Page 68 of In the Shadows

I’d never seen him blush before. Maggie walked over, putting her hand on his shoulder. “Joe and I are ready to take our relationship to the next level.”

“Right on, congrats!” I told them. “Joey and I can stay at a hotel until we find a house if you need us to?”

“That won’t be necessary. I still have a couple of months left on my lease so we have plenty of time for everyone to get sorted.”

Congrats were shared and my mom had calmed down. Individual conversations broke out across the room.

Brett texted me the contact info for the agent he recommended.

I told him, “When we narrow the potential houses down, I’ll have you walk the ones we’re most interested in before making a formal offer.”

He agreed, “That is the best path. I’ll even do the home inspections for you guys. That way, it will make it easier for me to put my construction proposals together as well.”

Seemed like things were turning around for our family, finally. I thought we’d had our fill of scares, enough to last a lifetime. It looked like everyone was grabbing life by the horns and running with it, including Joe. It was great to see him happy.

When we got to Mash’s shop, he had the design ready to roll.

“Man, congrats guys!” he said, giving us each a bro hug.

“Thanks, wow these look great. Joey, is this what you had in mind?” I asked him.

“This is beyond, my vision was basic greyscale. But I love the pops of blues and greys you added, Mash. They highlight the notes perfectly.”

“All right,” he slapped his hands together, “let’s roll, guys.”

Forty-five minutes later, we were paying the man and out the door heading to the studio.

We were the first to arrive and one by one, the others trickled in. An hour later the last person, Mickey arrived with his neck covered in hickeys.

“Attacked by a rogue group of vampires?” I teased him.

“Better. Twins.” He smiled and winked.

“Twins?”

“Not blood related twins, but damn near identical. Best friends who say they do everything together, if you know what I mean. Sound familiar?” He laughed.

“Yeah, except Stoli and I only share our bed with each other,” Joey corrected him.

“Meh, your loss.” Mickey finished, picking up his bass. “Let’s get this show on the road.”

Joey fidgeted beside me, pulling a paper out of his pocket.

“What’s up, babe?” I asked, and he handed me the paper. “What’s this?”

“A song I wrote. Thought we could play around with it today if you liked it.”

I unfolded the paper and began reading the lyrics. The song was titled,You Were Always There.

How had I never noticed?

The one who’s always there

The one who picked me up

When no one else had cared

The one who saw me through

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