Page 24 of Every Shattered Note
It’s about slowing down without giving up.About realizing that maybe you don’t have to prove your worth every damn second of your life.That it’s okay to want things and still not have them all figured out.
When Billy Joel sings it, it doesn’t sound like advice—it sounds like someone who’s already made every mistake and survived it anyway.
I guess it wrecks me because it reminds me I don’t know how to stop chasing.
And I don’t know what to do with myself when the music stops.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:A piano ballad isn’t what I expected, but it makes sense.I like some stuff by Billy.You also sound like you know more about music than you let me believe during our first call.
MustLoveMusic:Forget about that guy and focus on me, Ali.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:It’s Alyssa or Aly.
MustLoveMusic:Okay, focus on what you know now.I do know a lot about music.I come from a long line of musicians.My grandfather taught me everything he knew.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:Are you a full-time musician?
MustLoveMusic:I’m between jobs at the moment.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:That must be scary.I panicked when I decided that PR wasn’t my thing but I was good at organizing and fixing things.Jules helped me at the beginning but didn’t leave her job until this event planning thing took off enough to pay our salaries.
MustLoveMusic:You seem to be good at it.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:I love it but sometimes it doesn’t feel like fun—like today when I have to deal with the downfall of Love & Vinyl.
MustLoveMusic:It was a downfall?
AlyEuphoriaEvents:Sounds wild, but they werethewedding band around here.Now that they’ve imploded, every planner and bride is spiraling like you have to prep for Y2K all over again.
MustLoveMusic:If we can’t pull a band together in time, I can build a set—just me, Rosie, and a mic.No backup required.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:I have to see that.
MustLoveMusic:Challenge accepted.Name the time and place, Wedding Planner.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:I will, Wedding Singer.Just don’t choke when it happens.
MustLoveMusic:You have to send me a playlist in advance.Not five minutes before the meeting.
AlyEuphoriaEvents:Oh, I’ll have it for you, don’t worry.Talk soon.
ChapterTen
Dexter
February 20th, 2001
There’s something strangely poetic about spending a Tuesday morning arguing over The Chicken Dance.Not the romantic sort of poetry—more like what you’d scrawl on a diner napkin at 3 a.m., hands numb from too much coffee, brain spiraling, questioning every decision that brought you here.
Alec’s slouched sideways on the studio couch, legs stretched out, one boot tapping an erratic rhythm against the armrest.He looks half-asleep and entirely unimpressed—like one more bad chord might make him quit the band we don’t technically have yet.
Barret’s hunched behind the soundboard, pretending to be impartial, but the grin tugging at his mouth gives him away.He lives for this kind of nonsense.
I jab my finger at the sheet of paper on the piano.
“It’s a wedding setlist.Not the goddamn blueprint for world peace.We’re not rewriting the history of music.”
Barret peers at the page, then back at me, face contorted like the paper personally insulted him.
