Page 73 of Behind the Bars

“Welcome. I got a question for you,though.”

“Yes?”

“What’s yourtruth?”

“Mytruth?”

“Yep.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t know what thatmeans.”

He shifted around and turned to face me more. “What drives you? What motivates you? What breaks you and heals you all at once? What keeps you going each day? What’s your truth? What are the saddest parts of your soul? What causes your heart toshatter?”

I laughed lightly. “I don’t know how to answer thatquestion.”

He nodded. “Most people don’t. It’s worth thinking about, though, don’t youthink?”

I justgrinned.

He smiled rightback.

“People around here call me Teddy James, but my friends and family call me TJ. You can call me anything you want.” He winked at me. “I play here every evening, if you want to stop by. I don’t promise you perfection, but you’ll getheart.”

“That’s all I need, really. Thanks, TJ. I’m Jasmine, and I know this is going to sound crazy, but your music…it just reminds me of…” My words faded away, and I scrunched up my nose. “Did you ever know of a boy named ElliottAdams?”

TJ’s eyes widened, and a small smile found his face. “Jasmine,” he sang. He took my hand into his, and his smile stretched wide. “Did this Elliott boy ever call youJazz?”

My stomach knotted up. “Yes.”

He lowered his brows and leaned in closer. “I have a question foryou.”

“Askanything.”

“What does that key around your neck standfor?”

I looked down at it. I hadn’t even noticed that at some point I’d wrapped my fingers around it while talking to TJ. I wondered how often I did thatunconsciously.

“I don’t know, exactly. Hope, maybe?” I grimaced, glancing down at the piece ofmetal.

“Where did you getit?”

My eyes glassed over. “You knowhim.”

TJ reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy set of keys. “It was a family tradition of mine. It started generations back, the key swapping. Whenever someone was going through a hard time, or a major life change, you gave them a spare key as a reminder that they’d never be alone.” He started combing through his keys. “This one was from my mother the day my father passed away. This one was from my wedding day. My grandmother gave it to me as a blessing for a warm home and warm love. This one was from my father when I went to fight in the war. Each key holds special meaning. Each key also carries a form of hope, hope on the good days and on the bad, through the sun and through thestorms.”

“I love that somuch.”

“This one”—he unhooked a key from his set and placed it in my hand—“was given to me a long time ago by a thirteen-year-old boy named Elliott Adams when I lost my wife to cancer. We’d been neighbors all his life, and I looked at him and his sister as my own niece and nephew. I was that close to their family, and when he gave me this key, it saved me. He handed it to me as I sat in my living room crying, and he said, ‘Don’t worry, Uncle TJ, I know she’s gone and you feel lonely, but you’re not gonna be alone because you got us. You always gotus.’”

Tears filled my eyes as he spoke of Elliott. My heart began beating faster and faster. “I went to his old house and he wasn’tthere.”

“Yeah, no. After the incident, he and his mother moved acrosstown.”

“Whatincident?”

TJ looked down at his hands and his bottom lip twitched a little. “You went to school with him,right?”

“Yes.”

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