I swallowed. “I’m sorry. I must have said it wrong.” Did I really screw that up? It was possible. I hadn’t really been thinking straight at that point in the night.
Cole assessed my expression and seemed convinced I was telling him the truth. His shoulders dropped, and he shrugged, like it was no big deal. “Good thing we were able to get in touch with Bryan, and find out you work here. Thought I’d stop by in person so that we could chat.”
My head was spinning. He was here to chat about what exactly? I remembered he’d ordered a beer and grabbed the tap to pour him one. His fingers touched mine when I handed the glass to him, and I pulled my hand away as if I’d been burned. I didn’t know how to handle this situation.
“I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “Honestly, I didn’t think Silas was being serious last night.” Then I quickly added, “That’s what you want to talk about, right?”
He watched me as he took a sip of his beer, a smile never fully leaving his face. “I could tell he startled you. Silas comes on hard and strong when he sees something he wants.”
Warmth crept up my neck at that comment. I knew he didn’t mean it like that, but the memory of Silas’s overwhelming build did some crazy things to my insides.
“Are you really recording a new album?” I asked.
“Yeah. One of our members passed away recently. We’d finished writing an entire album right before he died, and we’ve decided to go ahead and release it. As a tribute of sorts.”
Despite the even delivery, I could see a flash of pain in Cole’s eyes as he talked about their late bandmate.
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thanks,” Cole said, taking another long sip of his beer.
“For what it’s worth, I think it’s great you guys have found a way to honor him with your music. I’m sure he’d want the songs to be heard.” I offered him a smile that I hoped looked encouraging.
“I think so, too,” he said, a slight emphasis on the I. Did others in the band feel differently?
“But Charlie was a perfectionist,” Cole continued, “so if we screw it up, he’ll haunt us for the rest of our lives. You know, he joined the band last and didn’t play on our first album. We had decided that we wanted a second guitarist right before beginning to work on the second album, held auditions, and Charlie blew us away. We knew that without him, we’d be a worse band.”
I gave him a soft smile.
“Just like when we saw you last night and knew that we needed you to record this album.”
My face fell. They were so wrong about me. It would almost be comical if it weren’t so sad.
“Look, I am flattered,” I said, raising my palms up before putting them down on the counter in front of Cole. “Praise from you guys means a lot. But I’m an amateur. My own band is on its last legs. We’ve had a lot of fun with it over the past five years, but it’s time for all of us to move on. I have a little sister who’s going off to college, and I need to focus on finding a job that’s gonna help me pay for all that.”
“We’d pay you to record with us.”
“For what, a month of work? What then? You’re professionals. I’d need to spend most of my time learning and practicing your songs. That’s time I could use to figure out something long-term for me.”
Cole rubbed at his chest. “Why couldn’t that be music? Recording an album with us would open a lot of doors. We could introduce you to folks in the industry, help you make connections…”
For some inexplicable reason, tears stung behind my eyes as I listened to his arguments. I didn’t want to hear this. Didn’t want him to plant any ideas about a career in music in my head. I’d done that once before, and all it had brought me was misery.
“You could meet people that you could start a new band with—”
“No, I can’t,” I cut him off mid-sentence. “I don’t want to.”
Cole’s smile wavered at last. His face became contemplative. “Five thousand a week,” he said after a pause. “If it takes a month, that’s twenty thousand. What do you make here? Twelve bucks an hour with the tips? I don’t know how many hours you work, but twenty grand has gotta be at least ten times that. After you finish with us, you’ll easily be able to take some time off to figure out your next move.”
I shut my mouth, which had drifted open as he’d talked. Twenty thousand was a lot. That would make a serious dent in Molly’s tuition for next year, and maybe I could wait a bit on selling the house. Without that hanging over my head, I could afford to do some serious self-reflection and figure out what the hell I wanted to do with my life.
Cole placed his calloused palm on top of my hand, swallowing it almost entirely. I liked how warm he felt. His corded forearm caught my attention, sending a jolt of heat through me. I had a thing for guys with strong forearms, and Cole definitely fit that description.
Were they really going to pay me, a nobody, twenty thousand for a month of work?
“What do you say? Pretty good offer, isn’t it? Good enough to get you to come for an audition tomorrow?”
And that’s when my thoughts ground to a halt.
