“Let’s play one together,” I said. “We’re a duo. We’ve always been a duo.”
Isa was silent for a beat, but then nodded. “Okay, other half.” She grinned. “It is what we’re best at, after all.”
I kissed her quickly, and maybe a little teasingly. “Yes, it is,” I smirked, “but I have a feeling pretty soon we’re going to be ‘the best’ at something else….”
“James!” Isa gasped.
But feel free to note: She didn’t deny it.
We asked for the piano to be moved to center stage, and the band was more than happy to help us. The audience was whispering excitedly among themselves, wondering what we were going to play. “Whatarewe going to play?” I asked Isa as she settled on the piano bench. I knew she would get up and drift around the Steinway at some point, but she always started a song sitting next to me.
“Something nice,” she told me, linking her arm with mine like we were about to set off on an afternoon stroll. “Something slow.” She nodded across the dance floor, and I followed her gaze to see Grace and Everett holding hands at its edge. (Barf, but good for me—our carpool would be bearable now.) “Something romantic.”
I gave her a sideways look. “Izzy, that’s like a million songs.”
She kissed my cheek. “Yes, J, but she likes onlyone.”
Chapter 32
Grace
When Ev asked me to dance, it was impossible to hold myself back. Instead of saying something like “I’d love to” or “of course” or even a simple “yes,” I whelped an embarrassingly unintelligible response. The last time we’d danced together had been at his bar mitzvah, and one of his baseball teammates had puked all over the floor before the DJ could play a slow song. Violence was never the answer, I knew, but I’d sincerely wanted to punch that kid in the face for the rest of the party.
My heart hammered as Ev led me onto the terrace, and I felt goose bumps bloom under my shirt once he rested his hands on my waist. But before I slung my arms around his neck, I swiftly stole his Mets hat and tossed it into the azaleabushes.
He chuckled. “Fair enough.”
And then I fell miles upon miles into those eyes, his rich amber eyes that felt as endless as sunset on the horizon. The back of his neck was warm, and I wove a few of my fingers in his dark hair.I love you,I almost said, because if there was ever a good time, it was now—swaying with him in this wondrous moment.I love you, Everett Adler.
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but then the piano keys sounded, and they were lost. I recognized the song immediately; Isa had sung along to it in the Tesla this morning, and if I wasn’t tone-deaf, I could’ve sung it myself. Listening to Adele’s rendition of “Make You Feel My Love” as many times as I had the past few years? You memorize the lyrics. They are forever ingrained in your heart.
“Hey, what’s wrong?” Ev asked once Isa and James began to harmonize. “Your fingers are trembling.”
“Nothing,” I said, and swallowed the lump in my throat before giving him a small smile. “I just used to listen to this song a lot. It, um, made me think of you…and me…and how…” I drifted off, unable to say the rest.
Ev nodded stoically. As always, he had picked up the pieces and put them together. “So I suppose this is our song,” he said.
I shrugged. “Only if you want it to be.”
He unexpectedly spun me. “Well, I don’t,” he murmured once he was holding me close again. His hand was tantalizingly low and light on my back. “This isnotour song, Grace.”
“It’s not?” I asked.
“No, it’s not.” He shook his head. “Isa and James are killingit up there, but this is some angsty, lonely, unrequited adolescent crush garbage.”
My eyes widened. “Ev!”
His glinted. “What?”
“This song is gut-wrenching—I cried my eyes out to it! Night after night, wishing over and over again that you were mine.”
“I know,” he said softly. “I know, and I’m sorry about that.”
I squeezed his shoulder. “You don’t need to be sorry.”
“Either way, I still am.”
Laughter bubbled out of me. I don’t know where it suddenly came from, but it did. “Okay, this is inane,” I said. “It’s in the past.” I felt myself blush. “Things are different now.”
