Not anymore.
“My dad has the heart of a lion, Nash, but his body ain’t doing that well.”
“I’m sorry to hear that,” he says like he means it.
“I’m gonna be honest with you,” I tell him. “He needs surgery, and it’s gonna cost a lot.”
“That’s too bad,” Nash says. “But I’m not in the habit of giving money to old friends.”
“Oh, believe me, I would never ask.”
I hesitate.
It’s now or never.
I have to choose one path or another.
Making my past right or focusing on my future.
What I want or what the people I love need.
But the pull of what I want …
What I want …
I take my hand out of my pocket and put on a Cheshire grin.
“Because we’re old friends, I actually have an offer. A way to solve your music problem.”
“I don’t have a music problem,” he insists, but his gaze is narrowing.
I twirl the flash drive in my hand, and his eyes catch on it.
“The way I see it,” I say, “you have an album that needs a co-writer. You know I have songs, Nash. Songs you want.”
His perpetual smirk falls. His eyes narrow.
“I’m listening.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
LOU
“You know I have songs, Nash,” I hear Patty say. “Songs you want.”
My stomach drops, and even though I’m sitting on the floor, the hallway seems to spin. I have to grip the wall to keep from falling. But the world keeps tilting, keeps spinning and spiraling.
He has songs?
Not … notoursongs, right?
The thought slams into me, brutal and raw.
No. Of course he wouldn’t sell our songs. I know him better than that. He must haveothersongs. Songs that he hasn’t mentioned or even hinted at. I haven’t been … I haven’t beenlyingto myself the whole time.
Right?
I lean closer, holding my breath, straining for something,anythingto make this make sense.
