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"Yeah. That's what she was saying."
"I heard you were a musician," Claire said, swiveling to face him. And when he didn't answer right away, she added, "My grandma said you were really good."
"I thought I was really good when I first came out here."
"Aren't you a little young to be so jaded?"
"What do you know about how old I am?"
"Birdy said you were eighteen, and that's too young to sound so forlorn."
"My stuff got stolen. I don’t really own anything else, and I didn't have a backup plan. I thought when I came out here that it was all going to happen within months."
"You're impatient?"
He looked at her. "Was that a question?"
"Yes."
"Yeah, I guess I am," he said with a shrug. "I guess I'm impatient."
"What all got stolen?"
"A bunch of stuff, all my stuff, but my guitar was the most important thing." He gestured to the guitar case on the floor. "That thing sucks. The guy who sold it to me said a poor craftsman blames his tools, but it's a terrible tool. It sounds like a kid's toy."
"I come across guitars," Claire said. "Is there a certain brand you're looking for?"
"What do you mean, you come across guitars?"
"I'm a thrift shopper, remember? I go to estate sales and auctions. That's what I'm doing with all the clothes I’m storing. I'm going to open my own thrift store. I have some warehouse space and right now I sell online, eBay and Etsy, but I want a storefront. I come across guitars all the time, but I need to know what you're looking for and what brands are good." She gestured down at the case. "I would have thought Fender was good."
"It is good. Some Fenders are. Mine was a Fender. It's easy to identify because it's got a Fender body and a Martin headstock. It's two different brands."
"Whoa, really, how?"
"It broke not long after I got it. The headstock got run over."
"What is that you're saying? What's a headstock?"
Logan gestured in the air as if turning one of the tuning pegs. "The part at the top. It says Martin, on it, and the body of the guitar says Fender. You can't mistake it. It's one-of-a-kind."
"I would have mistaken that," she said with a shrug. "I would have assumed Fender and Martin could go together and still be the same guitar—you know like it's the Martin addition of a Fender."
He grinned and shook his head. "I do know what you're saying, but that's not the case. They're two totally different brands."
"Why did you go through all the trouble of having somebody fix it? I don't know why you want it after it's been broken. Just buy a new one. I hate broken things. That's one rule I have. If it's broken, I don't mess with it. They have people who buy and restore broken things, but that's not me. I only buy stuff in like-new condition."
"Why?"
She shrugged. "I always think it doesn't work as good after it's been broken. Your guitar… if you turn it over, is it obvious that it's been broken?"
"Yes, it is. Sometimes, when a headstock's been patched, they'll just do a paint job over the back. But this one's not painted. It's obvious that it's been patched. The guy who did it for me was a character. He told me that with the Martin headstock it would make it sound better than before it was broken."
"And did it?"
"It did, actually. Or maybe that was in my head. But it definitely wasn’t worse."
"Yeah, I’m glad you told me because I would have never bought something that looked broken."
