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“Um, always?”
She turns to the bartender.
“Joey, is upstairs free?”
He shrugs. “Sure. Just pull the door shut behind you when you go up.”
“Thanks.” She turns to me, nodding her head. “It’s their storage room, but Joey’s the best.”
Joey blushes as he rolls his eyes.
“And you’re going to show me…what?”
“I want to play you something I’ve been working on, if you’ve got a minute.”
“For you, Brad, I’ve got five,” I snark back, quoting our favorite line from one of our favorite movies.
“Well, Judy’s shit can’t bethatbad if you’re quotingAmerican Beauty. Come on.”
“One sec.” I turn back to Joey and tap my empty glass. “We’re gonna need two more of these, please.”
Upstairsin the storage room above Smokey’s Joint, I sit on a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon cans. June camps out on top of a big box of paper drink coaster as her fingers splay over the guitar in her hands.
“I’m still trying to get the chorus right. Like, I’ve got this one melody, but I’m not in love with it?”
I nod. “Go ahead.”
She starts to play, her fingers tinkling over the strings. Then her voice comes in.
IloveJune’s voice. She could literally sing me the ingredients off cereal boxes, and I’d sit there and listen to every vitamin and grain. She’s incredible.
She gets through the verses and then into the chorus. And…I get what she means. It’s good, and the lyrics are basically there. It’s just…
“It could be better, right?” She frowns as she stops playing.
I lift a shoulder as I sip my drink. Honestly, it’s been hard to focus, because it’s taking roughly ninety percent of my brain power while watching her play the guitar and sing to not think ofanotherguitar-playing singer.
Namely, Jackson.
And very suddenly, Ihatethat I left that island at all.
“Mel?”
I shake my head.
“Sorry.” My brow furrows. “It’s…okay, what if you took that last line? Where you’re repeating ‘you’re gonna lose me forever’ twice in a row?”
“Yeah?”
“What if you do…” I chew on my lip, until suddenly, it just falls out of me.
“You’re gonna lose me, forever. If you never get, better.”
The storage room is silent. I blink, frowning as I turn to her.
“What?”
Her brow lifts.
