Page 68 of A Hard Sell

Luka’s heart sank.Here we go again.Morgan was getting bolder, too, asking in front of Thomas, like he knew he couldn’t say no.

“Ummm, we’re really busy,” Luka hedged.

“That’s too bad.” Morgan stuck out his lower lip. “I swear you were saying earlier that you would have time today.” He tapped his chin in an exaggerated show of confusion. “Hmm. Well, I suppose I could go run it by Ilona instead.”

Thomas narrowed his eyes. “We actually do have some time right now. I’d love to hear it, too.”

“Oh!” Morgan’s voice shot up an octave. “Great! Yeah, that would besogreat, but you know what? I just remembered that, uh, yeah, there’s actually one little bit I should finish first. But I’ll definitely run it by you both when it’s done.”

“See that you do.” Thomas turned back to his laptop.

A warm glow washed over Luka. “Bye, Morgan. You have a great day.”

Morgan did not run it by them later.

* * * *

“Where did you learn to play?” They were eating lunch in their office the first week back. Thomas said it casually in between bites of soup.

“Um, the piano and violin was my mom. She taught—teaches—lessons out of the house. The guitar was, uh, me.”

“You taught yourself how to play the guitar?” He gave Luka a sideways look, one eyebrow cocked high.

Luka shrugged, studying his salad. “Music’s just always come easy to me, same as my mom.”

“Wow. Were you ever in a band or anything?”

“No.” Luka knew he said it too fast to go unnoticed. He held his breath, bracing himself for what was coming next.

But instead of asking ‘Why not?’ Thomas just said, “Oh. Well, I know people would enjoy your music.”

Luka’s heart rate climbed as that school gymnasium appeared around him again. Thomas continued speaking, but Luka heard his voice echoing in the gym. “Did you know Jitters has started doing open mic nights once a month? Acoustic folk and rock type stuff.”

“Oh?” Luka put his fork down, stomach wound too tight to eat.

“Yeah, I checked it out last night. Small crowd, but enthusiastic. Wondered if you might be interested in trying it out sometime.”

One heartbeat. Another, louder. “What?”

“Just if you were ever thinking about it.”

“Oh. No. I…don’t perform.”

“Okay. But you played for me, and Finn and Rory. And you sang karaoke in front of the whole office.” Thomas smiled, eyes crinkling. “A lot of it, from what I hear.”

Luka’s face burned. The opening chord ofSay Hijangled in his brain. “That’s different. That’s just singing a few songs that everyone loves in front of my friends. And I’d been drinking.”

“We could get you good and liquored up first.”

Luka didn’t smile at his gentle teasing, the coils tightening inside him.

“I’m kidding,” Thomas said carefully. “I just thought you might be interested.”

“Well, I’m not,” Luka said, realizing how snippy his voice sounded.

“Okay.” Thomas studied him, eyes curious. “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t defensive, just kind.

Luka squirmed. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you. I’m…I’m kind of terrified of performing for real.” There. He’d never said it out loud before.

---