AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Twenty
Cash’s beat-up spiral notebook sat next to his right thigh, its pages blowing in the breeze. He watched them flutter, the many lines and scribbles from where he’d been attempting to rewrite “Back for Good” mocking him. A lot of it hadn’t worked.
Any of it, in fact.
Presley had left eleven days ago and he’d been a miserable asshole since. Worse, she hadn’t said goodbye when she’d left. She’d packed her bags and sneaked out in the early hours of the morning before he’d woken up, or maybe shortly after he’d fallen asleep. He’d called when he noticed her Jeep missing to make sure she was all right, but she hadn’t answered.
He’d called over and over again for the last week-plus, but she hadn’t answered his calls then, either. On day three of her being away, he’d asked Gavin to check on her for safety’s sake. She’d answered Gavin’s text to let him know she was home. She’d also made it clear she didn’t want to talk to Cash.
He didn’t know if she meant she didn’t want to talk to him now, or if she meant she didn’t want to talk to him ever, but it felt like the latter.
He plucked a few strings and tried out the revised lyrics to “Back for Good.” Unsurprisingly, they didn’t flow. He set aside his guitar, snatched up his notebook and flung it into the air. It sailed on the breeze before hitting the water, pages open, where it bobbed on the undulating surface.
“I give your form a six, but the distance a solid nine-point-zero.” Gavin walked down the dock, hands in his shorts pockets. “Thought I’d find you out here. Writing not going well?”
“You could say that.” The notebook sank below the surface, now nothing but bleeding ink and soggy paper held together by a piss-poor spiral coil. Words had meant something to him before Presley left. Now they were meaningless.
His fault. He’d been the one who hadn’t given her a reason to stay. Cash walked back to the deck. Gavin followed, Cash’s guitar in hand.
“Soft drink sponsorship is a go, by the way.” Gavin sat, guitar in his lap, and played a few clumsy chords. “How do you do it, man?”
“Do what?”
“Lay out your feelings so cleanly. Express them so genuinely in your music. Perform them so openly in front of thousands of strangers.” Gavin attempted another few chords before giving up and setting the guitar aside. “You have a gift.”
“Keep practicing and you’ll get better.”
“I’m not only talking about your musical talent, brother. I’m talking about you knowing what’s going on in here.” Gavin tapped his temple and then his chest. “And in here.”
Cash grunted. He didn’t know about that.
“What is going on in there when it comes to Presley?” Gavin didn’t wait for an answer. “Far as I can see, ever since she left you’ve been one miserable bastard. And if that’s any indication—” he nodded to the spot where Cash had winged the notebook “—you’re not having much luck rewriting her song.”
“It’s not her song,” Cash lied.
“Yeah, okay. You didn’t write ‘Back for Good’ for the girl you wished was back for good. I heard it. It’s your best work.”
“I told Will to destroy that track.”
“You signed a contract with Elite Records,” his music attorney brother reminded him. “Will didn’t destroy that track. And you shouldn’t force our hand. We’ll sue you.”
Cash rolled his eyes.
“Nah, we won’t,” Gav smiled. “But if you change it, I’ll be tempted. I can’t play or write, but I know a winner when I hear it.”
“I don’t need to make bank on another Presley Cole?inspired song,” he muttered.
“He admits it.”
He wasn’t admitting anything. Okay, maybe one thing. “I’ve done a lot I regret. I’m not adding Presley staying when I don’t know how it’s gonna end to that very long list.”
“That crap about artists writing their best stuff when they’re depressed is just that. Crap. You wrote ‘Back for Good’ when Presley was here and falling in love with you. And you’re pretending like you didn’t love her? That’s just stupid.”
“What it is, is pointless. She’s gone, Gav. Look around. She told you she didn’t want to speak to me.”
His brother said nothing, which in a way was worse. Then he stood, seeming to come up with an idea.
“In that case, you have to start dealing with the heartbreak. And I know one very good way to do that. It might be the only way.”
