Page 65 of Sweet Music
“Sweet,” Cody said, breaking into a real smile.
The kid was resilient, she had to give him that.
There was a knock at the apartment door just as theoven dinged telling her the pretzels were done. Cody jogged out to answer before Bella could say a word, and she decided to give him a moment alone, in case it was his dad.
Please let him explain gently, and know how much it hurts Cody to see him go…
But by the time she had the pretzels out of the oven, Cody was jogging back in.
“It was just Mrs. Waters,” he said. “She got a piece of our mail.”
“Oh,” Bella said, expecting him to hand it over, but noticing that Cody’s hands were empty.
“It was for me,” Cody said shrugging. “Just junk. I have my guitar lesson tonight, right?”
“It’s the last one before the holidays,” Bella said. “But if you’d rather not go in case your dad wants to see you, that’s totally understandable.”
“Nah,” Cody said. “Let’s get out of here. I’ll feel better if I’m playing.”
“Yeah?” Bella asked.
“Definitely,” Cody told her.
Cody was strangelyquiet all the way to Burlington. Bella couldn’t help noticing that he wasn’t scrolling his phone in the car the way he so often did.
Why haven’t you called or texted him, Cash?
But she wasn’t in control of what Cash did, only of herself. And she was doing her best to be there for the boy in the way he had asked—driving him to Burlington so he could soothe his sorrows with themusic he loved.
During the lesson, she walked the quaint streets of the city. It was no Sugarville Grove, but there was snow on the ground, and decorations brightened the store fronts. She just wasn’t feeling the holiday spirit tonight like usual.
She passed the music shop where she had purchased Cody’s Christmas gifts last month. Thank goodness Evelyn had allowed her to hide them at the library. The apartment was far too small to keep any surprises.
The bookstore normally called to her when she was waiting for Cody. But tonight, she just wanted to walk, so she passed by the warm glow of the big glass windows with barely a second look for the crowded shelves and velvet sofas inside.
As the wind picked up, she pulled her scarf up to cover her mouth and nose.
It was impossible to walk these streets without thinking of that night so long ago, the night Cody had been conceived in this very city.
We were so close, Cash,she thought to herself.Why didn’t I go backstage? We could have talked to each other. We might have figured it out.
But she had been a coward then, ashamed to be a mousy, modest nerd in a rock star’s world, even for a few minutes.
And it was probably for the best. He was the kind of man who would have always broken her heart, one way or the other, and she would do well to remember that. After all, he’d spouted the same lines to Harper in person that he’d said to her online.
But it’s still a good lesson,she told herself.I won’t be a coward ever again. Not when it counts.
Being honest with Cody tonight hadn’t been easy, and she could sense that he was going to have a rough adjustment to his dad being away, even after only spending a few weeks getting to know him. But she felt good knowing they had talked about it out in the open. The conversation he had with Cash, whenever it happened, was going to be a better one because Cody would have already worked through some of the hurt ahead of time.
He’ll feel better after his guitar lesson,Bella reminded herself. He always came out looking lit up with happiness.
But this time, when she came back to the old building where Cody’s lessons were held, he was already waiting for her downstairs, looking as glum as before.
“You finished up early?” she asked him.
“Yeah,” he said, not looking at her. “I didn’t really feel like jamming.”
“How was it?” she asked.
