It must have only taken a couple of seconds for me to be able to speak, but to me that felt like years.
"You're… J-Jensen…" was my grand opening. I'm still cringing now.
"Hey there sweetheart, you must be my niece?" To his credit, he didn't seem embarrassed by my inability to speak around him.
"Y-Yeah I guess I am. I'm Sarah, it's absolutely amazing to meet you!" Well, at least I could finally put together a sentence.
Jensen's eyes crinkled as he smiled, showing his perfectly straight, perfectly white teeth. So it turns out he is prettier in person… How is that fair?!
"Right back at ya" He laughed, pulling me in for a quick hug. "Danneel's been talking about you non-stop, it's great to finally see what all the fuss is about" He winked.
"You were so tiny when I left" said Danneel, a hint of sadness in her eyes, "I still remember how sweet you looked at your parent's wedding in your little flower girl dress, you couldn't have been more than two years old! You also managed to spill your juice all over Grandpa Jim's suit!" She chuckled. By this point I was so grateful for the fact that the room was dark, it meant they couldn't see the very unattractive shade of beetroot red my face had turned.
"He still reminds me about that whenever I see him, I'm pretty sure he hasn't offered me a drink since" I laughed.
"Remind me not to sit next to you at dinner tomorrow then!" was Jensen's reply.
"You're coming for dinner tomorrow? At our house?" Nice one SJ, try not to sound like an idiot…
"Of course Sarah, it's not every day my baby sis is back in town, I was thinking you and me could cook?" I'd forgotten Mum was here, I really needed to get a grip…
"Sure, that sounds fun."
"Great, but first SJ, I think it's time for you to get on stage" Mum exclaimed, dragging me off with a quick wave to Jensen and Danneel.
Crap. I'd forgotten about agreeing to sing at the party. I'd only said yes 'cause I didn't want to let Mum down, now I was bound to make a prat out of myself, I could hardly speak for God's sake!
"Mum I'm having severe second thoughts about this" I breathed, starting to panic a little.
"Sarah, you are an amazing singer we've been over this, there is no need to panic, just focus on me okay?" Mum said as she helped me on stage.
'There are way too many people here' was all I could think. 'Focus on Mum, focus on Mum, focus on Mum' I searched for her in the crowd and spotted her next to Dad, both giving me the thumbs up, making me smile. This was for them.
"Hey everyone, erm, Mum asked me a couple of weeks ago to sing tonight, and when I said yes, I immediately thought of so many songs that remind me of the epic love that my parents have. You two are the best role models I could ask for, I love you both so much and if when I get married, me and my husband are half as happy as you two are together, I'd be the luckiest girl in the world. Here's to many more years!"
As the first lines of Ronan Keating's 'When You Say Nothing At All' started playing and I saw Mum start to tear up, my nerves disappeared. It took no time at all for me to melt into the lyrics and what they meant to my family and before I knew it, my set was finished and I was met with a huge round of applause.
In fact Jensen was still clapping when I came offstage. "That was incredible!" he shouted.
"Thank you!" I breathed, not quite believing what I was hearing.
"Me and Danneel have been looking for someone to sing at our party in a couple of weeks- would you mind doing us the honours? You could come and stay at our house in Austin for the week maybe?"
"OH MY GOD REALLY?!" I practically screamed with excitement. "MUM CAN I GO?"
"As long as that's okay with your aunt and uncle SJ, it's fine with me" Mum laughed.
"Then I guess you're hired" Danneel added with a wink.
"Thank you- but could I just ask one thing."
"Of course! What is it" asked Danneel.
"Could I please get a quick selfie?"
