At six forty-five, Davis comes by to wish us good luck. He is business-like and professional, and that’s what I would expect.
“You’re all going to be great,” he says to the group of us, and then tips his forehead to me, then the hallway. I stand up, and join him in the hall.
“Do you remember what I said the first night I rehearsed you? How I wanted you to be able to blow the audience away?”
I nod. “I remember everything about that night.”
A smile plays on his lips. “Me too,” he says in a sexy voice then he returns to his directorial one. “I told you I wanted them to melt for you. To fall for you.”
I nod, eager to hear what’s next.
He leans into me, brushes his lips on my forehead. “You’ve got this, Jill. They will. They will fall for you.”
“Thank you,” I say, feeling warm and glowy from both the kiss and the praise.
“I’ll see you after. We’ll go celebrate.”
“Of course. But you might have to come to the cast party because, you know,” I say teasing him, “I gotta hang with my actor peeps.”
“I would be honored.”
Then he heads down the hall on his way to find Patrick and give him a pep talk. A few minutes later Shannon knocks on the door to tell me my brother is here.
Even though I saw Chris a few days ago, I still jump into his arms.
“Hey, little sis.”
“Hey, big pain in the ass.
Then I turn to meet McKenna and she’s so pretty and has the coolest dress on—a rockabilly number with dog prints on it. “I’ve only seen you in your Helen video. I can’t believe I’m finally meeting you. You’re even hotter in person.”
She blushes. “Stop that.”
“No, seriously. I can’t believe my brother snagged a total babe. How did you trick her, Chris?” I say, teasing him. Then I lower my voice and whisper to the woman I’m pretty damn sure is about to become my sister in law-to-be in a few minutes. “I’m so glad he found you. He’s mad about you.”
“The feeling is completely mutual.”
I offer to show them the stage, because that’s all part of the plan Chris and I drummed up in Bryant Park. Then I smack my forehead. “I forgot something in my dressing room. I’ll be right back.”
I head for the wings, but I can’t resist watching Chris get down on one knee to propose, and it makes my heart soar when she says yes. I want to clap and cheer and run over to them. But it’s their moment, so I let them have it, even as I grin like a crazy person from my private little hideout spot.
“Okay, let’s clear the stage now,” Shannon says. They walk off stage, holding hands, with McKenna giving Chris kisses all over his cheeks as they go.
“You guys are the best,” I say, and give them both huge hugs before they head for the lobby. I return to the dressing room, where I touch up my makeup, making my mascara pop even more, and then applying lipstick and lip liner. Shelby smooths out my hair for the first scene, pulling it back into a simple ponytail and spraying it.
“I can’t resist being the hair stylist,” she says happily.
“I love it,” I tell her.
Then all of the chorus girls in the dressing room do a few quick yoga stretches to loosen up. When we’re done, Shelby grabs my arm as if she forgot something. “We need to go say hello to the ghost,” Shelby says excitedly.
“You’re right! We have to.”
We rush down the red-carpeted hall, pop backstage and wave grandly to the pretend ghost of Hammerstein in the balcony, since he’s only here on opening night. I peek at the audience members filing into the theater, thrilling at the sight of them taking their seats, opening their Playbills and seeing my name in the white slip of paper that was inserted into the programs tonight.
At tonight’s performance, the role of Ava will be played by Jill McCormick.
I take my place in the wings. Shelby grabs my hand hard and squeezes it. “You’re going to be great,” she whispers.
I nod a quick thanks and when the overture fades, I make my entrance to the stage in front of the packed house at the St. James Theater for my first performance ever in a Broadway show.
It is electrifying.
I spend the next two and a half hours singing and acting and crying and fighting and kissing and falling in love with Paolo. Because that’s who Patrick is to me. I leave myself behind, but this time it’s as it should be. This is when I can forget who I am and become someone else. Because this kind of pretending is what feeds my heart and my soul as I become this broken down character who somehow finds a way through her pain and loneliness to the other side.
When we sing the final lines in the final song, and then fall into each other’s arm for a last staged kiss, I feel as if I am flying. This is the highest high, and the purest joy I’ve ever felt—performing and doing what I love with my whole heart.
The curtain falls, and Patrick grabs me for a bear hug. It is a friendly, affable embrace, and then he high fives me. “I knew we would be great together on stage,” he declares with a fist pump.
“It was amazing,” I say with a grin as wide as the sky, and maybe that’s how Patrick and I were meant to be together—as actors, playing parts, and making the audience believe. Perhaps, that was always what was in the cards for the two of us.
He rushes off to stage left, I head to stage right, and we wait in the wings. I am still riding on the adrenaline and I probably will be for years, as the audience starts cheering and clapping when the curtain rises again. The chorus members rush out to take their bows. Then the supporting actors and featured stars make their way, one by one, to the front of the stage.
The notes to our signature song flood the theater and I beam at Patrick as we rush out and meet in the middle. He grasps my hand, and we head to the front of the stage and take our bows together.
In the audience, I see Chris and McKenna, Kat and Bryan, Reeve and Sutton, and I wave to them all. The cast links hands together for one more bow as the cheering grows even louder, and we gesture to the orchestra in the pit who played the beautiful score.
Finally, the curtain falls, and I am overcome with emotion. Fat tears slide down my cheeks, but they don’t last long when Shelby jumps in my arms.
“You were absolutely amazing! You broke your Broadway cherry! And you did it in a big way!” she says, and I stop crying tears of happiness because now I am laughing. We return to our dressing room, and I’m still floating on this magic carpet ride of the most amazing night of my life as I change out of my costume, pull on jeans and a sweater, and sweep my hair into a loose ponytail.