Page 128 of Unspoken Words
“Oooh. I really like this song. Have you heard it?”
He shook his head.
“The opening motif is really clever. When you hear it, you know the song straight away. It’s identifiable. Recognisable.”
“I don’t know what you mean.”
I giggled, forgetting my work was practically a foreign language for Byron. “Okay. Um … let me think.” I strained my brain for a similar piece of music that I could use for comparison to help clarify. “A bit like the music in Jaws. Der ne. Der ne,” I said, sounding the eerie first notes of the Jaws theme song. “The repetition of those two notes right off the bat of the song is what makes that piece of music recognisable almost right away. Same as the opening to this song.”
“Oh.” Byron seemed confused, like he always did when I spoke about what I did for a living. It wasn’t that he wasn’t interested. He just didn’t get music like I did.
“And the bridge is great. Actually, the whole song is great. Relatable to teenage girls. And adults, really.”
“What’s it about?”
“Breaking up and then longing for the return of your ex. We’ve all been there.”
“Have we?”
“Well, yeah. Haven’t you?”
“No, not really.”
“Wow. So you’ve never suffered heartache at the hands of a girl?”
“I didn’t say that. I’ve just never regretted a breakup. You break up for a reason whether it hurts or not.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to wrap my head around the notion. “Riiight.”
“You don’t sound convinced.”
“Well, no. I mean, yeah … every break up has a reason. I just guess the ‘no regrets’ part is a bit hard to swallow.”
He turned onto Mountain Road, which headed out of town. I frowned. There were no restaurants or shops until we reached Girling Lake.
“I thought you said we were going somewhere local.”
“We are.”
“Oh.”
He glanced over at me and smiled, and there was something unusual behind his grin. “So why is ‘no regrets’ hard to swallow?” he asked.
“Because what you’re basically saying is the relationship until that point was pretty much empty.”
“No, I’m not saying that.”
“But how can you not if there’re no regrets?”
“Because regardless of how wonderful—or not—the relationship was, a breakup is best if a breakup is needed. Why keep a relationship together if one or both parties want to end it? How could you regret that?”
My jaw fell open. His explanation, or justification, sounded so cold and emotionless, but it also sounded highly logical, which was exactly Byron; Mr Black and White—and Khaki.
“Fair enough. I guess.”
He laughed. “Maybe it’s just the businessman in me.”
I laughed too. “Maybe.”
