Til There Was You Read online

  “Hey!”

  Everyone besides Louis laughed.

  “It feels like you’ve been gone forever,” Eddie said. The more Cady looked at him, the more she agreed. He’d buzzed his chocolatey brown hair since she’d last seen him—months ago, at their final show of As We Go On. He was still the same, confident Eddie Sanchez she knew, but he had an air of maturity about him that was new.

  Had it only been a few months?

  “I hate to be a party pooper, but I have to go. They need me at the theater.” He bobbed down and pecked Cady on the cheek. “I’m glad you’re home and safe, and I can’t wait to see you in Niamh.”

  “If I ever get to go on.”

  “You will.” He gave her a wink before dashing out of the bar.

  “He’s so important now that he’s writing off-Broadway shows,” Louis muttered. Though Cady heard the joke in his voice, it made her a little nauseous. She didn’t want to think about Eddie’s show, of who was in it…

  She brushed past Louis and sat across from Zoe, whose dark skin shone in the bar lights. Zoe reached and grabbed Cady’s hand. “How are you?” Was that pity in her voice?

  Christopher sat close to Zoe’s side as he always did, desperate for her attention. But he smiled at Cady with a grin that took up half his face. “Welcome to the world of understudying,” he teased.

  She sighed. “I’m a standby, not an understudy. I don’t get to perform unless Roxie calls out, and she hates me. She won't call out unless she’s dying.”

  Zoe clucked her tongue. “I’m sure she doesn’t hate you.”

  Cady shuddered, thinking of the contemptuous looks she received from her show’s lead every time they passed each other in the hallways. She liked to think that it would get better now that the show was on-track for a long-term run on Broadway, but she doubted it.

  “I’ll kill her,” Louis offered, his expression serious.

  Zoe nodded. “He’d do it too. He’s practically a ninja.”

  Cady held back a smile. “Kill two-time Tony winner Roxanne Evans? Yeah, okay. No one will notice that.”

  “We’ll just get her sick,” Christopher said. “Next time I get a cold, I’ll sneeze in her coffee.”

  Her lips twitched. She was fighting a losing battle. “You’re all terrible people.”

  “Thank you very much,” Zoe beamed.

  “They do all get sick, though. Eventually. You’ll get up onstage.” Christopher was the only one in their little group who had experience covering lead roles when he didn’t have a lead role himself. He played the role when the official actors couldn’t do it.

  His job as an understudy differed from Cady’s job as a standby. He still worked in the show’s ensemble and performed every night. Cady stayed backstage, just in case something happened to the lead actress.

  “Thanks.”

  “But really. How are you?” Zoe’s gorgeous brown eyes took her in with a look that made Cady squirm. Zoe had always seen through every pretense thrown at her. Cady was never prepared for it.

  Cady brought her hands together on her lap and shifted on her stiff bar stool. “I’m fine. We start Broadway rehearsals next week and start previews at the Robbins Theatre next—”

  “You know that’s not what I’m asking.”

  Cady frowned. It wasn’t just Zoe looking at her with the telltale pursed lips, tilted head, and sad eyes. Louis and Christopher wore similar expressions. Cady's face grew hot. “Everything’s fine.”

  “Cady—”

  “I’m fine,” she snapped.

  “What about Toby?” She heard a thud. Christopher exclaimed, “Ow! What was that for?”

  “You didn’t have to mention his name,” Zoe hissed.

  They continued to bicker, as they always did. Louis’s gaze focused on Cady. She should have known her friends better than this. They’d been with her through the highs and lows of her first Broadway show. No matter how much she might have tried to keep it to herself, they knew everything she’d gone through.

  “I’m over it,” she told them, staring hard at a cocktail napkin on the table. “Toby has his own life, and so do I.”

  “But you guys were so close.” Louis leaned toward her. “You did everything together, before…”

  He didn’t need to finish his sentence. Before Cady realized she was in love with him, before he started dating Lena, before Cady had left him and her friends and As We Go On to run away, before Toby had come to Cady in San Diego and she laid her heart bare, only to be rejected again…

  The bar was too warm. She was lightheaded. The last thing Cady needed was to pass out and fall off this bar stool.

  “I’m okay,” she said, pleased her voice didn’t waver as much as she thought it should. “I will be okay. Going out of town with Niamh was good for me.” Except that one night. She shook her head. “I’m excited to get my new life here in New York started.”

  “And maybe go on for the lead.” Christopher raised his glass in her direction.

  A smile broke through her muddle of emotions. “But only if Louis can take out a Tony-winning actress.”

  He jumped up from the table. “I’m on it.” Louis marched away as Cady, Christopher, and Zoe all laughed.

  “Seriously, we’ve missed you a lot,” Zoe murmured, resting her hand on Cady’s wrist. “The new girl they’ve got playing Holly is horrible.”

  Christopher lifted a shoulder. “She’s not horrible.”

  “Yes, she is,” Zoe snapped. “She screeches.”

  “She’s getting used to the part.”

  Zoe deadpanned, “It’s been three months.”

  “Not everyone can sing like Cady,” Christopher mumbled into his drink.

  Cady’s stomach squirmed. If she’d given the higher-ups at As We Go On more notice, they’d have had time to find a better replacement. She hated thinking she’d made anything more difficult for her friends. “I—"

  “Cady, whaddya want?” Louis yelled from the bar. So he’d gone there rather than going to mess with Roxie.

  “She wants Sex on the Beach!” Zoe answered, smirking at Cady over her own glass.

  Cady swatted at Zoe’s wrist. This only made her and Christopher laugh harder.

  To be honest, Cady didn’t know what she wanted. She wanted to play a role she enjoy singing, she wanted to fall in love with someone who loved her back for once.

  But for now, she was in New York City, and she was ready to see what life had in store for her.

  Chapter Two

  GreatBrightWay.com: Full Cast for Broadway’s Niamh Announced

  * * *

  Rehearsals start next week for the Roxanne Evans-led musical Niamh, based on the popular Young Adult fantasy novel of the same name. Niamh finished an out-of-town run two weeks ago in San Diego to mixed reviews. Matthew Mason of Broadway! Now! Said, “Niamh has a lot of potential. There's fantastic spectacle, but the writer should work on finding the heart before it makes its trek to Broadway.” The big-budget musical will start previews at the Robbins Theatre on September 3.

  The full cast of the San Diego tryout will return for the New York run, including…

  “Are you always here?”

  Jake looked up from his phone and smiled. Since she’d gotten back from wherever her out-of-town tryout was, Cady asked that question a lot. She always had her hands on her hips with the same exasperated expression on her face.

  “I like it here.”

  “But don’t you have your own apartment to spend all your time in?”

  “And miss these enlightening conversations with you?”

  She rolled her eyes. He smirked. It was easy to get reactions out of this version of Cady. He liked this version almost as much as he liked the one Scott sent him on a date with, before he found out she was his best friend’s little sister.

  “My apartment’s too small,” he continued, determined to shut down his charm. He didn’t need to flirt with Cady. He wouldn't mess her up like that.

  “The simple solution to that is to find a new apartment.”

  He grinned. Jake couldn’t help himself. “Why would I do that when Scott feeds me?”

  “I keep telling Scott to stop feeding the strays.” Scott’s boyfriend, Kyle, emerged from Scott’s bedroom with a smirk on his face. “They keep coming back.” He winked at Jake, who scoffed right back at him. Jake had liked Kyle ever since he started dating Scott late the previous year. In fact, Jake often wondered what someone as playful as Kyle saw in someone as stiff as Scott.

  But it was Cady who changed as Kyle entered the room. The tightness in her face eased, and a smile replaced her grimace. “I didn’t know you were here. Where’s Scott?”

  Kyle waved a hand as he approached Cady, before giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I think he’s teaching a class. His bathtub is better than mine. I am rewarding myself with a bath to prepare for the start of rehearsals tomorrow.”

  Cady sounded breathless when she replied, “It’s tomorrow.”

  “Tomorrow,” Kyle buzzed, like the word overloaded him with energy.

  Jake glanced at the clock. He had about an hour to get to the theater for his call-time, which, given the unreliability of the New York City subway system, was just enough time for him to get there.

  But instead of leaving—like he should—he asked, “You guys are in the show together?”

  Cady scoffed. “Didn’t you notice we were both gone at the same time?”

  “Lots of shows do out-of-town tryouts. You didn’t have to be in the same one.”

  “Well, we were.”

  Kyle wrapped an arm around Cady’s shoulders. “I got her the part. Cady was having a hard time a few months ago and—Ow!” Cady elbowed him in the ribs.

  Jake wasn't sure what the narrowed eyes in Kyl
e’s direction meant, but at that look, Kyle stood a little straighter and fumbled for words. “I mean, uh… Cady was… uh, great and…” He shook his head. “They already cast me in the ensemble, and they were looking to cast a part I knew Cady would be perfect for, so I marched right over here and told her to audition.”

  “It’s not really a part,” she insisted. “I’m just a standby.”

  “That is a part. You step in for the lead. You might not be onstage as much as the rest of us, but you’re still part of the family.”

  “Your show needs a standby?”

  Cady bristled at this. “That’s not a bad thing. It’s a huge role. Big, belty numbers, lots of special effects. I’m there in case anything happens.”

  Of course she was. Jake might have never had a standby himself—only understudies—but that only meant the show wasn’t taking any chances. Why had he sounded so rude?

  He opened his mouth to apologize, but Kyle spoke first. “Anyway, Cady will go on sooner than she realizes. The lead doesn’t take care of her voice like she should. And I’m sorry, you need to be careful when you’re doing eight shows a week, even if you’re the great Roxie Evans.”

  The world stilled around Jake. He did everything he could not to think about that name. Why did they bring it up so casually?

  “Roxie has a couple of Tony Awards. Give her some credit,” Cady said.

  Jake’s heart beat in his throat, making it difficult to breathe. His jaw clenched together so tight he couldn’t open it again.

  The walls were closing in around him. He had to leave.

  “Jake?” one of them called at his back, but he ignored them. He pushed out the door. He had a theater to get to.

  There was something magical about rehearsal rooms.

  The hallways leading to these studios were tight, covered in posters from the legendary shows that had gotten their starts in the building. Cady’s show would be in the furthest room, meaning she had to look at colorful ads for Phantom of the Opera, Jersey Boys, Wicked, and Hair. She loved all those shows. The contents of her stomach churned and her lungs pressed inward the further down the corridor she walked.

  But as soon as she entered the rehearsal room, she could breathe again.

  “Cady!”

  “Kyle,” she answered. Her gut erupted in butterflies.

  “We’re here!” He threw his arms around her and pulled her close. Her shoulders eased. She knew this show. She knew these people. Everything would be okay.

  This wouldn't be like her first rehearsal for their out-of-town tryout, where she thought she might faint when she heard Roxie Evans sing the score. Or before that, when she was thrown into her favorite show of all time with only Lena and Toby—strangers at the time—by her side.

  Her chest ached at the thought of As We Go On.

  “You okay?”

  Cady pasted a smile on her face. She only felt her cheeks tremble a little. All that acting practice paid off. “I’m fine.”

  Kyle’s bushy eyebrows knit together. “Really?”

  “Yeah.”

  She avoided looking into his hazel eyes. Instead, she took in the bright rehearsal room. Its big mirrors and shiny wooden floors were a stark contrast to the tiny basement room where she’d first sung the score to As We Go On. Her nerves had been enough to make her second-guess herself, but Lena sat beside her. A lot of the cast came to greet them with cheers and yells. And Toby had made her laugh…

  Cady pushed those thoughts to the side. “I’m excited.”

  He wasn’t here. She had to get her mind out of the past. This was good for her.

  “Excited? About sitting in a dressing room for the entire show?” The tight words turned into a cackle Cady remembered all too well, a cackle never used against anyone else.

  Cady’s knees shook. “Hi, Roxie. Did you have a nice break?”

  “It was very relaxing.” Roxie smirked. “Just the rejuvenation I needed for dozens, maybe even hundreds, of shows.”

  When they performed in San Diego over the summer, Roxie enjoyed reminding Cady that she’d been on Broadway many times, that she rarely called out of a show, putting Cady in her place as standby. Whatever small hope Cady had that would stop evaporated.

  “I’m glad,” she muttered, her stomach swooping.

  “I told them I didn’t need a standby. The union only requires understudies. I wouldn’t get too comfortable.” She turned to Kyle, and her smirk became a full-blown smile, her eyes warm and welcoming. “It’s so good to see you, Kyle! I missed you!” She pulled Kyle into a hug before dragging him away, her arm wrapped around his shoulders.

  “Sorry,” he mouthed back at Cady as Roxie whisked him away.

  “I’ve been working on a voodoo doll of her,” a sharp, familiar voice said. Cady looked and saw Annie Marx, an older actress with a legendary television career, at her side. She was one of the few women in the world shorter than Cady. “I can’t get the nose right, but when I do, she’s yours.” Annie nudged Cady’s side.

  “No.” Cady shook her head, her face growing warm. “I won't do that. I just… she’s vicious.”

  Annie patted her shoulder. “You’ve been lucky. Some women have been through terrible things to make it in this business. Some men too. It makes them ruthless.” She squeezed Cady’s shoulder. “You’re good, kid. Don’t change. She’s threatened by you.”

  Cady snorted. “Yeah. The woman with two Tony Awards is threatened by the girl with one Broadway credit to her name.”

  “Talent speaks, no matter how many credits you have.” Annie met Cady’s gaze and raised her eyebrows. “Roxie knows if she lets you go on, you’re going to blow the roof off that theater. She knows she’s a little old for this part, and you’re not. She’s threatened.

  “Hang in there.” With a wink, Annie floated away.

  Cady liked Annie a lot. She was teaching Cady how to read tarot cards in her downtime backstage.

  But there was no way someone like Cady Cameron intimidated someone like Roxie Evans. Her brother was the Broadway star, not her. And while Cady could sing, she didn’t have the star quality Roxie did.

  Someone at the front of the room clapped their hands fast, startling Cady out of her thoughts. The cast and crew gathered. No one so much as looked at Cady. She was just the standby, after all.

  “Welcome to Broadway rehearsals for Niamh.”

  A round of applause went up over the room. An arm threaded through hers. Kyle had found his way back to her. Warmth built up in Cady’s limbs. Standby or not, she was part of something new. All the drama was worth it.

  Snap.

  Jake had barely pressed the pencil to the call sheet when the lead broke, leaving nothing more than a mark next to his name.

  Stupid pencil.

  He threw it against the bulletin board, but it came flying back, thwacking Jake in the face. “Ow!”

  The pencil swayed back and forth, taunting him from the string it hung on. Jake stalked away. He’d sign in later.

  He hiked his backpack up on his shoulder and marched down the hallway and up the narrow stairs to his dressing room. A few people called greetings after him, but Jake ignored them.

  He couldn’t seem to shake his foul mood. He felt tired, even though he’d had a full night’s sleep.

  “Jake…”

  He didn’t know who called his name this time. He didn’t care. The beautiful thing about having his own dressing room—no matter how small an off-Broadway dressing room could be—meant he didn’t have to see anyone else until he stepped back on that stage. He slammed the door behind him.

  Throwing his backpack on the room’s one ratty chair, Jake approached the mirror, rubbing his face as he did. His shave wasn’t as close as he might have liked. He was lucky makeup would hide the bags under his eyes.

  Why was he like this?

  There was a knock at his door that he ignored. At some point, people would arrive to get him ready for the show, but he had a few minutes.

  The door swung open anyway.

  “Thanks for slamming the door in my face.”

  Asher, the man who played his brother in Broken Chords, sauntered into the room like he owned it.

  “Did it hit you?” Jake muttered.

  “Close.”