"Nothing happened."
"Something absolutely happened. You've got that look."
"What look?"
"The 'I've done something reckless and I'm trying to convince myself it was a terrible idea even though part of me knows it wasn't' look." He settled into the armchair like he owned the place. "I know that look well. Used to see it in the mirror most mornings in my twenties."
Raven stayed standing, arms crossed. "You're imagining things."
"Am I?" Arty's eyes drifted to the notebook on the side table, open to her scribbled lyrics. "Because you've also got that 'I just wrote something good for the first time in ages' energy about you. And those two things combined usually mean—"
"Don't."
"—that you've gone and caught feelings for someone."
"I haven't caught anything," Raven snapped. "I'm perfectly fine."
"Right." Arty didn't look remotely convinced. "So if I were to guess that you and Annabelle had a moment last night after she rushed over here in a panic thinking you were dead, which is a natural thing to think about quiet rockstars."
"How do you know about that?"
"Daisy saw Annabelle running across your garden in her pajamas. Told everyone at breakfast this morning at Blossom's." He shrugged. "Village life. You get used to it."
Raven closed her eyes and counted to ten. Then twenty. "Nothing happened. She came over, we talked, she left. End of story."
"Hmm." Arty studied her for a long moment. "You're a terrible liar, you know that?"
"I'm not lying."
"Fine. Nothing happened. You definitely didn't write a song about her." He nodded toward the notebook. "Those lyrics are clearly about something else entirely. My mistake."
Raven's jaw clenched. She wanted to throw him out. Wanted to tell him to mind his own bloody business. Wanted to deny everything until he gave up and left her alone.
Instead, she heard herself say, "I kissed her."
The words hung in the air between them.
Arty's face split into a grin so wide it was almost offensive. "I knew it."
"Shut up."
"I'm delighted for you."
"You shouldn't be." Raven sank onto the couch and put her head in her hands. "This is a disaster. I have a rule. A very clear, very sensible rule. No women. No relationships. No gettingtangled up in anything that might explode in my face. And I just…"
"Broke your own rule by kissing the loveliest person in the village?"
"This isn't funny, Arty."
"It's a bit funny." He leaned forward, his expression softening. "But also, Raven, it's also perfectly normal. You're allowed to like someone. You're allowed to want someone. That's not a disaster, that's being human."
"You don't understand." Raven looked up at him, feeling the panic rise in her throat. "I ruin things. It's what I do. I ruined the band. I ruined things with Alissa so thoroughly that she married someone else just to get away from me. I'm difficult and moody and I don't know how to do relationships without turning them toxic."
"That's bollocks," Arty said flatly.
"It's not."
"It is. What you had with Alissa was toxic, yes. But that wasn't all you. That takes two people. And from what I've read, Alissa wasn't exactly a saint in that relationship either."
