Page 35 of Places I've Never Been

After dinner,they sat around the fire drinking something green that was sour and sweet and burned all the way down. It was nice to unwind from the trip and sink into a little jet lag.

Eventually, LT pulled his acoustic guitar out of its case and began plucking random chords, tuning the strings, while Brandon hummed bits of songs.

Cooper stirred from where he sat with his arm around his girlfriend to lean forward with his drink held high in the air. “Gentlemen, let’s show our respect to the classics.”

Tina shifted away from his arm and settled back in her seat looking petulant. For a woman who appeared desperate to datea musician, she didn’t seem to like music very much. He had no idea what Cooper saw in her. Great sex, probably.

Flynn grinned and beat his chest, then started a beat on the table next to him. They all bobbed their heads in time to it, and the energy started to build.

Mattie smiled in obvious delight. “What song is this?”

“Wait for it,” Cooper said. He handed his drink to Tina and stood up.

Adam held up a hand and closed his eyes.

Flynn stopped the beat.

After a couple of seconds of relative silence, Adam took in a long breath and sang the first line of “Seven Bridges Road” by the Eagles. It was just his voice extending through the night, punctuated by the distant wash of the ocean.

He sang a cappella through the first four lines, then opened his eyes and smiled at Mattie.

Her answering smile made the stars seem dim.

LT started up with the guitar, then he, Adam, Brandon, and Cooper sang the next verse in harmony while Flynn picked up the beat. When it came to the bridge, Cooper’s high tenor rang out strong and true and built to a crescendo. Then the beat stopped, the guitar drifted away, and it was Adam standing alone to finish the last notes of the song.

When he let the last note go, Adam bowed with flourish.

Mattie clapped. “That was wonderful! I love the Eagles.”

The guys slapped palms and congratulated each other on a job well done. Several servers applauded and cheered.

“Hey, let’s run through ‘Big Dreams,’” Adam suggested. It was the eighth song on the new album, had a simple arrangement, and was well suited to just a guitar.

LT started up the song. Flynn joined in with the rhythm, and the rest of them fell into step, with Cooper providing air guitar support.

By the time they reached the chorus, Mattie had drifted off to a chair a short distance from the rest of the group with a notebook and pen, leaving her enormous bag behind. She faced the ocean but didn’t watch the waves. She wrote something, scratched it out, then wrote something else.

Adam watched her while they ran through two more tracks. The longer she sat there, the more concerned he became. If she was already working on the new song, she’d be finished with it way too fast.

Mattie was a swirling mass of confusion and free-falling energy, and she didn’t mesh with her headlines. If she was a man-killer, leaving lovesick men swooning in her wake, he couldn’t see it. She seemed kind, fun, and carefree when she wasn’t focused on the drama delivered by her phone. At times tonight, she’d been every bit the girl he’d imagined her to be.

Beneath that, she’d also seemed a little withdrawn, or maybe restrained was a better description. Getting to know her was like trying to catch a cloud. Every time he managed to start a conversation she somehow drifted through his fingers.

He needed more time with her.

He had to slow down the song.

Chapter Nine

Just after sunrise five days later, Mattie walked the short distance to Villa 10 and crossed through the open living room, down the hall, and pounded on Adam’s bedroom door. “Adam! I know you’re in there. It’s time to get to work. You can’t avoid this forever.”

There was no response.

She tried again. “Award-winning songs don’t write themselves you know.”

Nothing.

She tried the knob. It turned easily.

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