AFTER THE CLOSING NUMBER Katie rushed back to the dressing rooms, put on a short-sleeved black dress Brendan had helped her pick out and touched up her makeup. Transitioning from performance mode to social mode was a challenge no matter how many times Katie had done it.
Brendan met her again in the hallway outside the dressing rooms. He looked model-perfect, as he always did for these things. His dress shirt was open at the collar with one more button unfastened than strictly necessary, his jeans showed off his backside to excellent advantage, and his hair looked artfully tousled instead of what it really was: sweaty and standing on end because he kept running his hands through it.
“Hey,” he said. “How are you doing?”
“Honestly? Pretty jumpy.” Meet and greets made her nervous. These wer
