Page 5 of To Believe In You
“I offered you a free place to live.”
“Compliments of Tim?” The manager had spent a fair amount of time running interference for Matt back when he’d been an addict. Tim operated by a different code than the band, willing to bend rules in his dogged pursuit to maintain Awestruck’s success. “Nothing with him is ever free. You should know that by now.”
Lina’s eyebrows appeared combed. Did women do that? He watched as they pulled together, forming a crease over her nose. “What do you think he’s going to make you do?”
She left the reasons for her skeptical tone unspoken. What awful thing could Tim require that Matt hadn’t already done to himself?
Yeah, nothing.
“I’m just saying, if he’s the reason you’re here, he’s got an angle, and it’s not to help a charity.”
“Maybe it’s to help you get out of landscaping and back into music.”
Music. The word resonated, as deep and powerful as a beat from a subwoofer. How placing his fingers on some strings and playing a few notes gave him as much of a rush as sky diving, he’d never understand. But for him, sky diving would be safer, no matter his love of music. “What if landscaping is where I belong?”
Her gaze combed his tattoos, and he knew exactly what she saw. He’d been seeing it himself since he’d gotten sober.
Other people’s tattoos carried significant meaning. The best merged meaning and art. But his own? Some, he didn’t remember getting. Two, he’d started and never finished. He’d chosen none of them—or their artists—carefully and didn’t like any of them now.
Though he’d cleaned up his life to avoid going the same route his friend Auggie had, he couldn’t rid himself of the evidence of who he’d been. A man bent on self-destruction.
Lina interpreted the evidence to mean he couldn’t take an interest in mulch and arborvitae. He didn’t. But he did take an interest in the machinery and leaving things better than he found them—and annoying Pete. Besides, he had a debt to pay.
Behind Lina, Krissy entered, brown hair straightened and makeup unapologetically heavy—unlike someone else’s. His sister adjusted the strap of her huge purse as she peered toward his visitor, who hadn’t turned from Matt.
Krissy must’ve judged Lina’s profile as attractive, because she gave him a freakish wide-eyed look. He loved his sister more than pretty much any other human on earth. Only she’d want to set him up with the beautiful stranger and forget the reasons happily-ever-after wasn’t in his future.
If any of his other family members happened in to overhear this conversation with Lina, they wouldn’t be so tickled. His brother, Pete, would blow a gasket if he knew Matt’s old life had come to lure him back in.
Or maybe Pete would bid him good riddance.
“I can’t move to Lakeshore, no matter what the cool kids are doing.” He smiled. After wronging as many people as he had, he didn’t need to add continued rudeness to his list of offenses. “I made a commitment here.”
Lina curled her lips inward and stepped back as if to leave. But then her chest rose with a massive breath. “What are your objections?”
“My objections?” Hadn’t he heard Tim ask that same question a few times over the years? The guy must’ve been spending a lot of time at Key of Hope. Matt doubted Adeline paid him a salary, so what was in it for him? Pride?
Tim wouldn’t help launch an entire business only to get Matt to move to Lakeshore, would he?
Lina swept a curl from her temple, seeming to gather resolve. “To teaching at Key of Hope.”
Admiration sparked in Krissy’s eyes. Whether Lina had learned these persuasion tactics from Tim or not, they were all her own now.
“I told you. Prior commitment.” Beyond that, he wouldn’t explain the debt he owed. Lina would tumble right back into righteous judgment if she knew. “Besides, I need full-time work.”
She assessed him, the hard line of her shoulders softening. “They say you’ve changed.”
“Trying to.”
She gave a minuscule nod. With another step backward, she brought Krissy into her view. She offered his sister a polite smile before focusing on Matt again. “I’m glad for you. Take care.”
Matt watched her go. His past kept showing up, and not just on his skin or in the form of Lina, come to offer him a job. Krissy had sobbed, explaining how hurt she’d been by his choices. Pete treated him like a convict sentenced to community service, though Matt had somehow managed to avoid a formal record. Awestruck produced hit after hit, and each song reminded him of how he’d failed men who’d once been his closest friends. He’d hurt a lot of people. Each time he planned a way to make amends with one, another showed up.
Maybe this run-in with Lina marked a turning point, though. She hadn’t revealed some offense he’d long forgotten that he now had to atone for. Hadn’t left his conscience burning, regret ready to engulf him.
She’d come, they’d had a conversation, and she’d left.
And at the thought of Awestruck, he felt only goodwill.
