he stopped walking, pulled her in close. “Have I ever told you ... I love ...” His eyes flickered between both of hers, and his cheeks colored.
She stared up into his face and her breath caught in her throat. Although they hadn’t been together that long, maybe he was ready to tell her he loved her. Suddenly, even though she hadn’t given it much thought, hearing him say he loved her was what she wanted most in the world.
“I love ... the faith you have in me.”
His face wavered a little in her gaze as tears threatened. She couldn’t help feeling a little disappointed. Loving the faith she had in him, wasn’t exactly the profession of love she was hoping for. On the other hand, she didn’t know if she loved him either. But she sure loved what they were creating together, and she loved being with him. That was enough for now. She sniffed and put a smile on her face. “You’ve earned the faith I have in you.”
He pulled her in for an embrace. She felt safe and content in his arms, and she laid her cheek on his chest. A million moments of bliss passed by, or maybe it was only a few, but it was time to head back to the festival grounds and prepare for their afternoon set. On the way back, they discussed their song order.
“Throw all the great country artists in there that you can: Radley Ray, Keith Olson, Chris Parker. Those guys are all gold.”
“Yeah. And how about Frontier Fire? We’ve prepared a set of their oldies and those are ready tonight.”
Haley considered it. Frontier Fire was one of those iconic country bands from a decade ago, almost two. After a stellar career lasting fifteen years and multiple hit singles and Country Music Awards, they retired, only to miss the magic. They came out of retirement last year with a new album, new singles that stayed true to their old sound while modernizing to fit into the current country music scene. There had to be some Frontier Fire fans out there today, and their older songs had that sing-alongability that they were looking for.
“Good idea. How many? Three? Four? Then move on to the more modern stuff.”
“Sounds good, boss.”
Haley punched his shoulder and they headed back to the bandstand.
BLAKE GATHERED WITH Jake and Robbie behind the bandstand, putting their heads together. The current band had five minutes left, then a festival crew would prepare the stage for Ace in the Hole. They would be up there in less than fifteen minutes.
“So, you guys clear on the set order? Or do you want to go over it again?” He peered at his bandmates and tried to ignore the racing of his heart. Nerves routinely hit him while he was waiting to go on, but once they started playing, it all clicked, and he calmed down immediately.
“We got it, we got it,” Robbie droned. Blake let out a nervous chuckle. “Seriously, man,” Robbie continued, “we’re ready. You wrote the set list down and we can all see it. We got this, bud. We won’t mess this up.”
Blake ran his fingers over the chords of the first song silently without plucking the strings. “I know. I didn’t mean to imply that we’d mess this up.”
“Hey,” said Jake. “We’re in this together. Whatever happens, we all do it together. We want to win as bad as you do.”
Blake took in a deep breath. “Is that why I’m so nervous? Because I know we’re being judged and a big prize purse is on the line?”
Jake shrugged. “That’s why I’m nervous.”
They all laughed, and Blake felt his nerves start to calm. These guys were his brothers. His crew. One for all and all for one. They’d been together a long time, and that familiarity was comfortable. No need to worry. They’d do the best they could, and if they won, they won. If they didn’t, so what? They still had a whole summer of great gigs scheduled, thanks to Haley. Life was good.
His cell phone rang, which was a good reminder to put it on mute. He lifted it to read the screen. "Oh, I better get this."
Robbie gave him an eyebrows-up look of disbelief and tapped on a pretend watch on his left wrist.
"I know, I'll keep it quick." He turned his back. "Hey, Brent, what's up?"
"Taking a study break. I've got a Calculus test on Monday."
"Well, God gave you the brains of the family, so I have every confidence in you. You'll ace it."
His brother laughed. "No pressure, huh?"
Blake turned and glanced at his bandmates. It was time to go. "Bud, I gotta go, but is everything okay? Do you need anything?"
"Oh, no, man, I was just calling to take my mind off absolute maximums and bounded functions."
Blake chuckled. "Well, remember I'm in Hilton Head competing with the band. We're about to go on stage."
"Oh shoot! I'm sorry Blake! I'm totally wrapped up in my own world. Go, and uh, break a leg. You can do it."
Blake laughed again at the encouragement. "You sure you're okay? Don't need anything?"
"Just a new brain. But I guess I'll have to make do with the one I got."
"Love you, bro," Blake said, and closed his eyes as a rush of sibling love and protectiveness surged through him. On a day a dozen years ago, he'd become his little brother's protector and provider, along with Aunt Gloria. A day that changed life forever for all three of them.
Disconnecting the call, he stepped back to his band. He made eye connect with them, one by one. He thrust a fist out, and both his buddies joined. “Ace in the Hole,” he said. Followed by all three, “Let’s let it roll.”
They took the stage and Blake strode over to the fans, slapping hands with them, smiling and greeting them. When the guys’ instruments were miked up, they launched into their first song and immediately got wrapped up in the melody, the lyrics, the harmony, the rhythm. Music was his place to lose himself, and it never failed.
They moved seamlessly into their second song in the same key, by a different artist, and the crowd came with them. Girls in short shorts and tight shirts danced and sang along in the crowd, and guys wearing jeans and cowboy hats drank beer and got rowdy. Their applause rose to the sky.
“We’re Ace in the Hole from Myrtle Beach. We’re happy to be here and we hope you vote for us to win Battle of the Bands.” The enthusiastic crowd screamed. Blake went on, “We want to play a few songs in homage to one of our favorite classic country bands who is making a comeback. You know them. You love them. Frontier Fire!”
They moved into the opening strands of their first cover. The crowd knew the words and sang along with him and Blake let his concentration waver for just a moment as he imagined someday, in the future, when he stood in front of a big crowd like this, singing his own songs, knowing that the crowd knew every single word. What an amazing experience that would be.
They ended up doing four Frontier Fire songs in all, then moved back into this decade with another half hour of popular country music covers. When they finished their set, Blake tapped his chest and raised his hands to the air, letting the crowd know that he not only appreciated their support, but thanked the Lord for the experience as well. “We’re Ace in the Hole. Thank you, Hilton Head! We’ll be back on tonight.”
They rushed off the stage and practically collapsed from the high. The crowd was crazy happy with them and it felt so good.
They started the trek back to the truck to store their instruments until the next set later tonight. Haley joined them. “Great job, guys! Awesome work.”
He put his arm around her and pulled her in for a kiss while the guys continued on. He owed so much to her. This shift in success and popularity was all due to her. “Thank you,” he whispered and kissed her again.
“Excuse me,” came a voice from behind him. Blake finished his leisurely kiss with Haley and then turned. A man in clean-cut clothes stood there, a canvas messenger bag strapped over his chest. He wasn’t the age of the typical audience member here, and he wasn’t dressed like one either.
“Can I help you?”
“Yes. My name is Randall Brown.” He reached in his shirt pocket and pulled out a couple business cards, handing one to Blake and one to Haley. “You guys sounded really good out there today.”
“Thank you very much,” Blake said. He took a peek at the card, but it didn’t give him too much of a clue as to who this guy was. “We’d appreciate your vote.” He smiled and looked at Haley.
“I especially was impressed with your Frontier Fire set.”
“Oh, yeah, we just added that. We’d been working on them the last few weeks and decided to debut them here.”
“I’m the manager of Frontier Fire.”
Blake went still and stared at the man. Had he heard right? This guy managed Frontier Fire? What was he doing in South Carolina? Blake shook his head, and regained enough awareness to say, “This is Haley Witherspoon. She’s Ace in the Hole’s manager. And my girlfriend.”
Randall laughed and held out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Haley. Look, I’m finalizing the plans for the reunion tour of the band. It will feature our new album on a five-month tour.”
Blake nodded, hoping he looked like he was following but all that rolled through his head was, ‘What does this have to do with me?’ Fortunately, Haley was on the same page as him, and wasn’t too intimidated to ask.
“Mr. Brown is there something we can help you with?”
“Yes. There definitely is. I’m here ... at this festival and scheduled to attend a couple more in the south, looking for someone who can sing Frontier Fire songs as well as you can.”
Blake blinked. “Why?”
“I don’t know if you heard this in the news or not, but Josh Lakely suffered a serious car accident and is injured. He won’t be able to tour.”
Blake gasped and so did Haley. She looked as shocked as he did. The lead singer of the band injured right before a five-month tour, and unable to perform. It was a disaster.
“Our choices were to cancel the tour, or to find a replacement lead singer. Our investors prefer the latter. But only if we can find a good fit. Someone who knows the songs, can represent them well, and sounds like Josh when he sings. I think I found him. You.”
Blake’s heart flipped and started beating so fast he felt the pounding in his head. Dizziness came over him and he ardently tried not to faint from the shock.
Haley said, “You want Blake to be the lead singer of Frontier Fire during your five-month reunion tour across the country.”
Blake was glad she’d summarized because he wasn’t sure his brain was working properly.
“That’s right, and I’d be happy to discuss contract terms with you.”
“Yes, we need to do that, and I might bring in our band attorney to review the terms as well.”
“No problem at all, but we need to move this thing forward. The tour starts in a month, and if you decline the offer, I need to keep looking.”
Blake emerged from his fog. “No!” Haley and Randall both stared at him. “No, we don’t want to decline. Ace in the Hole will be glad to go on tour with you.”
Haley looked at him, her mouth open, no words coming out. Randall said, “Hold on. What? We don’t want your whole band. We just want you. The rest of Frontier Fire is on board.”
Haley turned to face him, resting her hands on his shirt. “They just want you to sing, Blake. They don’t need Robbie or Jake.”
He glanced from Haley to Randall and back to Haley. “Well, then that’s not going to work. We’re a band. We either do it together, or we don’t do it.”