AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I tipped my head back and closed my eyes, trying to remember a time when the guitar didn’t feel like an extension of my arm. Way back in my memory, there had been a teacher. An older woman who only taught me how to play gospel songs, but it had been enough to get me started. I’d taken those chords, teased them apart, and figured out how to recreate what I liked on the radio. And then from there, how to create something new altogether. “You take lessons. You practice. You keep playing until it’s like walking or breathing.”
Noah looked at me with his serious green eyes, so like his father’s, and said something that was also so like his father. “I don’t think I have time in my schedule.”
I choked on a laugh, then my humor drained away. He was serious. At the age of six, Noah felt overscheduled. Or at least, he had learned how to mimic being overscheduled.
“Kiddo, there is always time for music,” I said firmly. I looked over at Renee, who was nodding along with whatever Mia was saying. “Hey, Renee. Your nephew wants to take guitar lessons.”
She looked up, distracted. “You should, Noah.”
“You think you can talk to your brother about it?”
“Talk to me about what?”
Callum’s voice sent a jolt through me. I twisted to see him coming down the stairs, still in the dark suit he’d worn to work. Renee immediately cracked a joke about how relaxed he looked, but I didn’t laugh. He could stay in that suit all night for all I cared; he looked damn good. His eyes held mine for a long moment before gaze flickered over to his son holding the guitar. He didn’t look pleased.
Noah unwound himself from the instrument, and I took it back into my own lap. “Music lessons.”
“Noah doesn’t have time.” Callum said it automatically, and I got the sense he had said this many times before. Noah certainly didn’t seem surprised. He was already sliding off the couch, like he had an internal alarm that told him it was after eight pm. He needed to start getting ready for bed.
I watched the small, sturdy boy with his mother’s blonde hair and his father’s eyes walk stoically up the steps without a single word of protest. Callum turned and followed him up.
“Renee,” I said, staring at the space where they had been.
“What?”
“You need to do something.”
“About what?” She was only half paying attention to me. The other half of her attention was on the argument between Mia and Joanne that hadn’t been interrupted by Callum’s appearance or Noah’s disappearance.
“About your brother. He’s turning Noah into a little robot.”
Renee sighed and turned away from the argument. “I’ve tried, Quinn. You try telling Callum that he doesn’t know best about something. See how it goes.”
“Hey. Maybe that’s actually a good idea.” Mia suddenly leaned out of the argument with Joanne, her fox-like face still flushed from battle but a grin on her formerly scowling lips. “Maybe Quinn will have better luck with Callum.”
“Why would he listen to Quinn over his own sister?” Joanne asked, still irritable. Mia may have left the argument, but Joanne was still very much in it.
“I don’t know,” Mia said. “Why would he, Quinn?”
My three bandmates looked at me with various expressions on their faces. Renee was resigned. Mia was curious. Joanne was still irritated because now, not only was the question of the chord progression unanswered, but something was going on that she didn’t understand.
I stared back at them, willing my face to be perfectly still. “I don’t know, Mia. Why would he?”
My bluff didn’t work though. Mia started laughing. “Because you’re sleeping with him!”
“I amnotsleeping with him.” I tried to sound indignant, but my tone came out wistful instead. It was too hard to deceive them. We’d grown up together. First crushes, kisses, everything. It wasn’t exactly shocking that Mia had spotted that long lingering stare between Callum and me and figured out what it meant. The only surprising thing was that Renee hadn’t.
Probably because she hadn’t wanted to.
Renee covered her face with her hands now. “This is disgusting,” she said into her fingers. “I don’t want to know anything about this.”
“I do,” Mia said. “Is it good?”
“Itisn’t happening.” I unfolded myself from the couch and set my guitar onto its stand. I had a feeling our impromptu jam session was over now. I felt the weight of their stares on my back every step of the way, waiting for the rest of the story. With a sigh, I made a loop around the couch to make sure the door between the main floor and the basement was closed. Then I came back, plopped on the couch between Mia and Joanne so they couldn’t slip back into fighting. “We’ve only kissed.”
Renee fell sideways into the pillows. She moved her hands to her ears and gave me a dirty look. “I said I didn’t want to know.”
“Girl, what is holding you back?” Mia interrupted, wide eyed.
