Nowhere but Here by Renee Carlino Page B

really bad and tarnish your precious reputation.”
    He smirked. “I’m thinking of it more as a duel than a duet.”
    I leaned in toward him and deadpanned, “Bring it.”
    A moment later, the karaoke guy announced, “Captain Fantastic and Super Girl, you’re up!”
    Jamie grabbed my hand and pulled me toward the stage. “That’s us,” he shouted. I laughed and then my stomach dropped through the floor when I realized I was about to sing to a room full of strangers. Karaoke guy handed Jamie and me our mics, and then we stepped up onto the small rectangular stage. Jamie never looked over at me. He put his head down like he was about to deliver Hamlet’s monologue to a room full of thespians. He clearly took his karaoke seriously. I had to play along, so I quickly choreographed a few steps in my mind.
    When the music came on, I got the pleasure of singing the first line. “Tramp!” I coated it with a thick Southern accent and then jetted my arm out, pointing at Jamie as I spoke the word.
    Still with his head down, his right shoulder began bouncing to the beat as we exchanged the famous back-and-forth between Otis Redding and Carla Thomas. When it was time to sing, Jamie lifted his head, spun around, and slid across the floor, dropping to his knees in front of me as he delivered the line “I know, I’m a lovererererer.” He held his empty fist out and pounded his chest as he sang before winking at me and then hopping to his feet. He sang up to the ceiling dramatically during the second verse, which garnered him a lot of cheering from the audience, mostly from the women, but it was when he went out into the crowd to sing the last verse that he truly lived up to his reputation. He hovered around the ladies who had sung “Vacation,” and I watched as they fanned themselves and laughed like schoolgirls.
    When we were through, he grabbed my hand and held it all the way to the door while yelling back “Thank you!” to the crowd. We both bowed and then he said, “We’ll be back next Wednesday for the encore.” Everyone cheered loudly.
    Once outside, he turned to me, “You were awesome.” His eyes were gleaming.
    “You’re already promising I’ll be back next week? Pretty confident of you, isn’t it? I doubt I’ll still be here next Wednesday. I’m on a serious budget with the paper.” The idea of going back to reality in Chicago made my stomach hurt.
    He drove his hands into his pockets, looked down at his feet, and shrugged. “Wishful thinking, I guess.”
    I was doing the same thing, hoping that there would be some reason to stay longer, to get to know Jamie better. “Well you, my friend, were truly fantastic in there, especially with those ladies.”
    His face went expressionless. “I had to work at that, Kate. It didn’t come easily.”
    We both burst into laughter. I looked up at the sky and saw a hundred million stars shimmering brightly. We quieted, but I stayed where I was, staring at the sky, transfixed. I wondered if I had been at the winery for years. That’s what it felt like. I couldn’t believe I had only known Jamie since the day before. I knew so little about him but I didn’t care because, when I was with him, I didn’t feel alone.
    “Kiss me,” I said strongly. He took a staggering step back and then scanned my face but didn’t respond. “You heard me.”
    “Is that how you ask nicely?” One side of his mouth lifted.
    “Please kiss me.”
    “You have a boyfriend.”
    I didn’t hesitate for a second. “Not anymore.”
    And then his lips crushed mine.
    We kissed eagerly, clutching at each other. My hands went to his neck, tangling my fingers in his soft hair. His hands ran upward from the small of my back. His lips were softer than they looked and he took his time, moving from my mouth to my neck and then up my jawline to my ear, trailing tiny kisses before coming back to my lips. I could have kissed him like that for days. When he finally slowed, his fingers ran up my