painful and subtle that I barely caught
it. The simple up and down movement of her head was a sorrow-filled indication
that this would actually be Michaela’s last chance.
“Did you get Meet & Greet passes too?” I asked Michaela
who shook her head no.
“But I’ve been praying so hard,” she answered. “Three times
a day for a month,” she boasted proudly. “It’s gonna happen.”
Yes it will , I said in my head. I excused myself for
a second and hauled ass to the tent to speak with one of the casino reps. They’d
been giving out Meet & Greet passes as prizes for the last two hours. Surely,
they had to have three more.
“Tom, please tell me you have more passes,” I shouted, out
of breath from my mad dash to the tent. “I need three. I’ll even pay for them
if I have to.”
Tom, angry that he was in the heat, shrugged. “All I’ve got
is one left. You can have it if you want it.”
I snatched up that lanyard holding the pass so quick that I’m
sure Tom thought I was crazier than he did when he saw my shirt. I ran back to
Abby and Craig who had introduced themselves to Amy.
“Here’s the deal,” I said. I held up the one pass I’d gotten
from Tom and removed my own lanyard from around my neck.
“I got Michaela a Meet & Greet pass and one of you can
have mine so she won’t be alone. It’s the best I could do.”
Abby’s eyes filled with tears as she watched her baby-girl
throw the lanyard around her neck and jump up and down. Abby hugged me so
tightly I could barely breathe.
“You are such an angel. I love you.”
I wiped tears from my own eyes and squeezed my friend’s
hand. “Michaela is family. She’s a part of this.”
Abby looked at the pass I was still holding then at her
husband. “You’re the one who got her hooked on Cash,” Abby chuckled. “You
should go with her.”
“No,” Amy said and slipped off her own pass. “You can go
too.”
Abby gasped. “Are you sure? You just met us!”
“Hey!” Amy shouted. “We’ve been Facebook friends for three
years. That counts!”
Abby was at the point that she was going to start bawling
any second. Craig put his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek.
“I know it hardly equals this, but we’re definitely taking
you guys to lunch tomorrow,” he said.
“Great. I’ll make sure to order the most expensive thing on
the menu,” I teased. “You better go get in the line. We’ll see you inside. You’re
right behind us, right?”
“Third row, center stage!” Michaela let out her own *fangirl
squeal*. “OH MY GOD! I’m gonna meet Cash! See Mom, I told you He wouldn’t let
me down this time! I’ll tell Cash you said hi, Savannah!”
As the Pattersons walked away, I blinked my eyes rapidly to
keep the tears from falling. I didn’t mind giving up my chance to meet Cash to
a girl who might not ever get the opportunity again.
“Well, best friend,” Amy said as she put her arm around my
shoulders. “I guess we’ll just have to stay on our Grail quest.”
“I guess so, but it’s definitely worth it.”
“Definitely.” Amy smile was mischievous. “Sooo… weren’t
there hot guys with Jell-O shots earlier? Let’s go find them.”
Chapter 4: Long Hot Summer Night
“Encore! Encore! Encore!”
Twenty thousand people yelled, clapped, and pounded on their
seats for a good five minutes even though everyone in the building knew that
Cash Myers never finished a show without an encore.
Cash stood on the side of the stage with his band and two
backup singers. He was downing a bottle of cold water while Brittany tried to
mop some of the sweat off his face and neck with a cloth towel. His mother,
Jennifer, stood in front of him with her arms folded across her chest.
“We had a hard out at eleven,” Jennifer said.
The LiveNation rep beside her nodded. Both of them had every
right to be angry. There was a $5,000 fine for going over the two and a half
hour time limit. And $10,000 for every minute he was