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“Is that so?” Trinity snorted with a smile, then she chewed on the corner of her mouth.
“Oh, it is,” he replied, removing her hand from the dash to kiss the back of her hand.
“You all go have fun, like I said. I’m good. I have to do this on my own. I promise. And if I’m not, I know how to fight.”
“I’m going to pretend you didn’t say the last part,” Trinity warned and closed her eyelids.
“Hey, whatever helps you sleep at night.” I raised my hands above my head as I backed away from the car and onto the curb behind me.
The rain was unnaturally warmer than I would have expected given the time of year, but the weather had been nuts down in Louisiana. I could only assume it was equally as crazy up here, too. As the almost lukewarm drops slid down my bare arm, creating an itching sensation, I wiped away what I was able and rubbed my skin. What Eli said hadn’t bothered me at first, but how truly stupid going in here by myself was sunk in as each droplet landed on me, especially given my outfit choice. Today shouldn’t have been the day I opted for my black suspender dress over a plain white tee-shirt. I should have checked the weather forecast ahead of time.
Shielding my face as best as I could with my arm, I sprinted across the street and to the door of the music shop. My feet stilled as soon as I was beneath the awning, and my pulse raced. This was the moment of truth. Walking into a random store and begging a stranger for something wasn’t my idea of a good time, but maybe it would bring me some sense of peace. Perhaps, it would make me angry I didn’t look for my family sooner. Both were possibilities I’d thrown around in my brain, but there was no real way of knowing my reaction without actually following through with my plan.
With a huff, after what had to be one of the world’s worst pep talks, I gritted my teeth and opened the door.
5/
skip
I proppedthe door open no more than the width of the tip of the door stopper to let some of the fresh air into the shop and only the fresh air. I hoped no bright-eyed, lovesick fool mistakenly found their way in along with the breeze. I didn’t have it in me to put forth the effort it took to upsell anything right now. If there were customers today, they would fend for themselves, act as their own salesperson, and browse through the endless titles on their own.
The place reeked of three-day old leftovers. Shaking my head for leaving takeout in the trash Friday evening, I pinched my nose between two fingers and scooped the black trash bag up with my free hand. Obviously, I’d been so preoccupied with trying to avoid all things V-day related, that simple tasks such as taking out the trash had slipped my mind. This was ridiculous! I refused to worry about something as obscure as a holiday anymore. I would find an out sooner rather than later. None of it should bother me as much as it did, and yet, with every passing year, the artist I used to be withered away and my hate for the holiday grew.
Today had been a slow day so far, but business never really picked up when there wasn’t much going on as far astown events. I would never admit it, but February was always one of the highest earning months out of the year for me. Just because I didn’t put much effort into participating in the celebration myself, I still, without a doubt, benefited from others celebrating.
This was the type of town where everyone knew everyone else’s business, and if you didn’t, the next person over would be able to tell you. There weren’t scandals or murders here. It was a happy town with mostly happy people. No one’s granny was turning up on the 6 o’clock news for holding up a liquor store or anything. The lack of all of those things was the biggest appeal to me when I moved here. I didn’t want to be seen. I wanted to fly under the radar and listen to music. Doing those things and nothing else for so long was never my plan.
Before coming here, I lived on the road as a songwriter for a large number of well-known artists, but always remained in the shadows. Recognition was never the driving force for what I did—getting paid and hearing my songs on the radio was enough. So, it wasn’t as if I was forced to move here. I sought this specific town out because of the low crime rate and thought seeing so many people fall in love would serve as a much-needed muse for my lack of creativity. I had believed if I surrounded myself with positive energy I would be able to think clearly and bust out songs left and right. Wrong. I hadn’t composed a damn thing in nearly a decade. For that mere fact alone, I was bitter.
I needed an outlet for all of the pent-up rage that was inside of me. I blamed the town and those damn smiling happy people on the streets. I wasn’t an imbecile; I knew the reason for my lack of inspiration, but knowing the problem and having a solution for it were two entirely different creatures. I was rude to people more often than not, sometimes for no other reason than being hopeful to find someone with as much bite as I had. Although, despite all of that, I was complacent with where I wasin life. I had made my money and was basically retired, and I was only thirty-five. Many would kill to be in the position I was in, and I was more than aware of it, so I never spoke a word of it to anyone. Not to mention, I didn’t really talk to anyone outside of the shop if it was not a requirement.
My mind raced while I went out the back door and tossed the garbage into the dumpster in the back alley. I was desperate at this point. Hell, I even considered picking up the phone and inviting Maryland and Violet over just to argue with them for a moment, but I quickly shook my head and got rid of that thought. “Something’s got to give.” I blew out in a frustrated breath, not bothering to seek shelter when the rain picked up and pelted down on me. The weather was nasty today, and I was here for it. I stood ever so still, my chest rising and falling, enjoying how the droplets felt against my skin. It wasn’t perfect. In fact, it was the most imperfect thing that had happened all week, and I loved it.
“Hello?” a muffled voice called from somewhere inside the shop. “Well, piss. It appears this man isn’t here. Now what in the ever-loving hell am I supposed to do?” she asked herself and a loud bang followed. “Not that! Gah,” she huffed, as I opened the back door and crept in as quietly as possible. I didn’t recognize the voice, so the idea of a stranger being in my shop didn’t exactly excite me. She was more than likely here in search of something for her secret valentine.
“Who in their right mind puts an amp there?” she asked as she continued the conversation with herself. “Skip Turner, that’s who. I haven’t met this man, and I already don’t like him. His choice to put this in the middle of the walkway is an obvious statement about what a dumbass he is.”
My blood boiled as I stood silently listening to her bad mouth me. I didn’t come into her place of business and insult her. It was the other way around. The least she could have brought wereher little manners. Another bang rattled through the store. She better not be destroying anything or she was paying for it. I was in no mood to deal with a debutant drama queen having a bad hair day due to the rain.
“Look, I don’t know who the hell you think you are…” My voice trailed off as soon as I rounded the corner, and my eyes landed on her. She flinched at the sound of my voice but didn’t bother moving from where she laid. Her face was covered by the sea of black hair, and her back was flat on the floor. One of her muddy black army style boots was propped on top of the best small tube amp heads I had gotten in last week, and she stomped her other boot against the floor. The root of the noise that I assumed was her in here breaking things wasn’t spot on, but she wasn’t exactly in here tidying up things either.
She lazily rolled her head toward where I was and accentuated each word as it passed her perfect lips, “Who I am isn’t exactly important until I figure out who you are,couyoon.” I didn’t know what the hell she’d just called me, but as soon my eyes connected with hers, I was willing to do anything to make her gorgeous mouth call me it again. The fire that burned behind her irises was what I needed in my life, and I didn’t care in what facet.
“Would you mind removing your boot from the amp head? And I asked first,” I prodded, keeping my tone level until I figured out the best approach to kindle her flame.
“Would I mind? No. Am I going to?” She shrugged. “I’ll do it as soon as you tell me where Skip Turner is.”
“Heard the guy’s an asshole, and I asked you nicely to get your boot off the Blackstar,” I said through gritted teeth as mud slid off her boot and onto the top of the amp head. After that, I stalked to where her stubborn ass continued to lay. My interest in her was fading fast. The tube head could be replaced with easeif she ruined it, but it wasn’t the point. The sheer lack of respect she had for everything straight pissed me off.
“Guess you all have that in common, huh? And I don’t care what kind of man he is. I need to see a man about a horse…Well, a guitar, but none of that concerns you unless you’re him,” she added, slowly lifting her foot from the floor and crossing her ankle over the one on the amp.
“What if I am?” I snapped, wiping the wet hair off my forehead with the back of my hand and blew out a frustrated breath.
“You’re not. I can tell.”
“How’s that exactly?” I probed, gritting my teeth together again.
“Just can. That name is a manly name.” She balled her fists and pounded them against her flawlessly round tits once as if she were an ape. “Ya know? And you don’t scream manly to me.”
