Page 29 of Driving Beats

“That’s a good way of putting them. Lillian usually pops in daily, and she’s mainly disappeared since you arrived.”

“I didn’t know I had so much mojo!” Her pupils expand. “Who’s Lillian?”

Thud.

It’s not as if the woman’s a secret. It’s just I never talk about her. The band lived through our crash-and-burn, so no one revisits this time in my life.

I suck in my breath. “She’s my ex.”

“Oh. So you did have a girlfriend.”

“A wife,” I correct her.

She lowers her latte to the table. “Excuse me? You were married?”

“A long time ago. You probably weren’t even born.”

“Ha ha. Unless you tied the knot when you were ten, I sincerely doubt it.”

I rub my finger around the empty coffee cup. “I was twenty-one when we got married.”

She blinks. “I can’t imagine being a wife now.” She shudders, then leans forward. “You really were married when you were younger than me? How, uhm, reckless of you.”

“That’s a word for it.”

“This was when UC was climbing the charts. The first time, right?”

For some reason, I don’t mind her probing. She’s not malicious, nor is she looking to sell a story. She definitely has a unique take on things. Besides, it’s been nine years since the divorce was finalized.

I share, “Lillian was my high school sweetheart. UC got signed when I was eighteen. I went into song production mode and she enrolled in college for human resources, like her mother. We saw each other as often as possible, but it was tough. I thought if we got married, all my problems would stop.”

“Let me guess,” she rolls up her empty pastry paper plate and puts it into her cup. “It didn’t.”

I raise my own cup. “Ding, ding. Give this woman a medal.”

She swivels her wrists. “And the crowd goes wild!”

I let her have her moment. It’s actually kinda cute. Then I add, “Divorced a year later.”

“Damn. That’s crazy.”

No need to delve into the sordid reason. Río, especially, had my back during that unbelievable year. The whole band did. Even Luke, although he was new as our manager then. Everyone’s kept mum about what went down for years now.

I nod. “Definitely qualifies.”

“Do you have a photo of this Lillian?”

I lean backward. “I guess so. Why do you ask?”

“You said all this happened about a decade ago, right?”

“Yeah.” Where is she going with this?

“Which seems to be about the time you stopped buying clothes. Did she go shopping for you back then?”

My fingers push my sunglasses up my nose, only to realize I took them off when we were eating. “We didn’t have much time to do anything besides, well⁠—”

She supplies, “Have sex?”