Page 54 of Verses

“It doesn’t hurt.”

“Exactly. And Pedro, that kid is on fire. All he needs is some reins—but he channels all that energy into his bass when we’re on stage. Adrian doesn’t talk much, but he’s solid.”

“And yet, as a whole, we were a freaking mess.” I’d almost dropped an F bomb but, considering I was still wearing the visor and apron that indicated I worked for Early Rise, I thought it best to tame my tongue.

“You just needed a little stability—and, for some strange reason, I provided that.”

“Why do you saystrange?” I asked, finally taking a drink of water.

“Because I’m not that kind of guy. I’m not the guy who makes everything better.”

“Aren’t you, though? Don’t you think what you do at The Apothecary qualifies as making things better? You listen to people, help them drown their sorrows.”

“That’s the alcohol, songbird—so maybe I’m just helping them become alcoholics faster.”

“These people…they could goanywhere. Like that one guy, the older guy who sits at the end of the bar at least three nights a week.”

“You think he talks to me?” Wolf picked up his coffee again, slightly shaking his head.

“Iknowhe does—when he bothers to talk. Haven’t you noticed? When you ask him how things are going, he might not say a whole lot—but you can see it in his eyes. He feels validated just ‘cause you asked—and you cared about the answer.”

The way Wolf’s full lips curled told me everything I needed to know before he even said it out loud. “Maybe you’re right.”

“I know I am. So stop discounting what a profound effect you have on people.”

He almost choked on the coffee in his mouth, but he managed to swallow, a smile on his face. “I thinkprofoundis a bit exaggerated.”

“Nope. I’m digging my heels in here.”

He shook his head again. Did he really not see what was so obvious to me? What was one of his best qualities, probably what attracted me to him the most? It was that he seemed to genuinely give a shit about people, even people he hardly knew.

Meaning maybe Iwasn’tspecial to him—something I realized right then and there.

But that was okay. Kyle and I were freshly broken up, and I probably needed to sort through my own shit and figure out a few things on my own.

Wolf, though—I wanted him to know how important he was. I remembered that I’d never seen many Christmas movies growing up, but Kyle’s mom watchedIt’s a Wonderful Lifeevery December without fail, and I was inspired by the notion that there are people in this life who touch so many others and don’t even realize it. The character George Bailey didn’t know just howimportant he was to other people—until he was shown what they might have become without him.

Wolf was like that. His subtle influence reached much further than he knew.

And I wanted him to know that.

“Like how you had us choose songs to learn, asking us all to pick a couple from our favorite bands—and look how much better we’ve already become. We have these small goals that we all want to reach, and we’re learning things we never knew before.”

“You give me way too much credit, songbird. It was just a theory.”

“What do you mean?” I asked, glancing at the clock on the wall, assuring I still had some time left in my break.

“I had no idea if that would work—but you guys needed something. There was so much…clamor, mental and physical, and I thought having something to focus on would help. Kyle especially needed something to bring him out of his own personal hell.”

“You’re making my argument for me. Maybe you didn’t know if it would work, but your instincts told you it might. And that was way more than we had going for us before.”

Looking down at his hand wrapped around the coffee cup, Wolf let out a soft sigh and smiled. Then his eyes shifted to mine. “Maybe.”

“Notmaybe.Definitely.You inspired all of us and we took on your challenge. That’s huge. Can’t you see that?”

“I was grasping at straws—and just happened to find one that worked right out of the gate.”

I let out a long sigh. “You really don’t see it?”

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