Page 108 of Between Never and Forever
“She tried to get me arrested once for stealing an entire one of her cakes from the mayor’s daughter’s baby shower, but they couldn’t prove it was me.”
“Was it you?” he asks, and I smirk.
“Yep.”
He shakes his head like he’s surprised, but he shouldn’t be, and I frown into the box where five more perfect muffins sit.
“She used to go to Levi’s church,” I say into the box. “She’d bring the cake once a month when they had this weird Sunday potluck, and Levi would always smuggle some out for me. He’d wrap it in a paper towel and stick that in a plastic cup, then bring it to me at school on Monday.”
I close the white box and slide it away from me, but I don’t take my eyes off it. I tilt my head to the side and consider it. I can’t shake the feeling...the hope...
“Was there a note or anything? With these muffins, I mean. Did anyone say why these were set aside for me?”
I glance at Red, and he shakes his head, so I look back at the box. I stare at it, narrowing my eyes as if I can glean the answer from the cardboard.
“What happened to the lady?” Red asks, breaking me from my stare off with the muffin box, and I shrug.
I start to tell him that she’s probably dead and that I don’t really care either way because she was an evil bitch when there’s a knock on the trailer door. I’m up out of my seat and turning the knob before Red can even move, and when I swing the door open, Brynn is grinning up at me.
“Hey Boss,” I say with a smile.
I flick my eyes behind her, but there’s no sign of Levi, so I step out of the way and gesture for her to come in.
“Thank you so, so much for teaching me to—”
Brynn cuts off mid-sentence with a grunt when my menace of a dog bulldozes right into her, and they both tumble to the ground. Brynn is a mess of giggles as Ziggs does another lick attack, so I just lean on the counter and watch with an amused smile until it’s over.
“Sorry,” I tell her once Ziggy has calmed down, but Brynn doesn’t seem to mind.
“It’s okay, I love dogs.” She moves to the couch and sits down. “We had to get rid of ours when my mom got sick the second time. Oh wow, you have two guitars? Did you bring one for me?”
Brynn made the comment about her mom so casually before switching topics and asking about the guitars, but I find myself stuck. Her mom got sick? I look at Red to find him watching Brynn closely. I want to ask about it, have her elaborate so I can learn more, but she’s already moved on.
“Yeah, I had my friend Mabel send me another one so I could teach you on it.”
Brynn’s head whips to mine and her eyes are just as big as they were the day she spotted me in the café.
“Mabel? Mabel Rossi? Your drummer Mabel Rossi?”
“The one and only,” I say and her jaw drops.
“You think I can meet her too?”
She’s so fucking excited that I don’t know what to say for a minute. I just flick my eyes to Red, who is pretending not to listen, then back to Brynn.
“I dunno,” I say slowly, then shrug. “Maybe.”
Before she can say anything else, I change the subject back to guitar lessons.
“Alright, just have a seat on the couch and we’ll start with your first lesson.”
Brynn darts to the couch so fast. It’s adorable. But what’s even more adorable is that Zigaroo jumps on the couch next to her and crawls onto her lap. My sixty-pound mutt thinks she’s a lap dog. I don’t even bother trying to tell her to get down because Brynn looks like she’s in heaven, and Ziggs wouldn’t listen to me anyway. Jerk.
I grab my Yamaha from the stand in the corner and then sit down on the little table in front of Brynn and Ziggy. I already switched out the strings to a light gauge for beginners.
“First lesson, Boss, is that I’m the boss during class,” I say firmly and ignore the light chuckle that comes from Red. “Dig it?”
Brynn nods seriously.
