The Songwriter by A. P. Jensen

her. That lasted a hot weekend before he fell for a blonde with big boobs. Regan Lee didn’t take it personally and they’d been friends ever since. Regan Lee moved home after being estranged from her family for ten years and Johnny visited White Mist and fell in love with the simple lives of the locals.
    “ Regan’s mom loves me,” Johnny bragged. “Regan still doesn’t trust me with my godson though. Can you believe that?”
    Gwen knew Johnny was trying to distract her and it was working. Angie’s brand of tough love worked but having someone talk about her hometown and the people there was the best distraction ever. It filled her with longing yet at the same time, it made her proud to be where she was.
    “ What would you do with the baby? He’s what, barely a year old?” Gwen asked and knew she had less than two minutes to wrap up her conversation up and step onstage. Her heartbeat picked up.
    “ He just turned one. I’m going to teach him to play the guitar. I’d probably take him with me to the café and the bar so he can listen while I play.”
    There was so much wrong with that sentence that she didn’t have time to address it. A woman in the front row waved a sign and Gwen’s heart stopped. She squealed and clutched Johnny’s arm.
    “That woman has a sign with my name on it!” Gwen gushed and pointed.
    Johnny read, “Go go Gwen.” He glanced at Gwen’s flushed face and for her sake added, “Catchy.”
    She elbowed him in the ribs and stomped her heels and clapped her hands. “My first sign!”
    “ Whatever does it for you.”
    Johnny followed her beneath the stage and examined the elevator with a sniff before he slapped her ass and winked. “Get em babe.”
    Gwen appeared onstage with the biggest smile on her face. She didn’t even care that Trey kept looking offstage to shoot angry looks at Johnny. Gwen sang to Trey and tried not to slap or bite his hand when he touched her. It was a relief to turn away from him, walk to the edge of the stage and give the woman holding the sign a shout out. Trey’s banked anger filled the stage. Gwen ignored him and poured herself into the crowd and was satisfied when they jumped out of their seats to sing her lyrics back to her. When she dashed off the stage for her wardrobe change, Johnny’s eyes were alight as they ripped off her clothes and redressed her.
    “ You were great and he hates me!” Johnny said gleefully.
    Gwen was on too much of a high to chide him. “The crowd is great tonight.”
    “ You have a way with the women. Girl power or some shit. They see it in you,” Johnny said. “Natasha was fake. Fake boobs, fake ass-”
    Gwen giggled and threw her shoe at him. Johnny dodged and slapped he r ass again when she shot past. Gwen sang Release the Dream and looked into the arena. It was becoming a familiar and beautiful sight- a room filled with people swaying, singing along with her and feeling the same emotion as her. These people knew her lyrics and emphasized with her plight in the song and Gwen ate up every moment. As a songwriter, she created in private and as a singer; she could now see the affect the song had on the public. It was magical and something she would cherish for the rest of her life.
    Trey came up beside her and she forced herself to look at him as he sang his lines.
     
    I have another woman
    So much time has passed by,
    B aby, release me from your dreams
     
    At the close of the song Gwen sang:
     
    I need to move on with my life
    I can’t breathe
    I’ve built a cage of fantasies
    I need to release the dream of you and me
    I need to be free
     
    When the drummer started Breaking Out , Gwen clapped and did her usual routine of riling the crowd, flirting with the band members and generally doing everything she could to stay away from Trey. When she started backing towards the edge of the stage to make her exit, she was startled when Trey blocked her way and grabbed her arm.
    “ What did you think of my partner, Gwen