His whole face lit up. "Really?"
"Yeah. Come by the cottage sometime this week. We'll work on some proper chords."
"That would be brilliant." He was actually grinning now, which made something warm and uncomfortable bloom in Raven's chest.
Christ. She was getting soft.
"Home still rough?" she asked, immediately regretting it. What was she doing?
But Jamie had already answered, his smile fading. "Yeah. Mum and Dad are… they're separating. Officially now."
"Shit." Raven winced. "Sorry. I mean… that's rough, kid."
"Yeah." Jamie kicked at the ground.
Raven had no idea what to say. Her own childhood had been a parade of foster homes and social workers, which was its own kind of mess, but different from this. She couldn't exactly offer advice on navigating divorced parents when she'd never had parents to begin with.
"Music helps," she said finally. "When things get loud or overwhelming. Just… put on headphones and play something. Or learn something. Gives your brain somewhere else to go."
Jamie nodded slowly. "Yeah."
"Right." She took a breath. "School alright?"
"Yeah." He looked at her with half a grin. "Ms. Swift helps. I feel safe at school. Happier."
"Yeah?" Raven tried to ignore the small spike of… something… at hearing Annabelle's name. "That's good."
"She set up this whole buddy system for me. So I always have someone to talk to." Jamie's expression changed, and Raven caught something that looked almost like guilt.
There was a 'but' hanging in the air. Raven could hear it. "But?" she prompted.
Jamie squirmed. "But it's kind of… a lot? Like, there's always someone asking how I'm doing or if I want to talk or trying to include me in things. And I know they want to be nice, but sometimes I just want to be left alone, you know? I don't need people talking to me all the time."
Raven knew exactly what he meant. It was the same feeling she got when Gloria insisted on enthusiastic greetings or when Daisy appeared with yet another cheerful observation about the weather.
"That sounds exhausting," she said.
"It is." Jamie looked relieved. "But I don't want to tell Ms. Swift because she worked really hard on it and she'd be sad if she knew I didn't like it."
There it was. The kid was suffering in silence because he didn't want to hurt Annabelle's feelings.
Raven recognized that impulse. She'd spent years not telling Alissa how much the on-again-off-again bullshit was destroying her, because she didn't want to rock the boat.
Look how well that had turned out.
"I'll handle it," Raven said.
Jamie's eyes widened. "Really? You don't have to."
"I know I don't have to." She stood up. "Come by when you want for your first lesson, yeah? Bring a notebook if you want to write things down."
"Thanks." He was grinning again, all gangly eight-year-old enthusiasm.
"Don't mention it." She started to walk away, then paused. "And Jamie? It's okay to need space. Doesn't make you ungrateful or weird. Just makes you human."
She didn't wait for his response. She just shoved her hands back in her pockets and headed toward the pub.
THE PUB WAS bustling when she walked in.
