Page 9 of The 7 Rules of Moving On
“Missoula.”
Missoula was only two hundred miles away, but it might as well have been Los Angeles for how different the city was from the tiny Hi-Line town of Twin Hearts, MT. “I like Missoula,” he said. “I love the river.”
“Missoula is great,” she agreed. “But I grew up in a town like this, actually.”
“No shit?”
“It’s called Gibson Creek and it’s about as far east as you can get before you hit North Dakota. I could notwaitto get the hell out of there.”
He rubbed at a weird tightness in his chest. If there was one thing he would not do, it was fall for another woman who didn’t want a small-town life. No way. Nothing was happening here, anyway. She was just another guest. She was perfect. She was leaving. That was that.
“But there aren’t a ton of opportunities for me in Missoula, career-wise.”
“What do you do?”
“I’m a composer.”
“A composer? Like, music? That’s amazing.”
She snorted. “It’s so not. I compose jingles, mostly for local businesses. I work at a tiny advertising agency. We do commercials, print, social media, but I am the jingle expert. It’s the best part of my job.”
“Might I have heard any of your jingles?”
She bit her lip as another surge of pink settled over her cheeks. “Have you, by chance, seen or heard any of the commercials for Big Bobby’s Tires?”
He had. Not only that, he knew the song by heart. “Rain or snow won’t slow you down,” he sang, reciting the catchy tune. “Get ready to roll at Big Bobby’s Tires!”
She palmed her forehead.
“You wrote that?”
“Yep. It’s probably my most famous song. Which is kinda sad when I think about it.”
“It’s not sad, it’s awesome. I sing that jingle every time it comes on. I can’t believe that’s your song. You’re so talented.”
She fanned her cheeks. “Stop. You’re making me blush.”
“It’s true!”
Still blushing, she said, “What I really want, though…” Stalling out, she shook her head. “Never mind.”
“What?” he encouraged. “Tell me.”
“Nothing. Literally nothing. It’s a total pipe dream.”
He waved his hand to encompass the bar. “I am dedicating my life to a hot springs resort half the people in this town think is a lost cause, while the other half think it’s legitimately enchanted. I’m all about pipe dreams.”
“Okay, but you have to promise not to laugh. Because it’s serious. I am very serious about this.”
He brought his hand to his heart. “I will not laugh at you. You have my word.”
With a fortifying breath, she said, “As much as I love writing jingles, I want to compose music for video games. I want to create beautiful, meaningful songs that move people as much as the story or the action of the game. I want my music to take people on a journey.”
The smile this drew out of him was huge and genuine.Joyful. “I fucking love that. It’s a fantastic goal.”
“Fantastic is a great word for it.” Her smile fell, brows pinched, eyes downcast. “As in, highly implausible. It’s a super competitive field and next to impossible to break into.”
“Yeah, I bet it would be,” he replied, trying to keep things light because he sensed something heavy weighing down her shoulders. “What instrument do you play?”
