EVIE
Am I picking you up or am I meeting you there?
ME
Come get me. I've already drunk a bottle of wine.
EVIE
Bitch! Fine. I'm on my way.
***
"So, are you going to sing it to me or what?" Everleigh asks as she drives us toward Grinder's.
Since Charlie took over four years ago, the place has transformed. The familiar coffee shop now boasts a cozy bookstore nook, a sunlit reading corner, and a bustling kitchen that fills the air with the scent of fresh food. It was always a local favorite, but now, thanks to her magic touch, it's the heartbeat of Granite Bay—especially for college students.
It's also Evie's and my favorite place to eat whenever we go out.
I let out a groan, dreading another round of this song, but if Everleigh can't hear my vision, she can't help. Swallowing my reluctance, I dig out my notebook and flip to the lyrics I scribbled earlier.
"It won't sound as good without my guitar."
"Stop stalling, Vinnie. You know damn well you don't need your guitar to create the depth of emotion you do when you write these motherfucking songs. Sing it to me, baby cakes."
So, I do.
My voice may not be flawless, but it weaves through the car, rising and falling with each note, painting the air with something raw and real.
When the last lyric fades from the inside of the car, I open my eyes and peer over at Everleigh.
Her knuckles whiten around the steering wheel, eyes fixed on the world outside as silent tears carve paths down her cheeks.
"Everleigh?" I call softly, wiping away the tears that were also falling from mine.
"Oh, fuck off, you bitch," she hiccups. "I don't know why I'm surprised. Stupid tears. I hate crying. I never cry, but every time you make me listen to one of your damn songs, I always do."
"All of them?" I snicker.
She aims a quick glare my way. "Yes, even the ones that are upbeat and fucking, all right?"
"You love me. You really, really love me," I tease, holding a hand to my heart.
"Whoa, now," Everleigh splutters. "I wouldn't go that far."
I mock gasp. "The audacity."
The car fills with a comfortable silence as our playful sides become a little more serious. Everleigh says nothing until we pull into the parking lot of Grinder's. She puts the car in park, shuts off the engine, and turns her body in the seat so she's facing me.
"This is one of your most beautiful, yet your most painful, songs ever written. The depth of pain, the yearning to be loved, the need to be seen, you can feel it all in the lyrics. Do you want my honest opinion about what you should do with it?"
"Of course, I do! Your opinion is one of the most important ones to me, Evie. It always has been."
"It would be a disgrace not to let the world hear this song, Vinnie. There'll be more people that it'll resonate with than you could ever imagine. Plus, people need to hear the damage that can happen when you play so carelessly with someone's heart. That's something that no one ever thinks about. The damage that they leave behind." She leans across the middle console and squishes my face between her hands. "Show every fucking body the damage that little ferret dicked motherfucker left behind, baby cakes. Make him face it. Because if there's one thing in this world you are not, it's going to be someone’s fucking just because. You deserve the number one spot in someone's life, and if he's too dumb to recognize that, then baby, he ain't worthy of you."
Everleigh places a kiss on my forehead and then sits back in her seat with a smile. "Now, let's go get some damn food. I'm starving."
The numbness I’ve grown used to still lingers, but Ever’s words spark a flicker of hope. I might come out of this with holes, battered and bruised, but I’ll be standing—shouting to the world that I survived.
