Love Songs by Bernadette Marie Page A

much too aware that it was Clara kissing that man.
    His palms sweated against the pant legs on his thighs and his muscles tensed. There was chemistry between them and everyone in that audience felt it. Couldn’t they get to the point where they all died—quickly?
    What if she liked kissing that man? What if she’d kissed him often, off stage?
    It was all too much and it swam in his head as if he were drunk. She’d known that man much longer than she’d known him. If sparks were going to fly between them they would have. It was him she’d asked to sleep in her bed, whom she’d made love too, and who had just moved into her house and left one hell of a mess in his wake.
    When the curtains finally closed and the lights came up for intermission, Warner took inventory of how he looked and how he felt.
    He’d been very conscious that Carlos had had his eyes on him the whole time. But it was Madeline’s kind smile that met his eyes first.
    “Isn’t she amazing? Just amazing?”
    “Yes. She really is.” He meant it too. Clara Keller was full of talent.
    “You should have seen her here the first night they opened with Annie , after they rebuilt.” Madeline placed her hand on her chest and batted her eyes which had grown moist. “Oh, just thinking about it still gets me misty.”
    The thought of a young Clara with a red curly wig made him smile. Acting was different than performing music. Clara had to step aside from her life and create another, even for a few hours. He could take his trusty guitar up on stage and play as though it were giving him the breath he breathed. But not once did it mean he had to kiss a woman on stage and pretend he liked it.
    That image was going to stick with him and he needed to let it go. What good was a jealous boyfriend when you had the career first? Yeah, he knew what that meant. It meant he’d be kicked to the curb and she’d still be kissing men who for a few hours she called Tony.
    Warner excused himself and headed out to the lobby. Christian gave him a wave from across the room and he nodded in return. There was a small bar in the corner and Warner thought he certainly could use a drink. But would that look bad? What would her family think of that?
    “Hey, Warner, what can I get ya?”
    He looked up to see Ed and Darcy smiling back at him. To Ed’s side was one of her uncles—he fished for a name—Curtis. He was married to the French aunt. It was all coming back to him very quickly.
    Warner walked toward them. “I’ll have whatever you’re having.” He thought then it wouldn’t seem too strange.
    “Another Bud,” Ed said to the bartender.
    “So what do you think of the show?” Curtis asked as the bartender handed him a bottle of beer.
    “It’s amazing. I haven’t been involved in musical theater in years, but I can tell you this is a class act.”
    The smile on Curtis’s face told him all he needed to know about how proud he was of Clara and her aunt. Warner knew enough about the industry to know he should be proud of them.
    Ed handed him his beer. “Thanks.”
    “Here’s to Clara.” Ed lifted his beer up and they all tapped theirs to his.
    It was then Warner noticed the man in the corner holding his cell phone at a peculiar angle. Just the right angle to take pictures. Then he recognized the man.
    He swallowed hard. “Excuse me,” he said to the Kellers as calmly as he could and walked to where the man was now furiously using his thumbs to type something into his phone.
    “Why are you taking pictures of me?” he asked the man who continued to type away.
    “Just a job, man. Just a job.”
    “Erase them.”
    “Already sent.”
    Warner wanted to sock the guy in the gut and throw the phone against the wall, but he was very aware that the entire Keller family was watching him.
    “Are you snooping or writing her review?”
    That had the man’s head snapping up. “Just a job, man.”
    “So you’ve said. I hope your review is more eloquent than that. And