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K is for Karaoke

Frank: March 28th, 2026

Amelia takes the stage as the first bars of Sweet Caroline fill the air. I can’t even think straight. She’s standing up on the stage singing karaoke, and her voice is beautiful, but she just dropped a bomb on me.

Maybe I misheard. Maybe she said something else. Someone else’s funeral. Not her fiance. That would be insane. It couldn’t be. She couldn’t have had her fiance die on Sunday and be here with me on Saturday. That’s only six days later. 

“Hands,” she sings, “touching hands, reaching out,” and she reaches out to the audience, and I swear she’s looking nowhere near at me. As the last notes die out, the crowd cheers. Sweet Caroline is always a crowd pleaser at karaoke, and Amelia did a great job.

She’s smiling as she exits the stage. I’m still too shellshocked to process what’s happening as she comes back to the booth and sits down across from me.

Taking a drink from her glass, she looks at me over the rim. Then she sets the glass in front of her and says, “Do you hate me now?”

I shake my head. “How could I ever hate you?”

She chuckles, “I’m sure you’ll find a reason if you hang around with me enough.”

“Do you want to get out of here?” I ask. I don’t even know why. I certainly can’t take her home with me now!

She nods, throws back the rest of her drink, and says, “Let’s go.”