Page 47 of Whirlwind

“It will be with you on it naked.”

A loud laugh burst from my lips. “The realtor is in the next room waiting for me.”

“So?”

“Damn, you are a bad girl.”

“It’s easy with you.”

“Good to know.”

“Obviously, Mr. Lanier, you don’t like that house very much if you’re on the phone with me keeping the poor realtor waiting.”

“Violet, why did you leave?”

“What do you mean?”

“The morning after in Meager. Why did you leave like that without waking me up and saying goodbye?”

“I thought it was cleaner that way. You were leaving for home. We both knew what that night was.”

Was. That night was in the past. But for me somehow it was still alive and vibrant.

“So considerate.” I kept my tone light, but something heavy dragged inside me. “So practical.”

“Mainly, I left early because I had a family thing to go to, not to mention, I didn’t want your mom’s neighbors to see me.”

“Oh. Right. Small town.”

“You have no idea.”

“I’ve never brought anyone to my mom’s house before.”

“No?”

“No.”

“Oh.”

“And you finished my song.”

“What?”

“Before you left, you found my notebook in the kitchen and you finished the song I’d been working on.”

“Oh God, yes. I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have touched it. I found the notebook on the floor open, and I read the…I’m sorry.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re not…what?”

“Not sorry. I like it. It works.”

“You like it?”

“It’s good, Violet.”

“THE Beck Lanier is okay with me rudely reading his private notebook and he actually liked what I, an incredibly arrogant and very non-musical person, wrote in his private music journal?”

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