Once Mai was satisfied with her looks, she grabbed her guitar case and headed for the door. Clara and Taylor asked for no gifts for the shower, and after being at the Midnight Thunder concert, the music hummed in her blood. So she offered to sing some songs at the baby shower.
It wasfunny, she now missed performing—the thing that caused her so many panic attacks—and she was excited at the thought of playing in front of her friends when a few years ago,it wassomething she would never have done.
Mai was going to perform as the guests arrived, which suited her fine. It wasn’t a time when all the eyes would be on her, butit wouldsatisfy her itchy fingers that told herit wastime for her to play again.
“What are you playing for us?”Clara had linked arms with Mai when she arrived and was towing her towards the spot set up for her.
“A bit of a mix,”Mai said.
“Do youknowany Midnight Thunder? I loveSummer Days. It’s my favourite song.”
Mai smiled ruefully.“Iknowall of their older music well. I’m not as good with the newer albums.”
Clara squeezed her arm.“That’s okay. I love the old stuff. When the girl was with them.”
At the mention of her younger self, Mai’s heart skipped a beat, and she resisted the urge to let her hair fall over her face to try to hide, like she'd spent so long doing.
Instead, she managed a small smile.“Me too.”
Clara was oblivious to Mai’s inner turmoil and pointed at a high stool in front of a microphone.“We’ve set you up overthere. Thank you so much for doing this. I’m so excited tohearyou sing. Why did you never tell us you were talented?”
“You haven’theardme play or sing yet. I might be terrible.”Mai laughed.
“No. You wouldn’t have offered if you were terrible,”Clara said confidently.
“I won’t lie. I’m not too bad. I played a lot when I was younger. Then medical school happened, and life got busy. Now I’m a consultant, I’ve had a little more time to take it back up again, and I realised how much I’ve missed it.”
Mai set her guitar case down on the ground and opened it. Pulling her instrument out, she slipped the strap over her shoulder and hopped up on the stool.
Tuning the guitar, she strummed a few chords before she began playing an acoustic version ofSummer Days, which sounded eerily similar to the one Ford played at the concert.
Itfeltstrange singing Ford’s part. Sheknewher voice was good, but it lacked the edge Ford's possessed that took his singing from good to outstanding.
She was so lost in the music and remembering all the times she performed it on stage with Midnight Thunder that she forgot she was in Clara’s garden with her friend standing in front of her. When she finished the last chorus and opened her eyes, Clara was staring at her.
Mai shifted uncomfortably around on the seat.“Sorry. I got a bit carried away.”
Clara didn’t say anything. Instead, she blinked.
“Clara, are you alright?”Mai asked.
Her friend blinked again before finally snapping out of her shock.“Why are you doing medicine when you’re that talented?”
Mai laughed.“I prefer medicine. I was in a band for a while. I found performing too stressful.”
“More stressful than resuscitating a baby?”Clara’s voice was incredulous.
“Bizarrely enough, yes.” Mai shrugged.
In medicine, she'd studied, and sheknewshe was good at her job. She had accepted that she couldn’t save every child, but she would make sure she didn’t lose them without a hard fight.
When she was on stage, shefeltout of control, and the pressure of thousands of eyes broke her.
Taylor strolled over to them and wrapped his arms around his wife, resting his palms on her stomach.
“Oy, hands off the gut,”Clara chided, tapping his fingers.
“Clara, how many times do we need to go over this. It’s not a gut. It’s our child.”He winked at Mai over his wife’s head and grinned. This was clearly a conversation they’d had before.