Page 157 of Forbidden Lyrics

Sexy.

Effortless.

My heart beats faster.

As if he can feel my presence, he stops strumming and looks up at me but doesn’t say a word.

“Hey,” I whisper, pushing the door open a few more inches before resting my shoulder against the doorjamb.

He lifts his chin in greeting, then pulls the pencil from between his teeth and sets it on a worn notebook that’s filled with notes, lyrics, and more chicken scratch melodies than I could ever begin to come up with.

“Hey,” he returns.

“You okay?”

Rubbing his hand over his face, he shakes his head and pats the carpet beside him. My heart racing, I close the distance between us and slide to the ground.

“I take it they called?” I ask carefully.

He nods.

“And?”

“I’m not the father.”

The relief I expect never comes. Only a resigned sadness. Because his pain is my pain. And he’s hurting right now. For the potential relationship––the potential daughter––that slipped through his fingers. Like a dream. One he just realized he wants.

Chewing on my lower lip, I rest my head against his shoulder, desperate to take away his pain even though I know it isn’t possible. Not yet.

But it’s okay to mourn.

To be sad.

To let go.

“I’m sorry, Gibson.” My voice cracks.

He drops a kiss on my forehead but stays quiet and starts tinkering on his guitar once more. Like it’s a lifeline. A coping mechanism. A drug.

Every few minutes, he scratches something in his notepad and gets right back to work. Writing. Creating. Feeling so deeply that the only way he can cope is to get his emotions out of his head and onto paper.

I’m not sure how much time passes before his low hum joins the guitar string’s vibrations. I close my eyes and listen carefully, feeling like the luckiest girl alive to witness this moment and the vulnerability that emanates from every chord.

“What could’ve been, should’ve been,

was never mine.

What could’ve been, would’ve been

with two pink lines.

But I was wrong, baby girl.

You were gonna be my world, baby girl.

And you’ll move on, baby girl.

You’ll be loved from afar, baby girl.

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