Page 23 of Embraced in Ink

That was an understatement. Or was it? Because it wasn’t like the bet had come out of nowhere. It’d been ten years since they made the promise to marry each other. It couldn’t be that much out of the blue.

Perhaps he wanted this. Or maybe he didn’t want to back down. It was possible he could love her the way she thought she could love him.

“I need to get back to practice, but I promise we’ll talk about it later. Okay?”

“Of course.” Zia paused. “And you’ll tell me what you’re feeling? Because you sound like something’s off.”

“I’m just in practice mode. And I guess things are different. So, I don’t really know what I’m thinking.”

“Okay. I’m here if you need me. Promise.”

Bristol smiled, though Zia couldn’t see, then said goodbye before hanging up.

She put her phone on silent, mostly because she needed to focus on practicing, and then went into her office.

Her cello lay there, ready for her, and she rolled her shoulders back before stretching a bit. Her work was hard on her body. She wasn’t too small for the cello, but she probably would have had an easier time of it when she was younger if she’d been a couple of inches taller.

She had learned to play, however, and had thrived.

She sat down in her chair and set the cello between her thighs, resting the scroll on her shoulder. She took up the bow, getting her fingers into position, and then she let out a deep breath and slowly slid the bow over the strings.

Music filtered into the air, just a note at a time as she fell into the music, finding her rhythm. There was nothing visual on a cello while playing for her to find the correct notes, there were no frets on the fingerboard. Everything was by ear and touch. But she had long since learned her scales and her notes. They were ingrained in her, like theSwanwas.

She did her warm-ups and then slowly fell into the music, letting herself flow with the notes.

The first time she had heard Yo-Yo Ma play the cello when she was a young child, she had cried. She hadn’t known why, but it had reached and touched her.

He had playedCello Suite No. 1 in G Major, Prélude,and she had fallen in love with music then and there.

Her mother had put her into music lessons because she had asked, even though they were expensive. Her family had been wonderful and focused and found ways to make do. Just like Liam had done with acting, and Ethan with his science and computer camps. Like with the classes Aaron had taken when he was younger, learning how to blow glass by hand in a way that most would never understand.

Each of her family members used their hands in different ways to create. Whether it was through science, math, art, or words. All of her family used their souls to create in some fashion.

She had wanted to be the next Yo-Yo Ma, even though she knew there could only be one.

She’d thrived within his music but had then fallen for Jacqueline du Pré because she had wanted to see a woman holding a cello. She had learned about Beatrice Harrison, and Caroline Dale. She had learned about Sharon Robinson and others.

However, Jacqueline du Pré was the famous player most thought of within her circles when they thought of Yo-Yo Ma. So, Bristol had wanted to be the next Jacqueline and Yo-Yo.

In the end, she was Bristol Montgomery, the new cello player. The cellist.

She let all of those thoughts flow through her even as she filled the room with music. This waspractice. She had a tour coming up, an album to make, but for now, it was only her and her instrument.

And, of course, it was never just that. Her thoughts lingered on Marcus, because why wouldn’t they? He was inside her, always.

She loved her work, she adored performing. But she wasn’t a huge fan of stress. And her job brought much stress.

Marcus always seemed to understand that. He’d help her with her stress so she could relax. Whenever he visited her on tour, she knew she’d be able to breathe and focus on what they had, rather than what everybody else wanted from her.

And even as she thought about it, she realized that maybe there had always been something more to their relationship.

Yes, he was her best friend, but was it something more?

She had never allowed herself to think of them as something more in her mind.

She had always thought to put him in a certain box and prove to the world that she didn’t have a problem being friends with a man.

That was at least how it had started for her.

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