Chapter 40

Wednesday night was the night of the big show. Kat drove down to be with me as soon as her last class got out, even though it meant she’d have to get up early the next morning to make it to her eleven AM class. We’d picked up Cole an hour and a half ago from the Asheville airport and hustled back to Wellsville for the big event.

I was absolutely floored when we got to the school. Even though we’d arrived with over an hour to go until showtime, the parking lot and all the side streets were already packed with cars, and people were still flowing in. It was a good thing we hadn’t tried to do this at the Blue Ridge, because this was an insane amount of people.

Chef hadn’t missed out entirely, since he apparently had the bright idea to set up a tent near the front gate where he was selling what looked like sandwiches and easy-to-carry food. Since the small concession stand was closed, I couldn’t help but think this was the mayor or Mr. Moore’s doing and wondered how much of a cut they’d convinced Chef to give them. No matter what, I’d gotten the strong impression that, to them, this was a money-making scheme, and knowing Kat’s father, he’d figure out every way he could to profit from it.

We’d only seen him once, as we escaped down to the field, where we’d stand and wave until they called on me and Cole to perform. He’d been near the stage talking to some people, and had turned and walked quickly away from us the moment he’d noticed Kat. I knew they’d spoken a few times, mostly about getting his check for tuition and the other obligations he’d agreed to when they’d made their deal. I also knew Mrs. Phillips was on those calls to make sure nothing untoward happened, but neither talked to me about it.

That was fine. I knew if she needed me, Kat would let me know, but otherwise, she had Mrs. Phillips and Dr. Rothstein helping her deal with those contacts. Although from her father’s reactions, he was clearly taking a bigger beating from those interactions than she was. He’d looked terrified when he saw her.

Cole was flabbergasted by the whole event. When I’d described the town, I’d given the basic small mountain town spiel about how everyone knew everyone else. I’m sure he had pictures in his mind, and they didn’t match the fairly new school and its sports facilities, which was fair. Most small towns don’t have a major benefactor overly invested in the school sports programs willing to bankroll large parts of those facilities. The football and swimming facilities, in particular, were larger and in better shape than they had any right to be in a town of this size.

We stood off on the sideline, shivering in the cold night air, and just passed the time as the place filled up. Most of that time passing was Kat and Cole talking. The two had gotten on like gangbusters since we’d picked him up, which I was glad to see.

“I’m serious,” Kat said, gesturing broadly with one gloved hand at the quickly filling stand of people across from us. “I don’t think our football team has ever drawn a crowd this big for a game. And this is just a fundraiser concert!”

“It’s ... a lot more than I expected. Charlie, when you invited me to play a set in front of your small-town crowd, this is not what I had in mind.”

“You’ve been on national TV three weeks in a row, and this is what you’re worried about?”

“That’s not the same, and you know it.”

I shrugged, since he had a point, and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll love you. They’re here to watch the show, so they know who you are. This isn’t some random stage.”

“I’m not sure that’ll work in my favor,” Cole said.

I waved him off. He’d be fine. Cole might have struggled against the other people in the competition, but he’d also beaten out thousands of people to even get that far. He was having a whole forest for the trees problem.

I was saved from having to debate him on this topic when Mayor Mullins bounded up onto the stage and the crowd erupted into cheers as he grabbed the microphone. He was popular enough to be reelected a bunch of times, but I think most of the people were just happy to have a reason to come out and have fun.

Wellsville was primarily a blue-collar town of farmers and factory workers. We didn’t have all of those quaint festivals and things that seemed to be in every TV show featuring small towns, so I think everyone was happy for the novelty of it.

“Welcome, welcome, folks!” he boomed through the speakers. “We are so thrilled you could make it tonight for this wonderful event!”

More cheers and applause.

“As y’all know, we’re here to support our very own Charlie Nelson, who’s been making quite the name for himself lately! Now, I tried to get Charlie to tell me how he did in tonight’s competition but, being the honest guy we all know, he said he couldn’t talk about it until after the show. Even with that, I’ll tell all of you a little secret. I’m downright positive Charlie’s going to get through tonight and head back to the finals and put our little town on the map.”

Considering I’d only ever talked to the man one time, I thought he was laying it on a bit thick, acting like he and I were somehow buddies. I got that this was what politicians did, but like he said, we were a little town and I don’t think anyone had illusions that I was off hobnobbing with the mayor.

I looked over at Cole and he looked a little green around the gills.

“You okay, man?” I asked.

“Did you see the news cameras set up over there?”

I followed his eye line to a bunch of cameras set up near the bleachers at the fifty-yard line. I’d noticed them, but just figured they were local media or whatever.

“I know the mayor made a big push about this and a lot of people were coming up from Asheville and even some from Nashville, so it makes sense the local stations would send cameras. They need stuff to cover and tying our area into something on national TV would be a big deal,” I said. “Also, my manager notified the show about this event and I think they sent down a crew to get some footage.”

“It’s not just local news and affiliates; I’m pretty sure those are national outlets.”

I squinted, trying to make out some of the logos on the cameras. There were a few branded with some of the national networks, but I just thought that meant they were affiliates or whatever. I didn’t watch a lot of TV, so I didn’t really know how all that worked.

“How do you know so much about all the TV stuff?”

“I spent some time chatting up the PAs on set, picking their brains about the industry. Just in case the show opens any doors for me.”

“That’s really smart, man.”

“Thanks, but you’re not worried about this going out to thousands of people?”

“Not really,” I said. “The show has millions of viewers. Someone told me last week’s episode had like seven and a half million, and those are people watching for the performances. The news has, what, twenty seconds to cover our story before they move on to a warehouse fire or something? They’re not going to have time to show any performances, and the people watching aren’t really watching for that anyway. So you get your name on screen and maybe a two-second clip of your face, letting more people know who you are, but nothing else, so there’s no reason to be nervous about how good or bad you are. Hell, it’s the perfect scenario.”

“Oh ... I didn’t think about that,” he said, looking back at the cameras, considering.

In the background, Mayor Mullins was still talking, eating up time until the show started. He was very aware of the cameras and spent most of the time talking about all the charities this show was going to help support and how the money could be used to help the town. He, of course, didn’t mention that some of the money going to charities had been my idea or that he’d been partially against it.

“It looks like it’s just about time. Let’s get this party started,” he said as the screen jumped to life and the show’s theme song started playing over the stadium PA system.

It occurred to me that if there were people living nearby who hadn’t come to the stadium, this whole night was going to be hell for them.

The crowd erupted into cheers as the show started. A few performances went by and then Cole was up. While he looked nervous as hell the whole time he was on screen, that changed to shock as the crowd erupted into cheers when he finished. He’d been beating himself up ever since that night, especially knowing it was what sent him home, but this is what I’d been trying to tell him. Everyone on the show, especially by the third round, was a good performer and people weren’t going to be as discerning of the nuances as the judges on the show would be.

Marissa got a great reaction and people seemed to love her bluesy rendition of the song she performed. She’d been so good throughout the competition, even if she didn’t win, she had a big career ahead of her.