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He lifted his solemn gaze to hers, touched that she’d offer. “Yeah. Thanks.”
She nodded, a brief smile on her lips before she lifted her slice for a bite. A few minutes later, she commented, “Grandpa gave me a few more ideas for songs for Grandma.”
The entire drive down to Milwaukee and most of the way back they’d talked. She’d told him all about the award-winning documentary as she searched out music from June’s younger years to help unlock her memories and keep her mind stimulated.
“You must already have quite the collection for her.”
“I do. But there’s one in particular…”
Her tone had turned hesitant. Logan took a drink of his soda and raised his eyebrows in question as she set her pizza down and reached for her paper towel napkin.
“Remember at that first dinner, when Grandma was talking about how Grandpa sang to her at their wedding, and he changed the words of ‘Brown Eyed Girl’ to blue-eyed girl?”
“Yeah?”
The napkin crumpled in her clenched fingers, and stayed that way even after she released it and raised her gaze to his. “I’d like you to sing it so I can load it on the player for her.”
His stomach flipped as he slowly set down his glass. “You’d record it?”
“Yes. Just on my phone.”
Anxiety sent him back in his chair, but Joy leaned over to grasp his hand, her expression earnest. “Please, Logan. It has such a special memory attached to it, I think it would really mean a lot to both of them.”
The plea in her voice hit him hard, constricting his chest.
Come on, man, you can do that. You’ve already sung for her, and this is for June.
He swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah, okay.”
“Thank you.” Relief filled her expression. She leapt up to kiss him, and he closed his arms around her to enjoy the spontaneous reward.
“If that was just for the yes,” he murmured, “what do I get when I’m done?”
She offered a smiling, seductive glance from under her lashes as she moved back to her seat. “Play for me and you’ll find out.”
Yeah, he could definitely do that.
They fell back into the easy camaraderie they’d shared on the trip, but with the added promise of later simmering below the surface. He loved her quick wit and the spark of mischief that flared whenever she teased him. He especially loved that she was comfortable enough to be herself, and had found himself questioning his steadfast position throughout the day.
Maybe he didn’t have to be so uptight about working for her grandpa while they were in a relationship. Every single day he put in an honest day’s work to earn his wage. He had nothing to be ashamed of.
The realization had relaxed him, broke down his defenses some, and made his agreement to let her record him singing a little easier than he would’ve expected.
After they finished eating, Joy insisted on washing the dishes, even the ones he’d let pile up over the past couple days. He overlooked the discomfort of her cleaning up his mess, dried and put everything away, then headed for the stairs to retrieve his guitar from his room.
“Get your phone ready,” he warned over his shoulder.
“You know the song already?”
“Yep.” He didn’t tell her he’d looked up the music and lyrics after that dinner with her grandparents.
Back downstairs, he took her hand and led her outside onto the porch. Hopefully the anonymity of the dark would ease his nerves, like in the hayloft. But it wasn’t completely dark because of the light shining through the living room window. Plus, he let her have the rocking chair while he leaned against the section of porch railing he knew would support his weight. The positions put them face to face. Hers shadowed, his not so much.
Nervousness churned in his stomach as he picked out a few c
hords. He did his best to ignore the sensation as he lifted his gaze to hers and saw her phone resting on her thigh. “Ready?”
When she nodded, Logan took in a deep breath, then blew it out under the cover of the music before starting to sing. A mistake after the first verse forced him to start over. By the third try, though, he got all the way through without messing up, managing to get every brown switched to blue.
