Tenney Shares the Stage

Silence

Tenney blinks hard, trying to wrap her head around what she just heard. Logan couldn’t have gotten arrested, she insists. There must be some mistake.

Dad replies gruffly that it didn’t sound like a mistake. That was Zane on the phone, and he told him Logan’s been charged with shoplifting. Tenney asks what he stole.

Dad only shrugs, frowning. Zane promised to call back once he knows more. Needing something to do, Tenney texts Logan, “Are you OK?” and stares at the screen, willing a reply to appear.

Dad urges Tenney to be patient, and she says she is as she pockets the phone. But her patience lasts twelve minutes and nineteen seconds before she sends a second text, then calls his cell and the house line, leaving a message each time nobody answers. By the time the shop closes at six o’clock, she still hasn’t heard from him. The drive home passes in queasy silence.

At dinner, Logan is the only topic anyone can talk about. Dad admits he doesn’t have the faintest idea what Logan was thinking. His voice turns hard as he adds that the boy is clearly more trouble than he looks. Tenney bristles and protests that Dad knows Logan, that he’s a good person. Dad just gives a terse shrug and wipes his mouth with his napkin, adding that maybe Logan’s not who they thought he was.

Heat rushes to Tenney’s cheeks. She isn’t ready to give up on Logan without knowing the whole story. Mom and Dad trade a look. Mom explains gently that until they know more, Tenney should step back from her partnership with Logan, no rehearsals, no songwriting, no performing.

Tenney is stunned. They just wrote a great song together. Mason and Aubrey chime in that it seems unfair. Tenney’s throat tightens as she starts to argue that they’re partners. Dad cuts her off. “For the moment,” he says firmly. Tenney demands to know what that means, and her parents explain what’s worrying them.

Zane might decide to drop Logan and keep Tenney on the label as a solo act. She reminds them that she and Logan signed a contract. But Dad points out that the music business doesn’t always work that way. Mom notes that since the label signed them as a duo, Logan’s arrest puts Tenney’s own spot at risk, too.

A chill runs through Tenney, and she can’t speak. Mason squeezes her shoulder and insists Zane would never let that happen, since he loves working with Tenney. But Mom reminds them that Zane chose to pair her with Logan in the first place.

Tenney is a whirlpool of anger, fear, and confusion. But she remembers the joy on Logan’s face when they finished writing “The Nerve,” and how he told her nothing will keep him from playing. She thinks that no matter what happens, Logan will fight to keep their act together.

Tenney tells herself this will all turn out to be a mistake, but nobody at the table looks convinced. Aubrey reaches over and hugs her, and Tenney mumbles an apology and asks to be excused before anyone can answer. She races upstairs and throws herself onto her bed, too angry and scared to even cry. She thinks about how she and Logan had finally found their sound together, and how none of that might matter anymore. She’s gotten used to being one half of Tenney and Logan. The thought of going back to being a solo act leaves her feeling suddenly, deeply lost.

If Tenney feels this shaken, she can’t imagine how Logan will feel once Zane finally reaches him. Tenney aches to talk to him, to tell him how much their music has come to mean to her, and to ask why he would risk everything they’d built together. There’s nothing to do except wait, for Logan to call back or for Zane to decide their fate. She has no idea how long either will take.