Tally stays silent and keeps playing, staring at the water.
I reckon she knows exactly what’s wrongwith the melody. She’s a professional musician and can’t hide behind inexperience anymore the way we did as kids.
No, I’m absolutely convinced she’s making it sound bad on purpose.
She’s baiting me.
“Come on, be honest. What’s been missin’ for over a decade?” she asks. “It’s just us here. No pressure.”
I open my mouth, then shut it again. Who am I to tell a superstar how to write her song?
“Rustin.” She says my name so softly, it feels like a caress over my heart. “Please, I want to hear your opinion. This song is important to me.Youare important to me.”
I swallow the apprehension tightening my neck like a noose. “Uh, you… You’re chasing the rhythm too hard. It’s hollow. You need a flow. The music is missing a purpose. Depth.”
Her eyes light up. “Go on.”
“Instead of—No, it’s easier to show you.” I put down the beer. “Can I try?”
Tally’s smile widens. She gives me the instrument and a guitar pick from her pocket. I run a hand over the smooth wood of the body, my stiff fingers brushing over the strings. It’s exquisite. A far cry from my old pawnshop guitar.
I give her a sideways glance. “Alright, I told you I’m outta practice. Don’t expect a masterpiece.”
“No expectations. It doesn’t have to be perfect.”
I take a deep breath. “What if you’d rather start like this…” I strum a few chords.
Tally claps. “Whoo, that’s it!”
My brows shoot up. “You think it’s good?”
“Don’t stop now!”
My heart flutters as Iimprovise and Tally harmonizes to the melody. She sways, legs dangling and toes splashing in the water.
Her lids close as her voice rises. “Your hands still smell like smoke and pine, your lips still taste like borrowed time.”
Words swell in my chest, demanding to be heard. “You came back like summer rain, washed the dust clean off my pain,” I sing.
Her eyes open, meeting mine like a gentle challenge. “You said you’re tired, outta songs to play, but I see the melody in your heart today.”
Her words strike like an arrow to my ribs, cracking the walls I built to survive a life without her. The heaviness lifts from my shoulders and I feel the music echo in my bones.
“I’d cross the law, risk it all, break every rule. I’d do anything, darlin’, just to be with you,” I sing back at her.
Tally lays a hand on her heart. “Then meet me at the creek when the moonlight shines.”
“Rinse the sin off our hands and leave it all behind.”
She spreads her arms, her smile wild. “Cause baby, love’s an outlaw and on the road we’re free.”
I feel feather-light as I sing, “So let me seal those lips and steal your heart. Won’t you run away with me?”
“Yeah, won’t you run away with me? I wanna run away…”She lets her voice fade with the last notes.
My hands tremble. Tally looks at me, unmoving, unblinking, as if she witnessed an honest to God miracle. It sure feels like one.
“I knew you still had it!” she says triumphantly.
