She came back down and lifted a thumb.“Bios clear.”
He saluted with his pick and faced the mic.“From the top.”
They played until the light in the barn started to tilt.Tony called last save.Sean set his guitar in the stand with care that bordered on affection.Axel gathered his sticks and tapped the case twice like a benediction.Maddyn and Livia stretched and stepped away from the stage.
Carlene met Jami by the door.“Summit’s neutral note is live.The old language is gone.Our joint statement posts in an hour.And the stills clause made it in.”
He let out a breath.“Good day.”
“A hard one,” she said.“But good.”
“Table?”he asked.
“Table.”She glanced at his hands.“You can still hold a fork?”
“I can hold whatever you hand me.”
That earned him a look he wanted to draw out of her again.She slid her fingers into his and squeezed once.“Let’s go home.”
They left Tony to lock up.The phones stayed on the entry table again, exactly where they should.He pulled leftovers into bowls and warmed them while she opened the drawer she had claimed and dropped a band of hair ties inside like a flag.
At the table, he waited until she had taken a bite.Then he asked the thing he had wanted to ask all afternoon.“What was your favorite part of today?”
She swallowed and thought before answering.“The moment you didn’t tidy the crack.”
He nodded because he had felt the same.“Yours?”
Her eyes flicked to his.“The key.”
He set his fork down.“It looked good in your hand.”
“It felt right in my pocket.”She reached for her water and took a slow drink.
“Did you have any other favorite parts today?”
She smiled.“My other favorite part was telling a room full of lawyers ‘no’ without raising my voice.”
“That belongs on a T-shirt,” he said.
“I’ll make one.”She pointed at his hands.“After you make the record.”
They finished and cleared.He washed.She dried.The news on their phones could wait.The work did not.He picked up the guitar in the living room and tested a line that had been tapping the back of his skull since lunch.She leaned against the doorway and listened like it mattered, because to both of them it did.
He stopped and looked up.“We good?”
“We’re building,” she said.“That’s better than good.”
ChapterThirty-Six
Her phone buzzed before she reached the bar.Grant’s name filled the screen.
“Morning,” she answered.“Tell me you slept.”
“I did,” he said.“Better news than yesterday.Summit asked for an expedited call.Executive direction to resolve.Their words.”
Tony set a mug by her elbow, and she put the call on speaker.
“Tony's here, Grant.Timeline?”
