Page 52 of Serenade Me

Chapter Eighteen

Marius

It is finally quiet enough for me to hear what’s going on in my own brain. Once we changed trains over in Lyon to the train that will take us to Annecy, the guys whipped out their instruments again, and the last hour was one crazy request after another. Hailey finally intervened and kicked all the other travellers back to their seats, but probably not before sneakily taking some pictures and posting them all over our Instagram.

I put my viola back in her case and hand it to Hank, Sebastian’s nephew-slash-slave. Once he leaves I sit back in my empty carriage and close my eyes, enjoying the rocking of the train as it flies through the French countryside.

I’ve done this route so many times, I can picture what scene is flashing by the window. I’m kind of glad for the quiet now, because the last 45 minutes into Annecy is truly beautiful beyond measure.

I slide into the seat beside the window and press my face against it, waiting. The thing about Lake Annecy is her humility. She doesn’t announce her grandeur like many of the other Alpine stunners, she just creeps up on you out of nowhere.

Like… now. Just as the train turns this curve, there she will be, a glistening blue, ripple-less mirror spreading out in front of you, graced by lush, green grass that just begs you to fall in.

“Man, I’m wiped,” I suddenly hear Sebastian say, as he sinks into the seat next to me.

“Yeah, we’re not as young as we used to be,” I say, still staring out the window.

“Speak for yourself, I grow more young and awesome by the day. Practically reversing in age,” he grins, preening his always perfect hair.

“So, Cadence is dating a teenager, is what you’re saying.”

“No, I mean… she’s getting younger as well.”

“So, YOU’RE dating the teenager.”

He scrunches up his face. “Ew, yuck. Why do you have to make everything so offensive?”

My mouth twitches at the corners, remembering the last time someone said that.

“Anyway, that was fun, yeah?” He says, I assume referring to the impromptu jam sessions we just had.

“Yeah.”

“I miss those times. It seems we used to have them a lot more. Now it’s a lot of rehearsal time and big stadiums. Like we’re always trying to prepare for the next big thing.”

I nod. He knows I agree. We all agree. But we’re not going to complain. We know we have the best jobs in the world, doing what we’ve always dreamed of doing, doing it with our favorite people in the world.

“I miss Cadey,” he muses out of nowhere. And I suddenly realize how far he’s come. From the completely carefree, run amok at every opportunity, playboy bachelor, it can’t be easy for him to be committed to one woman, who’s left him to go half way across the world. He must really love her.

“I know, man. She’s a good one.”

“Yeah. And I probably wouldn’t have her, if I hadn’t taken some chances, you know?”

I think back to the troubles they faced in the beginning, and how if they hadn’t completed trusted each other, believed that it was either now or never, things would have turned out very differently.

He heaves himself out of the seat and looks me dead in the eye. “I mean, sometimes you’ve just got to decide what’s important in your life. And whether you’re ready for happiness or not.”

And then he leaves.

What just happened?

I don’t know if he meant to or not, but he’s set off a bomb in my brain.

And the next 40 minutes whizz by with me seeing nothing but the images of what could be in my head.