Page 99 of Love Me Steadfast
“Nice farmer tan,” I say to quiet the rush of blood in my ears.
He glances over his shoulder, grinning. “I make it look good, don’t I?”
I scoff but my heart is like a bouncy ball inside my chest. Does he see the stars in my eyes when he looks at me like that?
While he lifts my violin from his truck, I pull my sundress on over my bikini and shake out my still-damp hair.
He sets the case down on the edge of the blanket and lowers to his side, propped up again.
“Why’d you choose the violin?” he asks as I take everything out of the case and the sheet music from the pocket.
“My kindergarten teacher always had instruments we could play with, like during free time or even at recess.” I shrug. “I tried them all, but I kept coming back to the violin.”
“Guitar’s recent though, right?”
“Yeah, that’s mostly because of Morgan. I mean, I’ve played it since like fifth grade. And Dad plays, but Morgan’s got such a pretty voice. It made sense that we could play and sing.”
His eyes brighten with curiosity. “Did Mo want to play both instruments because of you?”
I prop up the sheet music against the case. “Yeah. We did everything together when we were little.”
“I get that,” he says with a smile. “I wanted to be just like Zach when we were growing up.”
“Did he play football too?” I picture two little boys, legs pumping through tall grass, shouting to each other as the ball flies through the air, the Alaska midnight sun hovering on the horizon.
“Yep. And baseball.”
A flutter of nerves tingles up my stomach as I perch upright on my knees and pick up my violin and bow. “Don’t watch.”
He scoffs. “That’s thewhole point.”
With a huff, I tuck the chinrest into place and check the tuning, the vibrations thrumming through my body.
“You watch me play all the time,” he says.
“That’s different.”
He reaches out to gently pinch my thigh, making me laugh.
“It’s just over two minutes long. Think you can sit still that long?”
“You’re cute when you’re sassy, you know that?”
“Will!” I lower my violin to glare at him.
He laughs. “I make no promises, but I’ll try.”
I can’t help the smirk on my face while warming up the strings.
“How do you know how fast to play?” he asks.
“See where it says allegro assai at the top?” I ask, pointing with my bow. “That means quick, lively.”
He points to the circle and crosshairs symbol near the bottom. “What’s that?”
“It’s a coda. It brings the piece to a close.”
He shoots me a confused look. “Then why isn’t it at the end?”
