There was raucous applause and Carmen found herself clapping along. She felt dampness on her cheeks and when she lifted her fingertips to her face, she realised it was tears. It was the first time she had cried since receiving Gail’s wedding invitation and she was shocked. For weeks she had buried herself into her work, feeling numb and now, it was like a dam had broken and the feelings suppressed in her all this time gushed out.

The person in front of her shifted slightly and she tiptoed to get a better look at the singer of the song. Beneath the dim lights, she could see Shane McCutcheon adjusting the microphone and her shaggy hair was falling over her face. She nodded to her guitarist and lifted up her head. It was that rude person she had bumped into at Hyde last week…….While Carmen didn’t get a good look at her in Hyde, she could see Shane’s head angled to one side and her eyes closed in concentration as she belted out another song about pain and loneliness. Her leather jacket’s collar was upturned and her hair just brushed the top of her collar. How could someone as rude as her have such a voice, such an ability to write songs that seemed to delve into the deep recesses of your heart? For that one hour, Carmen was lost in the voice of Shane McCutcheon, lost in her own pain of having, loving and ultimately losing.

Chapter 3

Shane shrugged off her jacket and tossed it on her couch. Tonight, when she sang “If Only”, the memories of Cherie had come flooding back and she had poured her whole heart into that song. “If Only” had been the song she had written when Cherie had chosen the easy life of comfort with her husband. Shane didn’t have anything to offer her then, except her heart and soul and that hadn’t been enough for Cherie. “If Only” had become a nationwide hit and the song was one of the most-played radio tracks in 2005. In her own way, Shane had learnt to cope with the heartbreak of losing Cherie. She lost herself in sex with random girls and being famous just made that easier. She bought a Mercedes CLK Coupé and had given her old jeep to Jenny, her old roommate when she was just a struggling singer performing in bars. Sometimes, when she looked out from the window of her penthouse apartment, she would think, look at me now, Cherie. Seeing me now, would you regret anything….