Kylie Cantrall's Arc

Chapter 22 of 78

The footsteps stopped at the top of the stairs. Kylie's mother was awake earlier than either of them planned. The final verse sat half-written on the board. Arianna held the pen over the last blank line. Kylie shut the board and slid it face down under a placemat. "She's coming," Kylie said. "We finish it after breakfast." Arianna nodded. She set the pen down. The puppy stirred on the floor and went back to sleep. Kylie's mother came into the kitchen in her robe. She looked at the two of them, then at the closed board. "I want to hear what you have," she said. "Not Monday. Now. Sing me the chorus." Kylie's stomach dropped. She had only heard Arianna sing at half volume, sitting down, under her own hand on the guitar. The chorus climbed. The last line sat at the top of Arianna's range, maybe past it. If Arianna cracked, her mother would hear a fan, not a partner. "Mom, it isn't mixed. The harmony parts are pencil." "Then sing it in pencil." Arianna stood up and crossed to the corner. She lifted the guitar from the stand and brought it back. The wood caught the morning light along the cutaway. She sat, settled the body across her lap, and looked at Kylie. "Do you want to?" Kylie asked her quietly. "I want your mom to hear it," Arianna said. Kylie went to the piano. She counted four in her head and hit the opening chord. Arianna strummed once and came in on the first line of the chorus. Her voice held. Kylie stacked the harmony above her, careful, matching her breath. The second line rose. Arianna followed it. She didn't push. She opened her chest and let the note out at full volume for the first time Kylie had ever heard. It filled the kitchen. The puppy lifted its head. The last line sat where Kylie had feared. Arianna took a breath and landed on it clean. She held the word four counts. Kylie's harmony sat above hers and locked. The chord rang out. Nobody moved. Kylie's mother set her coffee cup on the counter. She had not sat down. She looked at Arianna, then at Kylie. "Finish the verse today," she said. "I'll call the label after lunch and tell them we have a song." She went back upstairs. Arianna's hand was shaking on the neck of the guitar. Kylie crossed the room and took the instrument from her lap and set it against the chair. She held Arianna's hand until it stopped. "You held it," Kylie said. "I held it," Arianna said. Kylie pulled the board out from under the placemat and set it back on the table. One line left. Her mother had moved the deadline up by a day, and the label was about to be told a song existed that nobody outside this house had heard.