“Mom says people move in together when they get married. That’s why my dad doesn’t live here.”
“Uh—” Julia hustles over to him and shoos Summer toward her car. “Yeah, that’s not… I think they need to get going, buddy. Let’s tell them goodbye, okay?”
“Bye,” he says, and walks back inside without his answer.
Dammit. I was really wanting to see what Summer would come up with.
“Bye.” I wave back, moving closer to my new roommate. “Are you ready?”
“Yes. No!” The handle of Summer’s suitcase clanks to the ground as she abandons it and shoves against the door they almost shut on her face.
Okay?Confused, I collect the luggage to stow it in her passenger seat. With the minute alone, my thoughts drift back to the studio.
I never asked Summer if she told Emma about that night. I wouldn’t care if she did. But it would explain why I found a new desk chair, coffee table, and vinyl records on the wall the next day. It was like it never happened. A nightmare stripped away with open eyes.
Until the evidence stitched itself into lyrics. Inspired three songs in five days.I did it. Whether or not that accomplishment is something to be celebrated remains a mystery.
My phone buzzes against my thigh. I whip it out of my pocket, expecting it to be Todd.
WILL: I see you took my advice
I think it’s about time you get laidwas his counsel the last time I saw him.
EVERETT: You’re next.
I stuff my phone away. When I open the car door, Summer is sailing out of the house again, Millie wrangled in a death grip under her bicep. The cat is clawing at Summer’s pillow, wriggling toward her shoulder, and fueling her panic.
I step out of her way as she dashes toward me. Within a couple of feet of the car, she flings the cat in her vehicle and slams the door shut. A cloud of orange fur rains over top of us.
“And I thought it was just men she didn’t like.”
Summer expels the kind of breath that follows a four-hundred-meter dash. “It is. She could sense you a mile away.”
“And my holeless shirt, no doubt,” I add.
That gets her to laugh.
“Do you have this under control?” Backward steps carry me toward my own car. She doesn’t notice with her focus stuck on mapping her cat’s escape route.
I think she responds by the time I’m in my front seat. Wouldn’t know when I turn on my vehicle and all sound is drowned out by a phone call connecting to my car speakers.
I jerk the door shut and swallow. My vision narrows to my side mirror. The second there’s a gap between two cars I navigate into it, pulling away from Julia’s house. Then I answer.
“Dude! I just listened to the demos.”
I knew this call was coming. Prepared myself for it the moment I hit send. But I have to fight like hell to keep my voice even as I respond. “And?”
He doesn’t even hesitate. “I don’t know how you did it, but these songs are your best work.”
I didn’t expect that. What I sent him were rough takes.They’re not well rehearsed or anywhere near refined. There is no vocal track layering or instrumental arrangement additions yet. They’re raw cuts from the only time I haven’t cried singing them since I wrote them.
“Seriously, Rhett. I’m blown away over here, man,” he adds in my silence. “I can’t wait for the label to hear these.”
Todd’s always been honest with me. I know he wouldn’t be saying this if he didn’t mean it. After being stuck on melodies for weeks, hope blooms in my chest.
“Thanks. That… really means a lot.”
“You’re going to get back out on that stage, Rhett. You were born to do this. There’s no doubt about it.”
