Page 34 of A Love Song for Dreamers

“No. More foryou.”

She laughs and we both end up orderingwater.

It feels good to get out. Having Annie next to me doesn’t suckeither.

No one knows me here, or her for that matter. It’s freeing in a way I haven’t felt free inmonths.

The headline act starts to play, and I focus on their up-tempo opening number instead of the woman at myside.

“They’re not bad,” I say to her when they pause betweensongs.

“They’re better than not bad. Look how much they want to be up there. It’s pouring offthem.”

I study the band, their energy. “Maybe these kids need a deal. I could fire Jax’s dumbass kid and take theminstead.”

“Miranda Talbot, my writing partner, always says to find someone with a voice. That the rest you candevelop.”

“It’s not enough to want it. You have to put in thework.”

“Whatever your recipe, it’s effective. I’ve seen yourshow.”

I straighten in an instant. “Where?”

“London. Paris.” Her mouth purses. “Seattle.”

I’mspeechless.

“I had to know you were okay,” she goes on as if explainingherself.

It doesn’t explainshit.

“Tell me why the woman who wanted me out of her life followed me around theworld.”

Her groan has the hairs on my neck standing up. “I didn’t want you gone, Tyler. Iwanted...”

“What?”

“I wanted youback. I wanted you to feel like yourselfagain.”

I take a drink of water, wishing it was something with akick.

“Sometimes, I wonder what would’ve happened if you’d come on tour,” I tell her. “Or if I’d stayed in New York. If we’d still be togethernow.”

Annie shoots me a look. “It would’ve been a different end, that’s all. You held me at a distance. You were the one who was hurt, but I was the one who felthelpless.”

When I imagined her with me, I never considered that I wouldn’t let her be with me the way she wanted to, the way she neededto.

The reckoning I had to have with myself was steep. The work and music and touring gradually broke me down, healedme.

I couldn’t have done that with her there. I would’ve taken it out on her, used her, abusedher.

We would’ve split anyway—if she hadn’t stayed in New York, if I hadn’tleft.

Something loosens in my chest. I glance over at her, her face lit up in the lights as she watches the band, breathless andengrossed.

I lean in at the next break. “Tell me about yourshow.”

Annie’s face transforms. Any angst disappears, replaced by anticipation and genuine delight. “It’s a fantasy story about a girl born without a heart, but she doesn’t want anyone to know. So, she goes on a quest to get one—not because she wants to feel, but because she’s worried her body will give out without it. And on the way, she meets all these people, including this guy who makes her realize she wants to feel afterall.”

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