Page 142 of Make Me Laugh

West’s face softens when I catch his eyes, and before I know it, he’s standing beside me, throwing an arm around my shoulder. “Mom. Dad. Joey.” He squeezes me into his side, and once that might have made me more uncomfortable in a situation like this, but it doesn’t anymore. Actually, I find myself calculating my next move to get closer to him.

Melanie looks like she’s about to implode, gently bouncing between the balls of her feet. She kind of reminds me of Frankie a little… and I know exactly what she’s hoping for.

Stepping out of my comfort zone, I leave West’s side, and the second I open my arms, Melanie pulls me into a gentle hug filled with love—I don’t know how to explain it, but I can feel it.

“It’s nice to meet you.” I’m not the least bit surprised I mean it either.

“Thank you. For everything you’ve done for West,” Melanie whispers where only I can hear.

I almost thank her for everything her son’s done for me but don’t get the chance. The producer we’d met earlier knocks on the door, sticking her head in. “Hey, West. They’re ready for you on set early if you’re okay with starting now?”

He nods, and the room explodes with energy.

West is swept away, and I clock in as the employee I’m meant to be—for only about another twenty-four hours.

Hiding behind a work mask is the easiest way for me to let everything else go. I don’t have time to think about the tiny voice in the back of my head screaming to stay if I have a job to do.

I sneak a few pictures and videos as they mic West up, and then make sure he doesn’t forget his HOTSHOT hat. Of course, he flips it around backwards and then lets the woman in charge of hair and makeup touch up whatever she needs to before he’s escorted to a chair in the center of the staging area.

There’s something new in him too—a lightness behind his eyes that wasn’t there at the beginning. I’m not the only one who’s come out of this experience changed.

Kell and Enzo walk up on my left side, keeping a small gap between me and Melanie on my right. “In three… two…” The camera man folds his last finger down and points.

The lady leading the segment introduces herself as Savannah, and West’s dimply smile takes over as she shifts to him. “Welcome home, West Parker, and thank you so much for rushing to get here. I heard you ran into some traffic coming in?” The blonde smiles, tucking her short, bleached bob behind her ear.

West morphs into character so well it’s hard to tell he’s done it sometimes. It’s been a facade he’s worn since the moment he stepped on stage for the very first time in London, and I know it felt good to get lost in something else, to feel like someone else when it was too difficult to be himself.

I know what that feels like—to want to escape so badly, you learn to become someone else entirely.

HexedHeroine is my West Parker.

“Nothing can keep me from Traverse City, not even a little holiday traffic.” West waves off her worry, adding in one of his infamously naughty winks.

Savannah giggles, blushing with West’s full attention on her. She moves the interview along, landing on a question everyone has heard West answer a hundred times before. “Why comedy? After leaving hockey, what led you here?”

He hesitates and bites his lip, the wheels turning. “I’ve answered this so many times, and I always say it’s because comedy saved me, and while that’s true, what it really was, was missing my little brother’s laugh.”

The room stills, and Kell mutters softly, “Holy shit.”

Melanie sucks in a breath beside me, immediate tears welling in her eyes. Ben wraps his arm around her, and she cuddles into his arms, keeping focused on her son.

I follow her watery gaze to West. “Micah had this crazy laugh.” He chuckles. “It made everyone else join in no matter what he was laughing about, and when he passed away, I remember thinking how badly I wanted to hear it again. I started hanging out at LOL in London, hoping I’d find what I was looking for. None of this was what I was looking for at the time, but chasing his laugh brought laughter back into my life when I needed it most.”

I don’t realize I’m crying until I feel a tear slip down my cheek. I wipe it away before it drips to my shirt. Another rolls down the other side, but before I can reach up to stop its track, a hand slides into mine.

Kell squeezes, staring at West with a smile that seems to heal something broken inside him too.

I hold his hand until the very end when Savannah ends with, “this tour was so successful. How did you do it?”

West glances over his shoulder, staring in my direction. I wonder if he can see me through the set lights, or if he just knows I’m standing on the other side. “With the help of my two best friends and a pretty little Hex.”

Before West joins us side stage again, Kell tells me that’s the first time he’s heard West say Micah’s name in over a year.

CHAPTER FIFTY

THE ONE WITH THE LAKE HOUSE

TraverseCity13News: Savannah sat down with local comedy legend, West Parker, who credits the success of his first headlining tour to his two best friends and a pretty little Hex. Catch the interview tonight at 7:00 p.m!