“I was wondering,” she starts, looking up at me again, “if maybe you’d be interested in a new music act for the bar?”
“Wait, Daze, what the hell?”I ask.
She turns to me, an easy smile on her face as she looks up at me.“Music is what you love, Miles.”
“You are what I love,” I tell her.
She rolls her eyes playfully.“Yeah, that too, but I know you miss playing.”
“How do you know that?”I ask, knowing I’ve barely spoken about my music since we got back together.And short of singing that song for her, there haven’t been any other times that I’ve picked up my guitar.
She steps toward me, resting her hands against my chest.“Because I know you,” she says.“And I see you looking at your guitar.Hear you singing along to the music when we’re working in the bakery.You miss it, Miles, and I want you to have it back again.”
“Daze,” I say softly.
“Miles,” she whispers back.
“I...I don’t want this to?—”
“It won’t,” she says, knowing exactly what I’m thinking right now.“You’ve given me so much, Miles.So much.Please let me do this for you.”
I blow out a breath, my heart pounding in my chest for so many reasons right now.Daisy stares up at me, her eyes locked with mine as she waits for my answer.
“I do miss it,”Miles quietly admits, a hesitation because he still believes it’s what tore us apart.“As long as you’re cool with it, Daze, I’d love to give it a try.”
I want to cheer out loud, scream it from the rooftops.The excitement I feel for Miles is beyond words, and knowing he’s going to do what he loves, in a place that he loves, makes it all the better.
When he came back after things went sour with the band, there were whispers of whether he’d play here on the island again, but he shut people down time after time.
It felt like he said no because everything was too new and too raw, but he’s had time to heal.We’ve had time to heal.We’re different people than we were back then, learning from our mistakes and realizing our dreams are important.
Not just to ourselves, but to each other.
“Ready to pack the place?”Lisa asks, smiling at Miles.“It’ll probably be the most business I’ve seen since…”
She trails off.The band basically got their start in Lisa’s bar, with her letting them play even when they were underage, and people would flock to see them.The last time they played on the island before leaving for their tour was here.
“It’s cool.You can say it,” I tell Lisa.“We’ve made peace with it all.It’s part of our past, but it’s not a past we want to forget.”
“You two have really come a long way,” she says, slipping her arms around our waists.She pulls us in for a group hug.“I’m so glad you’re back together.”
“Fuck, so are we,” Miles says, laughing.“Worst year of our lives.”
We sit down with Lisa and map out a schedule since she does already have bands booked.She pencils Miles in for next week on Thursday and the following week for Friday, able to fill an opening from a band that canceled.
“I’ll get it all up on the bar’s Instagram page and put up a few flyers.Sally Sinclair has some space that she lets me use at her concierge desk at the Orchid Bay,” Lisa says, almost mindlessly running through a list.
“I’ll hang some signs up in the bakery windows.We’ve had people walking by, peeking in on the progress,” I add, and when I look over at Miles, he’s deep in thought.
Watching him, I can tell this is a lot, but I won’t call it out here in front of Lisa.It’s something we need to talk about in the privacy of our home because we both said we wouldn’t keep things from each other.
He can change his mind if he wants.I would never want to pressure him into doing something he isn’t fully comfortable with, and I know Lisa would agree.
“Why don’t Miles and I head home, and we’ll get back to you to finalize everything?”I say, and I watch as Lisa scans Miles’s face, giving me a nod and a wink.
Maybe I jumped into something too quickly.
“Sounds good,” Lisa replies, and as we stand up to leave, she adds, “And Miles…” He turns, looking over his shoulder.“There will never be a time that I say no to you.If you change your mind and come back a year later, the answer will always be yes.”
