Page 177 of Goodbye Note

“No, it fucking doesn’t!” Val flexed his jaw. “How often?”

“More than five, less than twenty.”

“So, like, once a year?” Fox asked, gob-smacked.

"No. We haven’t spoken since I got married."

Fox closed one eye, doing math in his head. "Ten years, twenty times…"

“I don’t want to talk about this.” I got up to push play on the stereo, but Val didn’t move.

“You didn’t tell me.”

“I didn’t tell anyone because I knew what everyone would say. First, it would have been ‘don’t reignite those rumors.’ Second, it would have been ‘he’s using you to get off,’ and we were using each other. Third, it would have been ‘why are you doing this to yourself?’ And finally, it would have been ‘why are you giving him more material to write albums about?’ I’ve had all the conversations with myself, thank you very much, and I don’t need to have them again. I know I’m an idiot. I haven’t seen him since I married Lindsay. I wouldn’t cheat, and he told me at the wedding to never contact him again.”

They all stared.

“Can we finish listening now?”

Highs & Lows

get as good at rewriting our history as The songs we sing

a constant chorus of High notes

speculators thick as thieves

they’re only along for the highs and lows

live and die on every word we cry

suffer through your highlights

while I’m Singing the blues

cut me out like corners

put me down like our romance.

a pen to the page

another day to age

Memories slipping through the hourglass

but I learned long ago the Grass isn’t greener

Her Taste isn’t sweeter,

you’re just a different ghost

a plague on someone else

fairy lights on the tour bus

nights made easy

memories to evade

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