AllFreeNovel
Share Us
When the song ends, the remaining notes cling to the air and tangibly fill the space, as if I could pluck one right out of the air before me. His eyes open and those stormy greys land on me. I feel like I’ve just been given an incredibly rare gift; my own private concert.
“What song was that?” I ask as he crawls back over me on the bed.
“Breath to Bear,” he answers.
“I don’t think I know that one, but it was beautiful.” I run my finger along his jaw.
“You wouldn’t. No one’s ever heard it but Jack and me.”
I bite my lip. “You wrote a new song?” I ask, a little shocked.
He plays with my hair, looking down at the strands between his fingers. “Jack and I wrote it together. It’s something that’s helped us both heal. That’s what music does.” He locks eyes with me, and I can feel it, all of the heartache and healing, like a current leading him to shore.
“You should play more often.”
“I’d rather play you,” he smirks, but it’s an obvious deflection.
“You know what I mean.” I smack his chest to emphasize my point.
His expression turns from playful to contemplative. “I stopped because it didn’t bring me joy anymore. I’m slowly getting back to that place again,” he explains, rolling over on his back.
“Is that guitar worth a lot of money?” I ask, having no clue about guitars, even after my private lesson.
“It’s not rare, but I guess you could say it’s priceless.” His forehead creases as he falls silent again.
“It belonged to my ex-wife.” He tilts his head to look at me, gaging my reaction.
“She was a shitty guitar player, but she used it to write music sometimes when she didn’t have a piano.”
My imagination of who or where she is, or if he still has a relationship with her, is shut down when he tells me, “She died about seven years ago.”
Grief still clouds his eyes, dulling the color further, and my heart aches for him.
“I didn’t mean to bring it up.”
“It’s okay. She hadn’t been my wife for quite a while before she died.” He lets out a heavy breath, and this only feels like the beginning.
“What happened?”
I place my hand against his chest, and he absently runs his fingers over my knuckles.
“Car accident. I got the call because she still had me listed as her emergency contact.” He focuses on our hands together, lifting mine up so he can intertwine them.
“I’m so sorry.”
“I was the one that had to tell Jack she died.” I can feel his fingers tighten around mine.
“Jack?” I ask, confused.
“She and Jack were together when she died.” He shifts his eyes to meet mine, settling his body further into the mattress as if he’s sinking into a memory.
“Oh,” I say stupidly, taken aback.
“The three of us and Wade were bandmates,” he says and then scoffs. “It sounds fucked up when I say it out loud, but our relationship was very complicated.”
I admit I have no idea what that would be like, two men in love with the same woman. That situation is enough to break up a band, a friendship, and a marriage.
“She left you for Jack?” I can’t fathom how he and Jack are as close as they are, even after all of that.
