Page 117 of Behind the Bars

“What?”

He shifted around a bit before leaning against the doorframe, crossing his arms. “C-c-can you ask me about her?” hewhispered.

I lowered my brows and gave him a small smile. “Can you tell me about yoursister?”

“Yes.”

I sat down on the steps, and he sat down at the top. My back rested against the stair banister. He didn’t look my way, his stare fixed on his fists, but I couldn’t look away from him. All my attention was placed on him and hisheart.

“She loved the color purple,” he told me. “Anything and everything purple was her favorite thing in the world. She believed in fairy-tales. She had braces for three years and would get taffy stuck in them at least once a week. She prayed each morning and d-did the same every night. She couldn’t whistle, but she could jump rope like a pr-professional.” He closed his eyes, took a deep inhale, and released the breath slowly. I watched as tears rolled down his cheeks and hit his hands. “She wanted to adopt kids someday. She h-hated the idea of some kids never feeling loved. She loved me more than I deserved and loved my mom thesame.”

I leaned in closer to him. “Tell me what you need from me. If you want me to go, I’ll go. If you want me to stay, I’ll stay. Anything you need, Eli, I’ll doit.”

He lightly squeezed my hands and stood up, pulling me to a standing position with him. He stepped down one step, so we were beside oneanother.

His lips parted, and he spoke the only word I needed to hear. “Stay.”

A sigh of relief fell from mymouth.

All I ever wanted to do wasstay.

Chapter Forty

Jasmine

The following weeksfelt like a fairy-tale. Elliott was showing up in ways I hadn’t known possible, ways Laura had prayed for each day since the accident. Whenever we crossed each other’s paths, we’d both act so nervous. Whenever I saw him, my heartskipped.

Whenever he stuttered, I swore I fell a little more head overheels.

I wasn’t certain what we were, but I was just so happy he was back in my life. Some mornings when I’d arrive at TJ’s, I’d find them in the living room for a saxophone lesson. I’d lean against the doorframe, and they never noticed me, because when those two rehearsed together, they gave it their all. It was a magical experience to watch. I swore TJ had to have been Elliott’s father in a past life, and Elliott his son. They smiled the same way, scolded the same way, and loved the same way,too.

I saw it in TJ’s eyes, too, the way he was slowly but surely redefining his purpose in life. That was the craziest thing about life—sometimes it shifted in directions we never thought it would go, but the greatest thing about humans was our ability toadapt.

TJ might not have been able to play his music anymore, but he sure did hear his sounds through a boy named ElliottAdams.

“You’re going to be late for work.” I smiled toward Elliott after he performed a Stan Getzpiece.

He glanced at his watch. “Oh crap, okay. TJ, we’ll pick up where we left off after work. I’ll just leave my saxophonehere.”

TJ nodded. “Just work over those bars in your head at work, okay? You’re almost there. You’ll getthem.”

I loved watching those twointeract.

Elliott walked by me and gave me a gentle grin. “He’s smilingmore.”

“Because of you,” I told him. We were all smiling more because of Elliott’ssmile.

“I’ll be back around four. Have a good day, youtwo.”

He headed out of the house, then suddenly came rushing back in. “Jazz, can I, um, talk to you outside realquick?”

“Of course.” I stood and moved to the front porch with Elliott then closed the door behind me. “What’sup?”

He squinted one of his eyes shut and rubbed his hands over hishead.

“What’swrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just…” He clasped his hands behind his neck and stood up straight. “Let’s go on adate?”

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