To Love A Witch

Chapter 11

  

Romy resisted the urge to throw something. It was time to rehearse the big fire-escape love scene, and her two lovebirds were spitting at each other.
“Tina, you’re supposed to be in love with him.”
“Maria’s smarter than that,” snapped Tina. “She would never fall for this little weasel.”
“That kind of disrespect doesn’t fly here; you know that.”
“Sorry. But I can’t act what I don’t feel.”
“Sure you can. That’s the whole point of acting.” Romy grabbed a hat off a nearby kid’s head and plunked it down on the ladder standing in as the fire escape. She sang Tony’s part of the “Tonight” duet, going just a little bit over the top. It was the ultimate young-love-about-to-turn-tragic song, and she knew how to milk a good tune.
When she finished, everyone applauded, including Jake, who had just come in the door.
Romy ignored him, placed the cap on a chair right about where Tony would stand, and motioned to Tina. “Sing to the hat. Make me believe you.”
It started a little flat, but by the time Tina hit the finale, every guy in Delinquent Drama wanted to be the hat.
Romy dropped it on the head of the kid playing Tony. “Now, do exactly the same thing with Rizzo.”
Tina scowled. Long experience told Romy now was not the time to pick a fight, which left humor or bribery as her choices. Nothing funny popped into her head, so she opted for a bribe. Knowing Tina well, she picked a big one. “You pull this off, you get a freebie.”
That got pretty much everyone’s attention. She didn’t give out freebies often; they were hard on her ego. Skate had scored the last one, and he was making her twirl and kick in the back row of his dance number.
Tina smirked and drew a finger along Rizzo’s cheek. “You’re not going to know what hit you, lover boy.”
Rizzo had a pretty good voice, but Tina carried the duet on her stunning vocals. She leaned over the fire escape and melted star-crossed teenage love over the entire room.
Romy wondered if any of her theater connections knew someone in New York. Tina had the kind of voice that deserved a chance at the big leagues.
Tina looked over at Romy when she finished. “I earned my freebie.” It wasn’t a question.
“You did. That was seriously good.” Romy was well aware there was plenty of insecure girl hiding in Tina’s darker corners. “What do you want?”
Tina grinned and pointed at Jake. “I want you to sing ‘Tonight’ with him.”
She’d never, ever welched on a freebie. There was a first time for everything. “Illegal ask, Tina. It’s got to be something I can do. No innocent bystanders.”
Tina waltzed over to Jake. “Can you sing, hot stuff?”
Jake shrugged. “What are you going to do for me if I do?”
“I already got the freebie.”
“From Romy. You want me to sing, I get a freebie from you.”
Hello, no taking advantage of a minor on her watch, Romy thought. Then she mentally backpedaled. Jake had been nothing but awesome with her kids. There were good reasons she assumed the worst of most people, but he’d earned a free pass. A permanent one.
Tina was still eyeing Jake with serious suspicion. Smart girl.
“So long as it’s not nothing illegal, okay.”
Jake walked over to Rizzo, grabbed the hat, and plunked it on his own head. He hit Romy with a total bad-boy smile. “You ready?”
Maria started the duet, so Romy kicked into the first lines on autopilot. When Jake started to sing, her legs turned to goo. She knew classically trained when she heard it. He had the kind of voice that could travel from West Side Story to opera and back again.
He winked, and she realized he was cycling back through his verse. Oops. Even a totally gobsmacked actress wasn’t supposed to miss her cues. She found her voice somewhere and let the first half of the song pass back and forth between them.
Then they hit the second part of the duet, the part Maria and Tony sang together. Romy sang, and Jake wove around, above, and below her. Every word punched into her heart.
When the last note died, she was terrified and in love. And she was pretty sure it wasn’t temporary stage madness.
The man who’d just sung straight into her heart turned his back on her and spoke to Tina. “You have any free time in this joint?”
She nodded in slow motion. “Yeah. Right before dinner.”
“Good,” Jake said. “I’ll come tomorrow.”
Tina hardly breathed. “Why?”
“I’m collecting on my freebie. We’re going to make an audition tape.”
Romy felt the tears coming and cursed. Quietly.
“You know a record label?” Tina was frozen in an agony of hope.
Jake shook his head. “Nope. But I know the head of student admissions at Julliard. I can’t promise you anything, but I want him to hear you sing.”
Tina frowned, mystified. “What’s Julliard?”
“It’s a school where they train performing artists. A lot of the best singers in the world have trained there.”
“Is that where you learned?”
“Yup.”
Tina nodded once. “Okay. You sing pretty good. I’ll make a tape for your Julliard man.”
Jake’s reply got drowned out by the dinner bell. Tina stared at him a moment longer and then headed for the door.
Romy pulled Jake down the hall after the exiting herds. “She has no idea what you just offered her.”
“I know. I think they’ll take her. She sings like a demon angel.”
Romy laughed. “I won’t even ask what that is. I was hoping to hook her up in the theater. She has a voice that could do Broadway.”
Jake tweaked her nose. “Theater snob. She can do Broadway after Julliard, if that’s what she wants.”
Romy opened the door of the Center and walked out, lacing her fingers in with his. “So why aren’t you some famous singer?”
He shrugged. “Not quite good enough. Tina is.”
“Repeat that performance from inside, and I know a community theater group that would fall at your feet.”
Jake cupped her face, his eyes fierce. “That was for an audience of one, Romy.” The kiss was almost frantic in its demands.
Fear and longing tangled inside. The words he’d sung into her soul rose up in welcome. She wanted this.
As she reached for his face, sparks flew out of her fingers.
Romy watched the angry welts rising on his face in absolute horror. Then she turned and fled.