Sounding more Chris Young because of my deep voice, I capture the right rhythm and make it work. Everyone falls perfectly still, including Trin who’s no longer smiling. Her pink lips form an oval like she can’t believe I’m doing what I’m doing. Maybe she likes it. At least, that’s what I hope, because right now, I’m singing it solely to her.
The last time I sang in a group was for my boys back in Iraq, back in our tent to try and drown out the distant blasts, and make like we didn’t have to meet the enemy head on the next morning, all of us pretending like we didn’t have to kill yet again and that’d we’d all return the next night in one piece.
Each pass of my hands, and each press from my fingers, stirs one of many painful memories I’ve tried to forget, forcing me to avert my gaze from Trin’s. It doesn’t seem right to feel what I’m feeling when I look at her?not when the memories that have plagued my dreams and woken me from sleep flash across my mind as clear as glass in the early morning sun.
The excess of emotion firing through me range from good, like when I catch Trin’s stare, to not so good, when I think back to how many didn’t make it back from that raid. But everything I’m feeling, I feel it down to my heart, using it to fuel each verse. I finish the song, not bothering to look up until my fingertips finish plucking that last note.
When I’m done, there’s no applause. Not for me. There’s only dead silence. Trin, of course, is the first to speak.
“Oh, my God,” she says. “That wasamazing!”
“No shit,” Sean says. “I think my panties are wet.”
Heat creeps up my neck and face as everyone busts out laughing. I quickly pass him the guitar and get rid of it. As I turn back, and Sean starts playingThunder Road, Trin flops onto my lap. Her hands wrap around my neck as mine snake her waist.
“Thank you,” she says, greeting me with that smile I now know all too well.
I nod because it’s all I can do.
And because there’re too many people around for what I really want to do to her.
Chapter Ten
Trinity
I was worried when Callahan arrived that he wouldn’t even make it through the front door. He surprised me by staying and bysinging. I couldn’t shake that goofy grin off my face, convinced no man alive could be more beautiful than him. God, it wasn’t just his voice, or his command over the guitar, it was the way he played down to his soul, exposing his vulnerability as well as the strength he carries like a shield.
He smirks, while the rest of us laugh as Sean explains the disastrous night that made up his latest hook-up.
Sean spreads his hands, holding tight to his beer. “I swear that broomstick was this long. Cindy Anne starts screaming at her momma to stop and to let me get dressed, but that woman is possessed by hate?”
“And the fact you were having sex with her daughter on her and her husband’s bed,” Mason reminds him.
“Yeah. That, too. But anyway, that’s how I got this.”
We all groan when he drops his drawers and points to the welt on his right ass cheek.
“Aw, Sean,” Becca says. “You need to invest in man-scaping tools and weed-whack some of that shit.”
I think we’re having a good time, but as the night goes on, his attention seems to fade away. “I should go,” he tells me.
My hands fall away from him. “Why?”
“It’s late,” he says.
It’s not that late. But I suppose for someone who’s not used to being so social, this is a lot for him.
“Okay,” I answer, wishing I didn’t have to and forcing the next few words out. “I’ll walk you out.”
Instead of cutting through the interior which would be quicker, I take the long way through the yard and around the house, hoping he’ll follow me. Just because I don’t think I should stop him from leaving doesn’t mean I want him rushing out.
He stays by my side, keeping a leisurely pace, but careful not to get too close.
We reach the end of the driveway where he’s left his truck. I shift back and forth on my feet as he positions himself beside the driver’s side door, struggling to find the right words to say.
“I know parties aren’t exactly your thing,” I say. “But I hope you had fun.”
Okay. Not exactly the right words I think I need. But they’re true enough.