Page 44 of Whirlwind

“Sorry, Kendrick, I need to make a call.”

“Of course. Go right ahead, I’ll just—” Kendrick sailed out of the bedroom.

I’d gotten Violet’s number from Wes before I’d left South Dakota. My pulse quickened as I scrolled through my contacts on my phone. My stomach did a flip flop. Damn, how old was I? Fourteen?

“Hello?”

My eyes closed at the sound of her voice. Fresh cool water on a hot dry day.

I grinned, like a fourteen year old. “Violet, it’s Beck.”

“Beck? Oh, hey. How are you?” Her voice softened and filled my insides with gooey warmth.

I miss you, I miss you.

“I got your number from Wes. Hope that’s okay.”

“Of course. I’m glad you did.”

“Good.”

She let out a small laugh. “Good.”

“I wanted to tell you something. Can you talk or are you—”

“Go ahead.”

“Your grandmother’s cousin, the singer, they called her Isi, right?”

“That’s right.”

“My dad and I were talking, and it turns out that he knew her. ”

“Are you kidding me?” Her voice deepened, got loud.

“Not kidding. They were in a band together.”

“The Silver Tongues?”

“The one and only. One of her bandmates was my dad’s cousin, and on that last tour Dad roadied for them and pitched in as a guitarist, did all kinds of stuff. He said he sang backup for Isi, worked on songs with her. They were good friends. Isn’t that crazy?”

“Beck…”

“He said he had a huge crush on her.”

Rich soft laughter filled the line and a grin swept my lips, warmth filled my insides.

“Well, I found my mom’s stash of old cassettes in a shoebox in my grandmother’s basement. She had a couple of Cruel Fate albums in her collection, so I took them out and played them.”

“You did?”

“I did. I played them at The Grand and had everyone dancing and singing along, reliving the glorious 90’s.”

My laughter joined hers, and I leaned back against the wall. “It’s good to hear your voice, Violet.”

“Yours too.”

“I also wanted to say thank you for the punch to my face. It’s created a new and improved direction for me. My PR is having a field day feeding the brooding bad boy image with “no comment” for all the questions about where did I get the bruised face.”

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