Page 114 of Sounds Like Love

He rolled his eyes. “I was in your head, bird. You’re just as bad.”

“Notaloud.”

“Mmh, what a pity. I kind of miss your dirty thoughts,” he replied, and leaned over to kiss my mouth, and savored it, smiling. “Cherries, like always.”

“Girlfriend and partner,” I decided. “If we’re going to keep working together, I want to be your partner. I also want to be your best friend.”

He grinned, and even with his sunglasses on, I could imagine the tricky glint in his eyes. “And what do you want me to be?”

Here, I thought.With me.

But I couldn’t say that—I knew I couldn’t say that. He had a whole life back in LA, and that idea in the back of my head was solidifying the longer I stayed here. It wasn’t lost on me that my last long-distance relationship ended badly. What if this one did, too? What if …

He tilted his head toward me. “Penny for your thoughts?”

I picked up his hand and traced the lines on his palm. His nails were so well manicured, while mine were bitten to the quick. The afternoon was warm, but the wind carried with it cool, salty air. There was another storm on the horizon—you could smell it, a deep and earthy scent. I imagined putting our suitcases in his driver’s car together, and going to the airport, and flying back to LA hand in hand. I imagined what it would be like to have the key to his apartment, and watch bands in his private box at the Fonda, and deliver a late lunch to him at the school where he taught kids piano in the afternoons, and write songs with him in extravagant recording studios, and catch my name on Page Six. And the more I thought about it, the brighter the idea I’d tucked away grew—until it was so bright I couldn’t ignore it. No, I didn’twantto ignore it.

That life I imagined with him in LA wasn’t mine. I didn’t want it. What I wanted was …

“I want the Revelry.”

When I spoke it aloud, the idea solidified. It became real. And terrifying. And—andcrazy, if I was being honest. I quickly looked up at him to read his expression, to see how insane the idea was echo across his face.

But he didn’t look surprised by that at all.

He folded his fingers between mine and brought our conjoined hands to his mouth and pressed a kiss against my knuckles. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

“So … it’s not a bad idea?” My heart beat hopefully in my chest. “It’s not—it’s not a deal-breaker? I’ll have to stay here. I’ll have to move home. I have a small nest egg from my song royalties, so I can buy it out from my parents, and I’m sure people know good plumbers and electricians and roofers, and I can figure out new ways to liven up the beer selection and—”

“And you’ll always have a musician on tap,” he added, squeezing my hand tightly. “Whatever happens between us—I think my mom would’ve gotten a kick out of the idea. I’ll even charge you my family rate,” he said with a wink.

You’re the worst, I thought, but my heart was full. “But—but what about your career? Your music? The song?”

“The song will always be ours,” he replied thoughtfully, “and … I don’t think I’d realized how unhappy I was out in LA until I got here. I’d fit myself into a mold that everyone else wanted for me—that I thought I wanted for myself.”

“Youarea bad bad boy …”

“Theworst. I even think I’d miss my Hawaiian shirts,” he added. He was wearing one of my favorite shirts today—a garish print that reminded me of old Taco Bell decor. It was gaudy as hell, and looked so perfect on him.

I picked at one of his buttons. “Really?”

“I know, I know,” he replied tragically. “You changed me for theworse.”

Even if I had, I couldn’t stop smiling. “So what will you do?”

“I dunno,” he replied, “but right now I know whatever I want to do, I want to do it with you. Wherever you are.”

I didn’t want to breathe. Didn’t want to blink. I didn’t want to move from this moment. “Do you mean it?”

“Of course I do.”

He kissed the back of my hand.

My heart, full of hope, rose into my throat.

“Bird, you are the first person I want to hear in the morning and the last person I want to say good night to.”

Oh—oh, I knew this feeling in my chest now. I remembered this fluttery feeling perched on the edge of my heart.

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