Page 134 of Over the Edge

Dad shakes his head then sets down his mug shaped like a giant blueberry. “No. Don’t apologize. Never apologize for something you do so well.”

“But I am sorry,” I say. Not for music. I make a silent promise to myself to never feel sorry for my music ever again. “I could have told you, maybe this would be different if I had.”

“Maybe it would be different. I wanted to help you and your brother, but I didn’t know when to stop. You’re all grown up…but I remember when I had you, all I wanted was my mother, but she was so far away,” Mom says. God, she looks so old in the gray morning light. My strong mother who tirelessly still takes care of us and looks out for us even as adults when she did so much of this on her own when her and Dad came from Italy. I ache for her and the woman she was, raising two kids and sharing her love of music that reminded her of home. “I’m glad you made your choice before we learned the truth. This way I can’t try to save you from your dream. You forced me to think why you’d hide anything in the first place. I wasn’t doing the saving, you were. You were saving yourself and us.”

“You did such a good job,” I say. “I could have done a better job.”

“You shouldn’t have had to in the first place,” Dad says. "Ti voglio bene."1

My eyes blur and then I’m wrapped in their arms.

I’m safe. I’m loved.

“I’m so proud of you,” Mom murmurs as she tenderly strokes my hair. Tears spill from my eyes as my heart bursts.

I always told myself I’d be fine without hearing those words from her. I’d convinced myself for so many years I was happy doing this alone. I’m starting to lose count of how many times I’ve been proven wrong over the last few days.

We talk a little longer and once we’ve had a moment to collect ourselves, I text Drew.

Evelyn

You guys can come back now.

Drew

Everything ok?

Evelyn

Not perfect yet. But really good

The day remains hazy, but the rental feels like a lighthouse with how it glows with the joy radiating off it. Throughout the day people head out. First Drew and Lacey, who are going to visit her friend who’s a professor upstate. Then my parents leave in the early afternoon. Oliver and Quinn linger as long as possible before leaving for the fourth, and hopefully last, flight of their trip. I promise to visit.

“Are you ready?” Garrett calls from the doorway to where I’m standing by the piano. Most of my bags are still in my car from the last time I tried to leave and his are waiting by the door next to our shoes.

I shake my head. “There’s one last thing we need to do.” My fingers float over the closed key cover. Meg is getting picked up in the morning and Alina has promised to let me know when the piano is headed back to the city. “It feels wrong to finish the album anywhere else.”

It would be a betrayal to the house that saw us through it all to not let it witness this last memory.

“I agree.” Garrett steps up behind me and runs his hand down my spine then rests it on my hip. “Have you decided how it ends?”

“I think life decided for us,” I say.

“Oh, really?” I tilt my head up to look at him. The smile on his lips tells me he knows the answer but he wants me to be the one to say it.

I lean back into him. “You’re my happiest possible ending. Remember?”

“How could I forget?” he asks, reaching past me to uncover the keys. His hand dips down to play the first chord.

For the last time, the house fills with music. It sounds like forever, it sounds like us.

1. I love you.

Evelyn

1 Year Later

“What does it feel like coming off the final leg of your first tour?” Clement Meryl asks as he leans over his mic.

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