“You were born a baddie, Scout,” Gemma reassures.
“I don’t know,” Scout says honestly. “After the accident,” she points to burn scars on the side of her face that run down her neck and arm, “I tried to make myself invisible. I shrank and retreated. It was getting to know Gus and being around Audrey that helped me grow into the person I am now. They weren’t family, so it hit harder when they supported me. It was like they believed in me so much that I didn’t have any choice but to believe too.”
“It’s like that with Ever. His faith in me isn’t based on hidden potential, but a foregone conclusion. Like he knows things about me I don’t.”
She starts nodding before I finish my sentence. “Yes, that’s it. It’s like they have a crystal ball and can see that you’ve already achieved all the things you think aren’t possible.”
“Where can I get one of those?” Lola asks with a deep chuckle.
“Wait,” Gemma says. “I thought you and Jesse were together. Did I get that wrong?” She looks around the table, confused. “I’m usually so good at this. The chemistry’s there, right?”
I rest my elbow on the table, rest my chin in the palm of my hand, and narrow my eyes. “Have you and Jesse?”
She purses her lips, but the corners tip up, and she looks guilty as hell.
I scoot back in my seat and grip the armrests. “Oh my God,you fucked Jesse.”
She shakes her head. “Not yet. There was a kiss.”
“A kiss?” I ask. I know my sister, it rarely ends with a kiss.
“And a handy,” she says in a rush. “But we got interrupted, so does it really even count?” she asks, skeptically.
We all answer in unison. “Yes.”
Gemma claps and laughs. Lola’s won her over completely.
“He’s been through a lot. I’m trying to be patient and take it slow,” she explains.
“Who are you and what have you done with my sister?” I ask.
She cracks her trademark smile and admits, “I know. It’s fucking killing me, Soph.”
thirty-four
“Play that again,”Franco says as he stands and walks around behind me. I do and he lets out a whoop. “That’s un-fucking-real.”
We’re in the studio in Audrey’s basement, and I’m sitting on a stool at the drum kit. We’ve been down here for about an hour playing Jess’s songs and playing around with the songs I’ve been writing. I think Gus’s creative process is a lot like mine, so it’s been fun to throw ideas back and forth.
I’m like a kid in a candy store with all the equipment and instruments. They spared no expense. The space is relatively small, but they have everything you’d ever need.
“You play any instruments?” Gus asks Jess.
“Not like Ev. I can strum a guitar, and I played a little bass years ago.”
“Are you guys set on being an acoustic duo?” Gus looks from Jess to me, and back to Jess.
“That’s the big question, isn’t it?” Jess says. “I’m up for whatever Ev wants.”
“But what doyouwant?” Gus asks. “This is your band too.”
Jess picks up his beer bottle, takes a swig, and then shrugs. “Thicker Than Water was purely opportunistic. A distraction to keep my mind occupied. I went through a divorce, moved back to the States with nothing but the clothes on my back, and a friend floated the idea of opening for him on his tour. I thought,What the hell, nothing to lose.I talked Ev into it in a five-minute phone call. He showed up in Texas that night. And two weeks later, we were on the road playing our first gig.”
“Damn,” Franco says, surprised. “Two weeks isn’t much time to put together a set, especially if you hadn’t played together.”
“I would’ve been in way over my head, if not for Ev. He didn’t flinch, just showed up in every way. It’s almost like he was already a pro or something,” Jess says, sarcastically, but then smiles.
“Ben was playing an acoustic set, so it made sense to do the same. We kept it simple, a few covers and a few of Jess’s originals,” I add. “We made it work.”
