Page 39 of Hold Still

Finished, he moves his guitar to his side. Then he opens his eyes and seeks mine. The dark brown of his eyes appears deeper.

He stands in silence. Waiting.

“Ozzy, that was incredible!” I jump up but stop myself from racing into his arms. “I loved what you did, the changes you made. The amped-up Latin beat. It’s really, really good.”

“You think?”

“I know. I bet you’ll hit the top of the charts when it’s released.”

He makes a sound, somewhere between a chuckle and a snort.

I reach down and take my laptop out of its case. “Would you mind playing it again for me? I want to see what other graphics I can come up with to go with the song, now that it’s basically finished.”

As I power up the computer, he strolls right behind me. Yesterday’s piece pops up, which I analyze. It captures something intangible. The routine pieces I’ve been doing for clients over the past years fall away as sparks from Ozzy’s new music takes hold.

“This one’s pretty good but something’s not quite right.” If the couple were positioned differently…. Because the Project is a non-profit on a tight budget, I can’t hire a photographer to take pictures of models in poses I request, so off to stock photos I go. When I find a couple on a beach I like, I download it and then play around with the background and other stuff. Flip the models around. Add lighting streaks. It’s nearly there.

“Wow. You’re really good at this. What a great image to go along with the song. Like you’re taking my music and making it artwork.”

I jump, forgetting Ozzy was standing behind me while I was working. “Oh, thanks.”

“Want to hear it again?”

I nod. He starts the song and I keep refining this graphic. As I’m working, I glance at Ozzy, who saunters over to the keyboard. He plays some notes and writes down the music. We continue like this for a long while. It’s the most erotic experience I’ve had with my clothes on.

I’ve now created several graphics to go along with the feel of the song. I’m not sure what was going on inside of his head when he wrote it—I can guess but certainly am not going to probe—but these graphics tell a great story. I’m not done, but I’m starting to see a novel storyboard come together.

Holding up my cell phone, I ask, “Would you mind playing ‘Take Me’ once more so I can record it? This way, I can continue working on it tomorrow.”

Thanksgiving.

Before I can stop myself, I ask, “Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?” Brilliant move, McKenna. It’s not like I can invite him over to Mom’s—what if she has an episode while he’s there?

“Yeah. Aiden invited me over to his family’s.”

My body relaxes. Close one. “Oh. Good. I wouldn’t want you to be alone on the holiday.”

He nods, his eyes searching mine. Does he want an invitation to my house? Well, that’s not happening. I incline my head toward his guitar. “The song?”

“Oh. Right.”

I press record on my phone while he sings the brand-new melody. Each time he sings it, he tweaks it a bit to make it even more perfect. When he finishes, I say, “That was the best yet.”

“Thanks.” He puts his guitar down. “Want to take a break?”

I peer over my laptop screen at the man who’s haunting my days and nights. A couple more weeks and I’ll be finished with this part of the Project. I won’t have any reason to spend more time with him. I can hang onto my sanity for that long.

“It’s not lunchtime yet.”

“Not everything revolves around food.”

Ha! He obviously doesn’t know me too well. I press Save. “What do you have in mind?”

“Well, you took me on a dune buggy ride, so I was thinking—how about we up the ante and go skydiving?”

“I’m not an adrenaline junkie like you,” I squeak.

He chuckles. “Not from a plane. The indoor one, at the Jade.”

---